As the clock struck 12 a.m. on Saturday it was finally time for the gridiron gladiators of Alcovy High School football to put on their armor and practice – so they did. After midnight, the madness ensued. For the first time since spring, the Tigers were back in action.

Up until this point, it was shorts only practices throughout their summer. Tigers head coach Kirk Hoffman said that since they couldn’t do everything they wanted without pads just made sure the special teams were going and made sure the base package was in.

Hoffman also got to see if he wanted to put in any new wrinkles with his team, which is a possibility because they are so young.

“When you’re young, kids are gonna make mistakes. Our goal is we gotta get better every week. You’re not young after the fifth ball game, and that’s when region starts,” Hoffman said. “That’s kind of our philosophy. We’re gonna go in and do what we feel like we can do best and try to get better at it each and every week and see what happens by the end.”

“I feel like this is as good a freshman class as I’ve ever had in my 15 years as a head coach and we’re going to count on some of those kids,” Hoffman said. "But again without being in pads yet, you can look good in summer when you’re not hitting people. The next two weeks for us is huge.”