As the crowd slowly mingled from the Alumni Dinner to the Mansfield Middle School football field, which for many seasons hosted endless High School games, a sense of community and pride was readily available.
Tiger fans of all ages waited patiently for the MHS Tigers to appear, while the cheerleaders cheered on the crowd from various locations. Then, without any notice, buses rolled onto the scene with coaches, and players unloading in a line of strength, and unity. Their focus was the 50-yard line. The crowd erupted with cheers as young Tigers looked on.
No time to waste, the coaches and players went to work showing friends, family, and fans a glimpse of their preparation, and what to expect come this Fall.
MHS Head Coach, Craig Bentley offered the following statement.
“I’m really pleased with our 2 weeks of Spring football. We have had the same core group of kids since January and that continuity has really paid off. Offensively, we have a chance to be very explosive both in the air, and on the ground. We are extremely excited about our Tight End Packages that we have installed, and feel like it gives us that added bit of diversity. Defensively we were moving around fast, tackling well and really picked up on the new defense we installed. These kids have a very high football IQ, which is something we have been missing as a whole in the last few years.
We had a great time at the Spring scrimmage. We got a lot of guys touches on offense, did a lot of good things defensively and had a great time honoring the past by playing at the historic HWY 71 field. We hope to continue this tradition going forward along with the alumni dinner. It was a great night for the Tiger football program.”