HESPERIA, Mich. — The Hesperia Panthers were looking for a fun way to start the high school football season. So head coach Doug Boles and his staff settled on the idea of holding a midnight practice.
"I coached at Fremont in the late 90's and they did it," Boles said. "I was in Baldwin and they did it for a few years and the kids really enjoyed it. This is my fourth year here and we'd never done it so the kids are excited about it."
The program is looking for things to be positive about, after going winless in 2017 the Panthers posted a pair of shutout wins in 2018.
The defense has been taking small steps forward and Boles says holding a pair of opponents scoreless last year really helped give his players some confidence heading into this season.
"When things start rolling the right way, kids start to buy into what you're doing," Boles explained. "The last couple years we've struggled and maybe they don't buy into it, but we've put in a few new schemes this year and I think they're buying into it more. So right now the excitement is pretty high."