JACKSON HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS GEARING UP FOR FALL

Junior Travis Reiminger kicks the ball during a practice session last week. The Indians' first game will be on Sept. 1 against Malden.

Head Coach Carl Gross bellows out a command to one of his players. Gross led the Jackson Indians to the championship game last year, the team's best year ever.

Jackson High School athletes are hitting the practice field even before they hit the books.

This fall, two of the main sports are football for the boys and softball for the girls. Both teams are already hard at it to get ready for the upcoming seasons.

Both teams began training last week, usually for about five to six hours a day.

To avoid the heat, they've been working twice a day. They begin at 9 a.m. and quit at 11 before the sweltering summer heat really gets bad. Then they come back out later in the afternoon after the temperature's dropped a bit.

The teams are looking good, according to their respective coaches.

Van Hitt is the defensive coordinator for the Jackson football Indians, and he said the kids are looking sharp, so far.

"We've got some people returning from last year and they look pretty decent," Hitt said.

And the Indians have their share of new people, too.

"The new guys are going to really help our kicking game," Hitt said. "That looks like it's going to be much improved from last year. That was one of the spots that needed improvement last year."

The returning players to the football team are good news. Last year, these players were part of the fantastic Jackson team that won at the district level and finished second place overall in the state championship game.

But just because they had a winning season last year, don't think the Indians are going to take it easy this year.

"We can't say we had a good team last year so we're going to have a good team this year," Hitt said. "Every team is different."

This year's team gels a little differently, but Hitt says he sees a lot of similarities with last year's winning team.

The players came in good shape with real good attitudes and look ready to work hard, Hitt said.

It is a bit early to really tell what the team is going to look like on the field, though, Hitt said. They haven't even put the pads on yet and as soon as they get into some contact rules, Hitt says they'll know more.

"We're going to have a little control scrimmage at 9 on Saturday morning," Hitt said. "We'll see then."

Their first game will be on Sept. 1 against Malden and Hitt said it looks to be a tough one. Malden has a new coach and Hitt said they have a lot of speed and have always had fair-size linemen.

"They had as much speed in the back field as we faced all year last year and they were sophomores and juniors so I know they're back," Hitt said.

You can't count on anything until the game is over, Hitt said, but be sure that Jackson will come out fighting.

"We're kind of cautiously optimistic," Hitt said. "We see things that we know are good and we see things we need to work on."

The Lady Indians are equally optimistic.

"So far, I'm real pleased with what I've seen so far," Head Coach Becky Riney said.

The softball team is going to be young this year with only two seniors returning to the team. But Riney said she has a real strong junior class. Three or four of them were varsity starters last year, she said.

Jackson lost its whole infield last year to graduation and Riney calls that an "uncertainty."

"I don't know who's going to fill in," she said. "I think we have players that can fill those positions -- it's just getting them in the right spots."

Riney said the Lady Indians strength this year is speed, which she says is a "nightmare" to the other team.

"It's hard to get those quick runners out," she said.

The drawback, she said, is the Lady Indians won't have many powerful hitters, but she says they won't have a problem scoring.

"We'll get on with a lot of base hits," Riney said. "And we're going to do a lot of hitting and running."

Both of last year's pitchers are back. Senior Tara Freeman and Alicia Wiley, junior, will be back on the mound.

Wiley was the "Most Valuable Player" on the team last year and Riley says she does it all. In addition to being a pitcher, she's also a catcher and a shortstop.

On Aug. 18, the Lady Indians will have a 30-inning scrimmage game that will also serve as a fund raiser for the team.

"After that," Riney said, "I'll know pretty much where we are and what we need to work on."

Riney said the Lady Indians will face their first competitor, Cape Central, on Aug. 23.

"I know they've got a pretty good nucleus of their team returning, so I bet they'll be pretty tough," she said.

Riney said she has to give "her girls" credit because they're pretty "hard nosed."

"It takes a lot of guts to come out here in this heat a couple of times a day," she said.

For football and softball fans alike, it promises to be an interesting season.