Game Of The Week: Independence Patriots High School Football Preview

WCCB’s Jeff Taylor was at Independence High School previewing the Bahakel Sports’ High School Game of the Week.

For second year Head Coach, DJ McFadden, the 2022 high school football season could not have started any better. The Patriots set at 3 and 0 and for a team that is trying to find it’s way back to the top, having confidence helps. “We are very confident. I think that confidence comes from how we prepare everyday. The work that we put in each day. We tell guys that we want them to walk around confident cause they put in the work for it. Our preparation puts us in position where we are now at 3 and 0. So we are confident.”

Independence travels to Hopewell this Friday night. It is the first time this season the Patriots have been away from home. Last year when these two teams met here at Independence, it was a blowout. The Patriots won 51 to 0, but that was last year.

“Hopewell is a good team, a good solid team. They have good athletic guys on that team. We know it is going to be a battle, a good fight. We expect to win.”

“Coach Gentry is doing a good job. You can tell they are a lot different from last year. They have players on both sides of the ball. They have a big D line. They have a couple of athletes that can go both ways. They are a very dangerous team. If we don’t come out and take care of what we are supposed to take care of, we can make this game interesting. They can definitely beat us. Any team on any given night can beat you. So we need to be prepared for them.”

While the Patriots have started strong and have all the confidence at team can have heading into Friday night, Coach McFadden knows the importance of keeping his players grounded.

“We have not accomplished anything. I mean we are 3 and 0 right now, but we have accomplished nothing. We have not even hit conference play yet. I just got done telling them in a meeting today, you can lose the next 7 and be 3 and 7.”

“I mean we just have not done anything yet, we have not started conference yet. So just keep working like we have been to get those 3 wins and we will keep winning.”