The Klein Football program kicked off their 2023-2024 season on the week of August 21, two teams scored a victory and two teams faced defeat. The first official week of their season, Klein Bearkats Football participated in four games, with two teams taking home a win.
“I think we were very well prepared for the games and I was proud of our men, but unfortunately some showed up short but no matter what they’re going to learn from it and use it,” Head Coach Shane Hallmark said.
The Freshman A team and the Junior Varsity players began their football journey by defeating Fort Bend Marshall’s teams, while Klein’s Freshman B and Varsity teams lost their first games to Fort Bend Varsity and Woodland High School’s 9th-grade team.
“The good thing about the first game is that we played hard and we did a great job defensively,” Coach Stephen Rhea said. “That game that we can build on. I do think we’re much better than 13 said last year. I believe we have a promising season.”
The Varsity team lost to Fort Bend in an overtime game 21-15 after Fort Bend scored a game-winning touchdown in the last minute of overtime.
The team worked for weeks prior to the kickoff of the season and players felt as though they were very prepared to win against Fort Bend.
“Well, we’ve been practicing early in the morning for about an hour and a half to two hours and then practicing during the athletic period and after school so we feel really physically prepared,” senior and offensive lineman Diego Olguin said. “Mentally wise, we’ve been watching a lot of film on our opponent and also just dissecting what they like to do and how we can stop it.”
Despite the loss, the Varsity players are hopeful for the upcoming season, yet many of the team have mixed feelings about it considering it will be the seniors’ last season as a Bearkat player.
“It’s bittersweet,” senior and quarterback Bankston Lembcke said. “It’s sad that It’s my last year but I feel like it’s going to be our best season yet.”
The JV team had a game before the Varsity, winning 8-6 against Fort Bend Marshalls. The team will continue working hard to better themselves and keep their winning streak.
“Me as a coach personally, I always preach about the little details because at the end of the day, everybody’s practicing whether it’s Fort Bend, Klein Collins, Tomball, everybody practices,” junior varsity Coach Lonzell Gilmore said. “The only things that is going to separate teams from being good from being great are the little details, so that’s all I could continue to focus on.”
One freshman team took home the win against Thurgood Marshall High and the other went home with a loss from the Woodlands, 20-12.
“Every time we step on out there, we just keep on trying to get a little bit better,” Joseph Black, freshman coach, said. “Work team strengths, and problems area will be focused on. It’s just early, so we’re just trying to see what we have and go from there.”
The Klein Bearkats have 9 more weeks until the end of the season, marked by a Varsity game against Klein Collins. All four teams will continue until their final game of the season, when the seniors will say goodbye to football at Klein and the underclassmen look forward to next year when they can play again.
“We just go through the motions, taking it one week at a time and trying to get better and better as a team,” Hallmark said. “We don’t like to think too far ahead because this sport can be unpredictable. We’ve got a great group of boys and we’ll just take it one game at a time.”
