GREENLAND (KFSM)--To the Greenland community, Hatch, McAdoo and Reynolds are three names pivotal to the Pirates run to Baum Stadium a season ago. Three names that are now gone.
"We lost three big seniors Dusty, Blake and Michael. But we’ve all stepped up big time and we know that we can still do it," said current senior Will Overton.
"Losing three seniors last year we’ve kind of had some young guys step up and fill those shoes," head coach Will McGinnis said.
The 4-0 loss to Harding Academy in the 3A title game doesn’t sit well with Greenland.
"We want to be better than we were the year before," Austin Anderson said. "Can’t do much better but we want to."
"You can’t depend on last year’s success to give us success this year," added Overton. "So we’re worried about this team, worried about our goal and that’s to get back to Baum."
"We’re not gonna settle for what we did last year," McGinnis said. "Every day is a new day. Every year is a new year and that’s exactly what we’re here to do this year is be better than we were last year."
With a 27-9 record, it's easy to get caught up in the great run of 2017. McGinnis has assured that's not the case.
"We’ve talked all year about not living in the past and there’s still work to be done."
"The game doesn’t care about what you did yesterday, so you can’t dwell on the past," Overton said about the team's theme.
And yes, a 27 win team can actually improve in certain areas.
"We want to be the best on defense, we want to be perfect in the field, no errors. Especially every day in practice. And during our defensive days we take it very seriously," said Anderson.
With two regular season games left, the Pirates are well on their way to the playoffs with an 18-4 record.