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Southside football will begin official practices next week and with it comes their unique traditions. They will have some team events all through the week, ending with what Seahawk football calls “Midnight Madness.”

This will occur on Friday night. They will have a team practice at 5 p.m. This is followed by a parents night at 6:30 and a team meal at 7:30. They will do some team-building activities until they have another practice that will begin practice late at 10:30 p.m. and go until midnight. This is a tradition that Southside has done for years and the players are excited for the next edition.

“It is all about the team,” sophomore running back and linebacker Brian Salinas said. “It is great to be a part of this tradition and it will help us come closer as a family.”

They have been having summer workouts since June. Head coach Jeff Carrow said the workouts have great turnouts. “We have an average of about 45 players here for workouts,” Carrow said. “We did some conditioning in June and installed some packages in for the offense. The team is excited for practices to start and we will work on some tackling, base timing drills, and other technique drills.”

They lost some veteran players as they lost 12 seniors from last year. They were 8-4 last season and are hoping to be better this fall. Carrow said he has players that are learning new positions and putting in lots of effort to master the position.

He thinks the team is starting to come together. “The chemistry between the players has been really good so far,” Carrow said. “The young guys are soaking up as much as they can from both the coaches and players. They are starting to band together and that is really good for the upcoming season.”

The players are excited about the upcoming season and official practices starting. “This is a chance to show coaches what we’ve got,” Salinas said. “We have been doing a lot of fundamentals, agility, and ball protection. We can’t wait for the first week when we can get out there and hit with full force.”

Senior running back, linebacker and cornerback Tequon Moore said he is excited for the wins they will get this season. “We are going to get some wins this year, I know it. We want to play in the playoffs and then the state championship together as a family,” Morre said.

The Seahawks season will begin on August 18 in Calypso, NC against North Duplin.