There is just a little over a week before Red Level hits the field for the first regular season game, and the Tigers are eager to get back into action.

Over the course of the summer and into the fall, the Tigers have been working hard to prepare for the upcoming season.

“We have had a lot of guys putting in hard work during the offseason,” Red Level head coach Kenny Skipper said. “They want to improve and get Red Level back to what in once was.”

Skipper is entering his first season as head coach of the Red Level Tigers.

This is Skipper’s first opportunity to be a head football coach, but he has spent the past several years as the head coach of the Straughn Lady Tigers softball team.

Skipper was a 2001 graduate of Red Level High School.

Coming into the season, Skipper said that he has made a few changes, but still expects to be a running team.

“We are going to be a running team,” Skipper said. “I would say that we probably are going to run a lot of options, but we are going to be capable of throwing the ball.”

Skipper said that in the few days of fall practice that they have been able to avoid the rain that he has been impressed with how the kids are going about their business.

“We just want to be able to compete with every opponent,” Skipper said. “We might not have a lot of kids on our roster, but I know that ones who are still here want to be here and they want to win.”

The mindset of the Tigers has been on coming together as one unit, Skipper said.

“This year, we have a motto,” Skipper said. “The back of our shirts say ‘Burn the Ships.’ That has kind something that we are trying to instill in the players. Every one is committed to the team and not to themselves. It’s about achievement as a team.”

“Burn the Ships” is a phrase that means there is no turning back from the fight. One will succeed or fail trying, but retreat is not an option.

Skipper said that the kids are buying into the process, but they still have plenty of work to do before the season starts.

“The guys are really coming along,” Skipper said. “We are going to be a very young team this year, but I’m pretty excited about that younger group. Our biggest numbers are from our underclassmen. If they stick with football through their high school career, they have a real good chance of being a great team.”

Red Level will get in a preseason game on Thursday when they take on Straughn in Straughn.

“It’s basically just going to be a glorified scrimmage,” Skipper said. “We will work on a different situations and figuring out what we need to fix before the season.”

The season for Red Level will begin on Sept. 1, with a road trip to Cottonwood.