POTH, Texas. – Being a Poth High School Pirate means "coming out here and working everyday to make ourselves better," senior cornerback Jacob Alexander said.
Pirate pride is in the air as the high school football season is just around the corner. And just like many of the other local teams, Poth lost a large senior class last season and is working on rebuilding.
"This team has big shoes to fill," head coach Jeff Luna said. "We have some good seniors this year that have been in the program since I've been here three years ago. They've been three-year varsity players, so we're looking forward to a great year."
Poth's district got shaken up a little, but they are still expecting a tough year ahead of them.
"We start district with Nixon Smiley, and then we got Stockdale," Luna said. "Stockdale is going to be Stockdale. That's a rivalry game for us."
Alexander, who had 43 tackles and four interceptions last season, agreed, saying, "We have a pretty hard district. Every win is important."
Luna said that Poth is one of the best 3A teams around, and according to Dave Campbell's Texas Football, they are projected to be number one in the District 15-3A Division II.
"Every year, the rankings come out and Poth is always at the top," Luna said. But he and his staff talk to their kids and stress that rankings don't mean anything, he said.
"It's what we do on the field," the fourth-year coach said, "Rankings are nice, though. It means we have a target on our chest, and we're looking forward to it and we're ready for the challenge."
The Poth Pirates kick off their season against Randolph at 7:30 p.m. on Aug 31.