Indians try to build on 2023’s improvements

North Side’s football team finished 4-7 in 2023, but considering where it was a year before (1-9 and losing those games by an average of more than 35 points), the Indians started a sharp turn in trending upward in head coach Woodrow Lowe’s first year as head coach.

“This time last year, I wasn’t sure how the season would go, but I knew the goal was to get the team competitive, no matter what the final record was,” Lowe said. “And we were competitive.

“There were two games that I thought we didn’t really compete well, and that gave us something to build on.”

The Indians got an extra week of practice with a spot in the playoffs, but that wouldn’t last long as they lost in the first round.

But the good thing is that Lowe had a full offseason with the Indians.

“We had a good session of offseason workouts, and that started us strong going into the spring, which was good too,” Lowe said. “And then that set us up for a much better performance in a spring scrimmage than we had the year earlier.”

The Indians scrimmaged Riverside in the spring of both 2023 and 2024.

“Riverside pushed us around last year,” said Lowe, referring to 2023 in which Riverside would go on last season to win the Class 2A state championship. “They didn’t push us around this year.

“I don’t know who won because we weren’t keeping score, but we weren’t pushed around. We looked a lot better this year.”

The Indians have eight returning starters on offense, which is a good foundation for them to build on when looking to score points.

“The defense lost more, so they started a little further back but they’re catching up,” Lowe said. “I like the effort everybody is giving – offense, defense, returning players, freshmen.

“Everybody is pushing through these tough parts of the summer well.”

The Indians will open the season at home against Crockett County on Aug. 23.

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news