Soaring into the unknown

Hawks Football prepares for Fall season still in question.

Gila Ridge Football is coming off it's greatest season in the program's young history.

The Hawks were an overtime loss short of finishing the 2019 regular season unbeaten, before landing 2 road upset victories in the 4A state playoffs; including the shocker over top seeded Saguaro.

The epic journey would end in a heart-breaking loss in the semifinal round.

The momentum that was sure to carry over into the offseason was short-lived; as the Coronavirus Pandemic began affecting the Desert Southwest this past March, before spring ball could come into fruition.

Since that time, organized practices have been almost non-existent.

Beside the brief stint of phase 1 non-contact conditioning practices back in June, the Yuma Union High School District has allowed it's member schools to return to that same format of practices last week.

A tentative plan is in place (for now) for regular season play to begin on October 2nd.

For the Hawks, it's a glimmer of hope they hold onto for the chance to play football sometime this Fall.

For Head Coach John Ellegood, it's the chance to not linger on the recent string of success and build for the future.

"If we want to be great again, if we want to continue to get better, if we really want to burn this boat together and we want to achieve the same things that we have, we have to work through it. And this is what it takes. And guess what? We're not a surprise anymore. People expect this now. So we have to get even better."

Losing the majority of his squad from last season's senior-heavy line-up, Ellegood knows that his program is rebuilding, but overall he's pleased with what he's seen so far in his latest group of student athletes.

Even with the current challenges of conducting conditioning type of practices that involve social distancing, Ellegood believes that developing a certain mentality will pay dividends in the long run.

"One thing that (we) really instituted in the second year is this idea of 'burn the boat.' This mentality that we're going to get rid of excuses. We're going to control what we can control. We're going to have a positive attitude and we're going to attack things the best we can everyday, regardless of what they are. If it's virtual meetings, great; we're going to attack that with a great attitude. Because we're not going to take those excuses. Everything around here, as you can see, it can be gone like that. And the pandemic has really taught us that."

Even though the date is uncertain, Ellegood and the Hawks are holding on to optimism that a season will play out before the end of the year.

The Arizona Interscholastic Association will vote on recommendations recently received by it's sports medicine advisory committee.

The decision could possibly change or postpone the start date for Fall prep sports.