Don’t count Kris Pickle among those who have been surprised by the New Hope High School football team’s 3-0 start.
The former Aberdeen High assistant and Morton High head coach knew it would take time for his players to adjust to a new system. But he also realized there was plenty of potential on hand to help New Hope regroup from a run of three consecutive losing seasons.
“I knew we had a chance to be pretty competitive,” Pickle said. “I guess if there is anything that has surprised me is that whenever a team — and I am not saying this in a bad way or in a negative way — is not accustomed to winning — and winning consistently — when you do have success early and being bounce to back from wins and to continue to play with the same level of intensity the next week. They have done that. I have been surprised by that, not because it is New Hope, but it is any team.”
Pickle hopes New Hope can continue to play with high intensity and effort at 7 p.m. Friday when it plays host to Amory in its final non-conference game. New Hope has a chance to go to 4-0 for the first time since the 2009 season, when it went 11-2 and lost to West Point in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A North State title game.
Next week, New Hope begins Class 5A, Region 1 when play when it plays host to Clarksdale. Last season, Clarksdale defeated New Hope 56-21. Pickle hopes the Trojans have erased efforts like that — and a 76-50 loss to West Point — from their minds. Through three games, it looks like New Hope has because it surrendered its most points in a 35-24 victory against Class 6A Columbus. Seven of those points came on a kick return for a touchdown.
Last week, New Hope broke out quickly en route to a 41-17 victory against Caledonia. The victory was the Trojans’ 10th in a row in the series. Pickle liked how New Hope didn’t allow any outside influences to affect its focus. He said he and his coaches have tried to help the players keep their focus by holding them accountable. It sounds simple, but he said the coaches are pushing the players, keeping the intensity up in practice, and treating every team like the toughest one on the schedule.
Pickle acknowledged winning helps the coaches maintain the players’ focus. He hopes the start to this season is a sign of what is to come for the program.
“We want to get to the point where every week we walk onto the field and expect to win, and if we don’t win we’re disappointed,” Pickle said. “At the same time, you have to understand how to win and still do the same things that have got you to this point. You have to prepare the same way.”
Given the program’s recent history, Pickle said he and the coaches are still working to teach the Trojans how to handle success. New Hope has won four, three, and four games each of the past three seasons. He said his job at New Hope is completely different from the work he was a part of at Aberdeen, which was a complete rebuild, and at Morton, where she said there was a lot of negativity and youth.
At New Hope, Pickle encountered a hungry bunch when he arrived, which made it easier to establish a new foundation.
“We had to try to sell them on the fact what it was going to take to get there,” Pickle said. “There is a difference between wanting it to happen and making it happen. We had to sell them on the fact of believing and what it was going to take to get there.”
Pickle said New Hope has responded to adversity each week. He said the players are developing a better appreciation of how to take problems head on — and how to run through walls rather than around them — to reach their goal. Pickle hopes the Trojans can maintain that mind-set and avoid being their worst enemy. To do those things, he said New Hope will have to keep its intensity at a high level and continue to believe in what it is doing, even if the walls get higher or thicker.
“When we started the season, our mind-set was let’s put ourselves on the map,” Pickle said. “Let’s get people to notice we are for real and whenever they have us on the schedule they know it is going to be a ballgame. We talked to them last week about being the hunted and the hunter. Whenever you are sitting there and you have three wins, those are some pretty good teams, and whenever you beat teams like that you become the hunted. When you are the hunted, you have to be extra cautious and you have to be on your toes even more.
“I don’t think the walls necessarily get bigger. I think the expectations get higher, which you end up putting more pressure on yourself. In the same sense, it is just another ballgame. It is the next game. It is a challenge we have to go through. I don’t think we are going to have any more pressure than we have.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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