The 2023 Ardmore Tigers recently held their Midnight Madness practice. The practice is the first padded practice for the teams and a chance for the community to come out for their first glimpse at this years team. Ardmore head coach Jonathan Snider liked what he saw from his team under the lights at Cooper Field.

Snider admits taking the idea to Ardmore after leaving the Athens High School program. He plans on continuing the tradition as he feels that it is a great opportunity for the kids and the community. He said that last Friday’s Midnight Madness drew the largest crowd thus far.

“Year one, people were showing up to just see how crazy I was for doing something at midnight but also it tickled their interest on what it actually was. It has grown substantially over the past couple of years,” Snider said.

“It shows our community support. People that are excited about football and we even had folks not associated with our program, folks from other schools, that showed up to see. It’s a really cool event and our kids get excited about it. The older I get, the harder it is to recover but we do things for our players and there was some excitement in the air the other night,” he said.

The first padded practice is an opportunity for the players to be a little more physical with fewer limitations although Snider said the practice isn’t much different than normal.

“For the first time we were in full pads and ready to go. I thought we had a good night and our kids responded to what we asked them to do. We were fortunate to get out with any kind of injury and that’s always positive as well,” he said.

Snider had some positive take aways after Midnight Madness. He felt the 2023 team, as a whole, was more physical than in years past and was impressed with the players’ tenacity, especially during their “Oklahoma drill.”

“We put a guy in front of another kid and then make him get off a block and make a tackle. It’s a very contact oriented drill and I felt like for the first time in three years, collectively as a group, we didn’t have anybody shy away from it,” he said. “It was pretty physical at the point of attack. People were running the ball well and hard. People were coming down hill attacking the ball carrier, which is what you want.”

He added, “It was a very positive thing for our program and for our kids and hopefully we utilize it as a catapult moving forward over the next couple of weeks.”

The Ardmore Tigers will get tested early as they kick-off the season at home with their big county rival, the West Limestone Wildcats.

“Coach Davis does a great job over there. Their kids are hard-nosed, their tough, their physical. It’s a rivalry and all our kids know their kids. It’s one of those reasons you enjoy the Friday night lights. It’s going to be a great atmosphere here at Ardmore at Cooper Field, and I just hope our kids are ready and will be able to play up to our capability come Aug. 25.”