Pirates look to win against PG

Submitted by Pittsburg1 on
By Cory Smith
 
The Pirates will start their season this Friday against the Pleasant Grove Hawks at 7:30 p.m. in Pleasant Grove. The Pirates are coming off of a 5-7 season with a trip to the playoffs, where they were crowned Division II finalists. The Pirates will return 19 letterman; with eight returning starters on offense and seven on defense.
Head Coach Dickey Meeks is looking to expand on last year’s season and has some expectations for this year’s squad. Coach Meeks said he saw some good things and some areas for improvement in the Pirates scrimmage against Carthage.
I’ve got to look at both sides, good and bad. I thought we were real aggressive and we have a lot more depth this year. Some of the little things like lining up offside,the things that are not seen until they happen. I think we need to be a little more attentive there and that will come with more practice time.” Coach Meeks said he can already tell a big difference from last year’s team and this year’s team.
“This team had a full year of our off season program and I think that’s important as far as body conditioning and knowing the way we want to work and the speed we want to run in practice. It wasn’t those guys fault last year; they weren’t able to get in a full offseason program with us.” Pleasant Grove is under new management this year as they bring in Josh Gibson from Frisco ISD. Coach Meeks said their offense is unique. “They’re running what you’d call the old “Wing-T” offense with some innovations. It’s a really hard offense to get ready for, especially nowadays because you don’t see it anymore. It’s hard to prepare in three or four days for that.”
The Pirates haven’t decided on a commander-in-chief for the offense yet, having a choice between a pair of juniors in Billy Kimble and Caleb Banks. 
“We haven’t made a decision yet; we’ll look back at both of the scrimmages and look there. Both of those guys are good athletes so the one that’s not playing quarterback will probably be starting at another position. There is a good chance that you’ll see both guys for the first few games to help us decide,” said Meeks.
As mentioned, Josh Gibson has been brought in to be the new head man at Texarkana-Pleasant Grove after their former coach, Mark Davis left to become the offensive coordinator at Carthage. Coach Gibson comes from Frisco High School where he served as offensive coordinator under his father, Vance Gibson, who serves as head coach. Gibson said implementing his program at Pleasant Grove hasn’t been a problem.
“It’s been no issue, the administrators have just been awesome to me and my family and the kids have been just as awesome. We had about a 95 percent participation rate for our two-a-days and that just speaks volumes.” Pleasant Grove is coming off a 2-8 season and is looking to rebound and make a statement this season.
“I think this team has the capability to make the playoffs, I know that’s bold coming off of a poor season, but I have confidence in our team and our staff,” said Gibson. The biggest change for Pleasant Grove will be at the quarterback spot as last year’s signal caller Hunter Hatfield moves to fullback and Jacob Smith will come over from the linebacker spot to take over the quarterback position. The Hawks will return five starters on each side of the ball and Gibson is ready to build his program.
“We want to grow this program and our kids and make this a special place in Northeast Texas. We want to focus on being smart and surprise a lot of people in this area.” “I know the people in Pittsburg realize it, but they have a good man and a great coach in Coach Meeks and I know he’s going to do great things in Pittsburg,” said Gibson.

 

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