2023 Football Frenzy First Look: Athens Bulldogs

THE PLAINS, Ohio (WTAP) -

The Athens Bulldogs look to regain their status as a playoff contender in 2023, as they are coming off a 2-8 season in 2022. The team finished strong last season, winning two out of the final three games with the young players beginning to shine.

The Bulldogs enter the 2023 season with a lot of optimism, as those young players now have more experience in the system, and the team understands the identity they want to have.

“Effort, attitude, and toughness,” says head coach Nathan White. “We have fought really hard around here to be more physical, to be more disciplined, than we’ve been in the past and I think we have some kids buying into that right now. Physicality, excitement, having a great attitude every day, and being mentally and physically tougher.”

The Bulldogs open the season at home on Thursday against Philo, and the team is looking to make another playoff push. But White says a successful season is not defined strictly by their win-loss record.

“Do your kids go out and compete at the highest level they can every Friday?” White says. “You don’t really know that, and you can’t really measure that by wins and losses, you don’t know it until you turn on the tape and watch it and say, ‘Man our kids played really hard and played really well and did their job.’ I hope our kids come out every Friday and battle, that is really all I’m worried about.”

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