Seahawks hoping to rewrite history when they host Baker Friday

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) -Among the teams hosting its regular season opener come Friday night, is the Seahawks of South Walton. They take on Baker in that one. Coach Tisa and company coming off a bit of a disappointing kickoff classic four nights ago, losing to Pope John Paul the Second 19-17. Most coaches will tell you they look for their team to make significant progress between the first and second games. Even though last Friday was an exhibition, well let’s just say coach Tisa is hoping that saying holds true this week because after watching the game film this weekend, one thing was obvious.

“That we have a lot of work to do.” says Tisa. “We’re not the same team offensively that we have been the past couple of years. So that’s gonna be an adjustment for us. You know I do think we played hard defensively against a very athletic team. So felt good about that. But then there’s still a lot of areas that we can improve on, in all three facets of the game.”

The defensive side of the ball is key in this opener, as Baker comes east with that high powered running attack, led by Kayleb Wagner. He’s the back who in last year’s 49-49 win over the Seahawks rushed for a new Florida single game rushing record of 535 yards. Tisa and company are committed to preventing any kind of repeat of that Friday night!

“You know I think we’ll put together a better showing this year.” the coach told me via Zoom this week. “I do think you know we started a lot of young guys on defense last year. So those guys now have a year of experience under their belts. I expect that we will not let him rush for another 500 yards again this time around. Kayleb is a phenomenal athlete. But we also did a lot of things to put ourselves in bad positions and to make his life a lot easier than it should have been. You know if you look back at that game if we just don’t give up one of those 80+ yard touchdowns, we win the game.”

Regardless the opponent, coach Tisa says both the fans and the players alike are excited the regular season is finally here.

“It gets old going against each other at practice every day. And going are often against our defense. You know so to get to prepare for an opponent each week is great for coaches, the kids get an opportunity to hit somebody in a different colored jersey. And if anything is evident by the fan base that showed up this past Friday for a kickoff classic, this place was packed and it was jumping. You know I think everybody’s ready to get back to some Friday night lights.”

The Coach says he hasn’t decided on his starting qb. with that battle between Carson Hawk and Wells Bettenhausen. He’s still hoping one of them sets himself apart this week to make the decision a little easier. That game with Baker Friday set for 7 and is one of several we’ll feature on Friday Night Overtime.

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