SOUTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA — It seems like less-than a week ago that area football teams finally were able to take the practice-field on Aug. 8 to get started with the official 2024 North Dakota prep football calendar for Dickinson High, Trinity, Heart River, Richardton-Taylor, Beach, Killdeer, Bowman County, Hettinger/Scranton and Hettinger County ..
. and while it was, indeed, less than a week ago, all those squads were mostly field-ready because of summer programs and other preparations that help North Dakota schools hit the ground running with autumn and winter right around the corner. Everybody has their traditions to start each football season, with Hettinger/Scranton — for example — hosting a midnight-Thursday “football-under-the-lights” event that saw the Nighthawks take the field as soon as permitted, while other local schools were on the field on Aug.
8 from – basically – the break-of-dawn. “What I’ve seen so far is just dedication, and we haven’t had anybody miss a practice yet ..
. overall our attendance is up,” Nighthawks head football coach Jason LeFebre said. “There’s a lot of excitement and the kids are ready to rock-and-roll; they’re hooting and hollering and it’s good to hear the sounds and smell the smells.
” He added, with a laugh,” Some of them are nasty smells, but football is back.” Notable for all the teams was the beautiful weather the last few days, which lasted through the weekend and early this week, as pleasant tempera.