Seventy Mustangs hit the field on day one of workouts

The Mustangs are working toward another winning season.

Pride is alive and well in Mustang Country, as a program record 70 athletes hit the field for Natalia Football 2018! This marks the highest first day attendance in program history according to records available.
Coming off the first playoff appearance a season ago since 2003, new Head Coach Ilyan Martinez is determined to continue by not only trusting the process they have had in place the last six years, but building Mustang Country into a Championship Culture year in and year out in the athletic department.
The days of “not knowing how to win” are out the door and this was evident when you walked onto the practice field Monday morning.
You had young men hungry for the season to arrive, as their up-set loss in Bi-District to Skidmore-Tynan is still fresh on the minds of the boys in blue.
“I am excited about the first day of practice,” Coach Martinez said. “We had a bunch of kids come out and they did a great job of rising to the new expectations of our program. While we have some new coaches and are doing some things differently, the one constant hasn’t changed and that’s how our kids go about their business.”
Martinez who served the last six years as the Defensive Coordinator has taken over as the head man in 2018 and his staff was energized and organized as has this program been since it began a true culture change six seasons ago.
“This was one of the best first days I have been a part of and that is a credit to our kids being prepared and locked in as well as the staff being extremely prepared and detailed in their organization.”
Coach Martinez was asked his thoughts on their areas of strength as well as possible areas of concern on day one. He had the following to say:
“We have a ton of depth right now which is a positive obviously,” Martinez said. “We have a lot of talented kids now at every position and that is making practice very competitive and that excites me. We are on the other hand, young and inexperienced. We are going to rely on some young kids to come through for us. I have no doubt our staff will be ready to go.”
Natalia will continue workouts for the remainder of the week and into Saturday before preparing for their first scrimmage of the season next Friday at home vs. the Brackett Tigers.
Natalia will round out scrimmage action on Thursday, August 23 on the road vs. the Sabinal Jackets as the two square off for the first time in 10+ seasons.
“I am excited about the direction of our program and how well our kids have responded to transition,” Martinez said. “We have a special group of kids and coaching staff here and I am grateful to be a part of them. We have Championship expectations across the board for our program.” #TTP #ChampionshipCulture
By Eric Smith