DILLON — The University of Montana Western football team began official fall practice on Aug. 10 for the 2012 season.
Head coach Ryan Nourse’s Bulldogs finished 2-9 overall and 2-8 in Frontier Conference play last season.
“Although it has been smoky and hot outside, the guys are working very hard,” Nourse said. “Twice-a-day practices are hard. You are up early in the morning and you don’t get to bed until late.”
Even with the lack of sleep, Nourse expects the guys to give everything they have at practice.
“The guys are doing a great job giving their best efforts on the field,” Nourse added. “There is a lot of competition this year, so everyone is being forced to compete for their spots, and the competition is fierce.”
Nourse expects the Bulldogs to be in the hunt for the conference championship this year.
“All we want, as a staff, is for the guys to give us a relentless effort,” Nourse said. “We have a very smart team this year, and we think that will give us every opportunity to win.”
The Bulldog gridiron squad will kick off their season with an away game in Ashland, Ore. against Southern Oregon University (SOU) on Sept. 1, at 1 p.m.
“We will prepare for SOU by knowing how they operate in general, but we will focus more on how we do stuff and focus on ourselves more than the opponent,” Nourse explained. “We need to do three things in order to win this game: we need to take care of the ball on offense, take the ball on defense and win the kicking game.”
— Montana Western Sports Information
