The Hays High football team was going to try again Tuesday morning. Monday evening’s first scheduled practice was called off due to inclement weather.

Indian coach Tony Crough, starting his eighth season, could not remember a previous time as either a coach or player that his team was unable to practice on the first day. A 1999 high school graduate of Garden City, Crough remembered two-a-day practices as being the norm and fall camp opening earlier than now.

“I think we started practice two weeks before school started,” Crough said. “You had a real fall camp feel.”

Crough expected about 100 players in uniform for Tuesday’s practice.

“It’s very manageable; it’s a good problem to have,” he said. “All the teams we compete against have 120-150 kids out.”

Expectations are high for the Indians after the program went 8-5 and made the Class 5A state championship game for the first time in school history last fall.

“Thes kids have had a taste now,” Crough said. “They know what it looks like, they know what it tastes like, they know what it feels like.”

HHS returns several key players on both sides of the ball. Crough expects junior Tanner Geist to have a big year at defensive tackle, while on the other side of the ball, junior Gus Corsair is expected to anchor the line at left guard and senior Holden Lind spearheads the attack at running back. At quarterback is senior Zane Viegra, a backup last year who broke his leg in the state semifinal game after the starter also was injured.

Crough tabbed rival Great Bend as the favorite to win the Western Athletic Conference race. HHS needed an opponent for the Sept. 12 home opener at its new stadium, and Choctaw, one of the top teams in Oklahoma and a defending state champion, will be coming to town.

Hays High opens the season Sept. 5 at Derby, then the Indians are on the road again the week after playing Choctaw, at Manhattan.

“It really is a gauntlet,” Crough said.