Football fans get first look at 2021 Lions

Football fans will get their first look at the 2021 Lockhart Lions at 5:30 p.m. Thursday night, when the varsity players take the field for an intrasquad scrimmage.
The Lions followed a playoff-qualifying season in Head Coach and Athletic Director Todd Moebes’ first season with a winless COVID-shortened campaign in 2020, losing six games by 14 points or less against stiff competition.
“It’s hard to compare the two seasons,” Moebes said. “Our non-district schedule got a heck of a lot tougher, and our district schedule got tougher, too. We were in nearly every single game we played, we just didn’t finish. We’re working on details so that we’ll be able to do that, and it will all come together.”
With senior starting QB Jackie Edwards Jr. graduating, the maroon-white game will give spectators a look at three different potential starting signal callers. Dillon Evans returns from the varsity squad, Hunter Dunn is moving up from JV, and Ashton Dickens started on last year’s freshman team.
“Those three guys are battling it out and we’re excited about the competition there,” Moebes said. “I wouldn’t say anything will be determined until August. It takes a while to develop a quarterback. It takes a lot of time, and a lot of reps. So we’re just trying to use all of those we can.”
Using multiple quarterbacks is not out of the question in 2021 if that’s what gives Lockhart the best chance to win.
“We’ve either got to find a guy we can trust to do that, or develop it by committee,” Moebes said. “Everybody’s got their own plan and what they think should work. I just want to do the plan that’s best for the 2021 Lockhart Lions. If that means we have to have a couple of different packages, play a couple different people, if that makes us the most effective, fantastic. We need to find what fits us right now and create depth at every position.”
The Lions have at least one more year left in their current alignment, which has been tough. Lockhart finished 5-5 overall in 2018 and 6-4 in 2019 before last season’s 0-8 record. Alignments are up for review in February 2022.
Moebes expects competition this year to be tough, but says his focus remains on his team.
“We have to be able to create an identity,” he said. “I think we know who we want to be and I how we want to develop our systems offensively and defensively.
“We just have to find the identity of who the 2021 Lockhart Lions are going to be, and after that, we can branch into being a little more creative.”