Spring Football: Freeport seniors want to go out winning

By TRAVIS DOWNEY

travisd@nwfdailynews.com

FREEPORT - For the seven seniors on the Freeport High football roster, next season is not only their last in the Bulldogs' orange and blue jerseys.

The 2008 season is also their last chance to savor what for so long has eluded them - a winning season.

During their freshmen year, Freeport finished 5-5.

From there, the Bulldogs' record plummeted in each of the following seasons, going 3-7 in 2006 and 2-8 last fall.

"It's real tough," rising senior Jameson Henshaw said following Wednesday's practice. "All of us have used it as motivation because this is our last year and we want to go out with a bang."

Seventh-year head coach Jim Anderson's club returns a host of defenders as well as seven starters on offense.

Junior running back Nathan Hendrickson is back as is fellow junior Cole Weeks at quarterback.

It was in last season's opener at South Walton that Weeks was thrust into immediate action after an injury to the Bulldogs' starter, Logan Caudill.

The situation under center was far from ideal, as Weeks, then only a sophomore, started the final nine games last season.

For Weeks, each proved to be a painful step in the maturation process.

"He was forced to grow up," Anderson recalled. "He was either not going to play anymore or get tougher - he got tougher."

Weeks said he was only trying to do his part.

"I was just thinking I had to step it up and do the best I could and help my guys out," Weeks said.

Not the most physically intimidating of quarterbacks, Weeks got by on grit and a surprisingly strong right arm.

"He's not scared," Henshaw said. "He's got a real good arm."

During Wednesday's practice with the team working in goal line situations, Weeks deftly picked apart the Bulldogs' scout secondary.

On one play, Weeks fired a dart to one receiver in the end zone before lobbing an arching spiral into the back corner of the end zone to another Freeport wideout on the next.

All while possessing the calm and cool body language of a senior.

It was only practice, and the Bulldogs' season will not officially begin for another few months.

 But for the seven Freeport seniors whose amount of tomorrows lessens by the day, those passes offered hope.

"We know it's going to go by quick," said Joe Hahr, himself a senior. "And we only have one more year to make our stand."