Although they will be playing in Division 5A, only 27 players will take the field Friday night when the Wildcats from Fort Worth's Young Men's Leadership Academy play the team's first varsity football game.
"We're going to try our best to do the best that we can," said 16-year-old junior Jason Cheeves, who will play both defensive end and wide receiver for the Wildcats.ma
The Wildcats will take on Chisholm Trail, which will have 55 players on the field Friday night.
"We're not going to have as many kids as a lot of other people have, but you can only have 11 on the field at once so we have 11," said Wildcats head coach Joseph Heath. "We'll go up there and we'll give it our best shot, and we'll play hard and let the chips fall where they may."
The Young Men's Leadership Academy — a Fort Worth Independent School District school of choice — doesn't yet have a senior class, and only about 120 boys are enrolled in grades 9 through 11.
But because the school is part of the Fort Worth ISD, the University Interscholastic League rules have the Wildcats playing in Division 5A, where many teams can field twice as many players.
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"The UIL has a stipulation that if you do not have an attendance zone, which we do not, then you go into the classification of the largest school in your school district. And in Fort Worth, that's Paschal," explained Heath. "So, we were originally placed in 6A even though we have the numbers of a small 3A school. We got opted into the Fort Worth district in 5A which helps some."
Many of the Wildcats will play both offense and defense.
"We try our best to make every tackle, force fumbles, turnovers so we can shock the rest of the big schools and say why are we in the league, it's no joke," Cheeves said. "We really want to be out here for Fort Worth football."
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Chisholm Trail in the Eagle Mountain–Saginaw Independent School District.
"I know it's gonna be challenging. I accept that challenge and do the best I can," starting quarterback Bryan Cottingim said.
One of the challenges for the Wildcats is the conditions in which they practice.
"It's the micro and macro," explained Heath. "We don't have a big weight room. Our locker room is under construction."
The list of issues also includes mismatched practice uniforms and an uneven practice field.
"There are some parts that are a little wavy, but we have lines on it," Heath said. "And if we ever play anywhere that has a dip in it, it will be to our advantage."
All of that, Heath says, is the micro.
"Those are the small things," he said. "When it comes to it, those things don't make a difference on Friday night.”
What does make a difference is much bigger. It's the heart in his players; their belief that they are already winners.
"We are together as a team. We're brothers," said Cottingim."We have the type of chemistry that I believe we can be one of the top schools, not just in the district, but in the nation."
"They made a commitment when they came here to better themselves in education. And when they play sports, they made a dedication to the football field or the basketball court, and I'm proud of them for that," said Heath. "One of the main focuses of the leadership academy is competition and these kids are focused, laser focused all the time on their studies, their test scores. They'll be ready to play."
