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Hundred Ready to Sting Again on Football Field

Hornets to field varsity team for 2016 season

By CODY TOMER

Staff Writer

HUNDRED — Varsity football is back at Hundred High School.

After not fielding a team at all during the 2014 campaign and only playing a junior varsity schedule last year, the Hornets are buzzing and ready to get back in full swing.

“We are a small school with not a lot to pick from for football so we get waves of kids playing one year and waves of kids not playing the next,” coach Greg Hostutler said. “Last year I think we were able to get kids interested with the junior varsity team. They saw how much fun the kids had playing football and they got on board.”

A year ago, Hundred put together a jayvee team of 22 kids, in what Hostetuler said to be an attempt to get the program back on track. It worked.

This year, 30-35 kids are looking to be suiting up for HHS and they have been working hard in the offseason to be ready for the first kickoff.

“We had a new weight room put in and the kids have been dedicated and have great attitudes,” Hostutler said. “Some of the kids who weren’t eligible really buckled down last year to become better students and I admire their hard work in the classroom as well.

“We have a good group of boys. They are respectable and they get along great with each other on and off the field.”

Coach Hostutler is expecting around seven or eight seniors to take the field in the upcoming year, with a large freshman class filling out the roster.

“I believe that the line will be the strength of the team with strong senior leadership,” the coach said. “We won’t be spreading the ball out that much but we will be a solid running team behind that line, although we do have a quarterback with a strong arm who could make plays for us.

“I think our weakness could be the lack of experience elsewhere. Last year helped with a lot of the kids never playing before. At first, they had the “deer in the headlights” look on their faces but in the last jayvee game of the season, they communicated better and the light bulb just turned on. It was like night and day.”

Hostutler has been coaching football since 1992 and was an assistant coach for the Hornets before the program was discontinued. He then took an assistant coaching position at Clay-Battelle in the 2014 season and missed the playoffs by just one game. However, when he heard that Hundred was looking to make a comeback, he couldn’t stay away.

“I enjoyed my time with Coach Wilson at Clay-Battelle but I just felt like my heart was here,” he said. “I played ball here, I live here and I wanted to help get the program back on track and hopefully be competitive.”

In West Virginia, Friday nights in the fall are meant for high school football and not filling the stands to cheer on their team was also hard on the fans.

“The community was hurting for football,” Hostutler said. “Not having football at the end of the week was tough but the fans are definitely going to come support us. I told one of the players that you won’t even be able to see the grass on the hillside behind the bleachers because the stands will be packed with people. I just wanted to give him an example of how it will be on a Friday night with varsity football.”

The Hornets will get to experience that crowd Aug. 26, when Cameron comes to town to start the season. With Hundred fans hungry for football, it is sure to be a packed house.

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