Brook Hill prepares for a new season of football while drilling at practice on Wednesday.

BULLARD — For most schools, football players arrive at the field for practice and after a few hours, they’re gone for the remainder of the day.

Their coaches and teammates likely don’t see them again until the next day.

But for the Brook Hill Guard, a few hours together on the field each day isn’t enough to build cohesiveness and team chemistry.

So on Sunday night, the entire team checked in to the boarding house located at the Brook Hill School. And through Wednesday, they remained together, as a team.

“We’ve done this every year since I’ve been here, except last year because of COVID,” Brook Hill head football coach Scott Ryle said. “It’s a great way for our team to come together, especially being a boarding school and having some kids come overseas and not being able to see them all summer. It’s a great way to build a team.”

While there is definitely time spent on the practice field, there are plenty of activities away from the field, as well.

“We did a talent show last night (Tuesday), and we bowled yesterday,” Ryle said. “It’s a great way for them to get together, to have fun together outside of the field. It’s been a great way to start the season.”

Senior running back/linebacker Nick LaRocca said it was great to be able to experience a true camp-like setting once again.

“Me and a bunch of the upperclassmen were talking about it, and we think that this year is the closest we’ve ever been, especially since we didn’t get to go through this last year,” LaRocca said. “Everyone was super excited to come into the houses, not even just from a football standpoint. We’ve come a lot closer as a team.”

On the field, it wasn’t an ideal start for the Guard, thanks to some inclement weather.

After checking in, they hit the field at 12:05 a.m. Monday and practiced for about 45 minutes before lightning forced them back inside. They returned to the field a little later before weather once again created problems. The Guard went back to the rooms and got some sleep before returning to practice at 3 p.m. Weather forced the team back inside. After eating, Brook Hill got to return to practice at 7 p.m. and finished at 9:30 p.m.

“I’ve been waiting since football ended last season for it to come back,” LaRocca said. “It’s my favorite sport. Coming out here, it’s my last season playing with all of these guys, it’s kind of surreal. I feel like yesterday was my freshman year. I’m just super excited for the season and super excited to get out there with all of the guys.”

Once the weather began to cooperate, Ryle said he liked how practices went for his team.

“I’ve been really pleased with how we’re coming along,” Ryle said. “We had quite a few graduate, some key players. I’m excited about some of our younger guys stepping up and some of the new faces on the team. We’ve got a long way to go, but I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks.”

Brook Hill was 4-3 during a shortened 2020 season. The Guard have seven starters back on each side of the football, along with several newcomers.

“We’ve got to solidify our up front,” Ryle said. “That’s the big question mark. We have some guys that may be sliding in some different positions. That’s a big thing we’ve been concerned about all summer, but I’m excited about the group that we have, but we also have a lot of work to do.”

LaRocca has big goals for his team during his final high school season.

“Win a championship of course,” he said. “That’s the goal every year, a state title.”

Brook Hill will host Wills Point in the season opener on Aug. 27.

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