Raper, Belgreen aiming to continue improving budding football program in year two

Belgreen High School’s inaugural year of football in 2023 set a foundation. Now Belgreen, which released its tentative 2024 varsity and junior high schedules last week, is looking to continue building, both figuratively and literally, heading into year two.

“We started from scratch last year, and a lot of our kids were really young. You know, 99 percent of them had never played football before,”  said Belgreen head coach Jonathan Raper, who took over the fledgling program after 11 seasons as Phil Campbell’s head baseball coach. “From the simplest things like technique—how to catch the football, how to throw it. We did a lot of that kind of stuff.

“We had a good year with these kids last year, and I feel like right now, from where we started out, we’re night and day ahead of where we were last season,” Raper added. “We still have a long way to go, but now we’ve got an idea of how to run an offense, how to run a defense, and things like that.”

Belgreen did not hold spring practices, but the Bulldogs are going to work this summer in preparation for the fall, Raper said.

“We didn’t do anything in the spring so that we could start earlier with regular practice in the fall,” he said. “Since school’s been out we’ve been going three days a week and we’ll continue that until the end of July when we can then start full football.”

Last year the Bulldogs played a junior high schedule, but this year Belgreen has added a varsity schedule, as well. Currently the Bulldogs have seven varsity games and nine junior high games on the calendar. Belgreen is scheduled to play a number of local teams such as Tharptown, Phil Campbell, and Vina, as well as further flung schools like Sumiton Christian and Victory Christian in Pell City.

“I think we’ve got a good quality schedule that will give us a chance to measure where we’re at now compared to where we were at the end of last year,” Raper said. 

“I think it’s less about who we play and more about how we play against them. I think we’re going to be improved from where we were last year just because now we’ve played some football before,” he said. “There’s nothing like playing in an actual game. You can only do so much in practice.”

Belgreen, a Class 2A school, will not play a varsity region schedule this season and therefore will not be eligible for potential postseason play this year. 

“I think in a couple years we’ll be in a region and play in a region, but we’re just excited to continue to build so we’ll be ready to compete when we are playing in a region and have a chance to make the playoffs,” Raper said. “We’re going to do this this year and next year, and the following year after that we’re going to try to go full scale with 10 games and have a chance to compete in a region and all that stuff.”

While Raper continues his work on building up the Bulldog football team, others are making progress on the construction of the Belgreen football facilities. Between the varsity and junior high schedules, the Bulldogs have 10 home games listed. Belgreen is hopeful the stadium will be ready for kickoff in the fall.

“It’s supposed to be ready—I hope it’s ready,” Raper said. “We’ve got a brand new turf field and they’re putting up the lights. In the next couple weeks they’re supposed to come in and put up the bleachers. They’ve almost got the concession stand built, and I think the last thing they’ll start on is the field house. If you know about construction you know we’re at their mercy, but we hope it’s going to be ready.

“It’s going to be exciting to play here at home on a Friday night because there’s nothing else like it,” he added.

The focus, Raper said, is on improving a squad that is still early in development, but as the program continues to come together participation and enthusiasm around the team is growing. 

“We’re still a young team and a young program. We’ve just got to continue to learn the game of football and learn the fundamentals. We’ve got to learn our assignments, what we’re doing on this play or that play, and what our responsibilities are,” Raper said.

“But we’ve got more kids out this year than we had last year. We’ve got more kids out here working this summer,” he added. “We’re ready just to get it started up again, playing varsity football games, and getting everyone excited and involved.”