The month of August brings a new kind of practice for football teams preparing for the upcoming season. Starting August 1 at 12:00 a.m. sharp, teams are allowed to engage in full-contact drills with pads on.
To celebrate this, Utica High School holds an event called “Midnight Madness,” where at 11:59 p.m., players line up across from one another, and when the clock strikes twelve, they run and hit each other. Following this dramatic kickoff, the team participates in additional full-contact drills for the remainder of practice.
This tradition has been going strong for eight years. Head Coach Charlie Rowley said, “The seniors during my first year coaching requested that we do it and we have done it every year since.”
The practice under the moonlight isn’t the only exciting aspect for the team. To strengthen team bonding, the players stay overnight in the school following practice.
“Midnight Madness is the culmination of quite a bit of team bonding events that we have had over the last few weeks. We have had our lift-a-thon, toughness challenge, team camp at Ashland University, and Midnight Madness all within two weeks.” Rowley told the Mount Vernon News. “All of these events really help our team to grow closer together and I think the midnight practice does a great job of solidifying the growth as a team over the last few weeks.”
With full-contact hitting now allowed, practices are more intense than ever—and Midnight Madness was only the beginning.
“The kids are always fired up, which makes for a fun but also very productive practice,” said Rowley.
This productivity and intensity are just the beginning of what promises to be an exciting season, with the Redskins' first game scheduled at Centerburg on August 22.
