Coming off a home scrimmage against Columbus last week, the next time the Sealy Tiger football team hits Mark A. Chapman Field at T.J. Mills Stadium, it will be for Friday’s regular-season opener against the Brazosport Exporters at 7:30 p.m.

Head Football Coach Shane Mobley said there were plenty of positives to take away from the final action of the preseason, but one of the biggest takeaways was the respect earned by those lower on the depth chart.

“The guys that are maybe still bubble guys between JV or varsity, they’ll earn some respect from the guys tonight when they go into the locker room,” Mobley said Thursday. “The guys that are going to be starting on Friday night, we’re going to have film on them to show why they’re going to start on Friday night over someone else. Selfishness can kill a program and so if the kids understand and they’re all one team and one unit, that’s huge.”

Mobley said the best thing he saw from his defense was 11 helmets converging on the ball carrier nearly every play.

“We were a lot more aggressive this week – which we needed – and I’ve still got to watch the film, but what I did like about what I saw was that we had 11 guys to the football, a lot better than we did last week and it’s got to continue to get better,” Mobley said.

That pack mentality is likely going to be a key to victory for Sealy Friday night in the eyes of the head coach. Mobley said after a group of coaches scouted Brazosport, senior quarterback Jamerian Knoxon will look to give the Tiger defense fits through the air and on the ground between scrambling and read options.

“They’ve got some tremendous size on their offensive and defensive line, their quarterback is a tall kid, he’s probably 6’ 3” and throws a really good ball,” Mobley said Monday. “He’s kind of like D’vonne (Hmielewski), he’s a triple-threat quarterback that can stand in the pocket and throw it, he’s probably more dangerous when he’s scrambling on the run and then they do a lot of read stuff, some power read, zone read with him where he keeps it and likes to run the ball.”

Hmielewski and the Sealy offense will look to put up the points on their side of the scoreboard to make another game against the Exporters interesting.

The Tigers were supposed to open the season against Brazosport last year but Tropical Storm Laura’s impending impact canceled school in Freeport for three days leading up to the game which forced a cancellation.

In the teams’ previous four meetings, each team has won two games but since Mobley took over before the 2017 season, the Exporters hold a 2-1 advantage. Sealy won the 2016 meeting 32-29 in double overtime, Brazosport won the next meeting 54-48, then the Tigers won 40-14 in 2018 before the Exporters won on a last-minute field goal in 2019, 21-20, to hand Sealy its first regular-season loss in 700 days.

“That (2019) team probably had the best defensive player I’ve ever seen in their safety (Kevin) Davis, and his little brothers on the team this year (Tishaun),” Mobley said. “But they’re like us numbers-wise, they’re not carrying a whole lot on their varsity roster so they’re going to have guys that go both ways. For us, I think what it’ll come down to is I hope we’re going to be better conditioned. That’s something that we’ve always taken pride in.”

Mobley said there is also pride in taking the field at T.J. Mills Stadium Friday night, an aspect he tries not to take for granted.

“We’re excited, we’re all blessed to be a part of this program in this community and I know there’s a lot of excitement in the air and it seems like every week we got a little bit closer and closer and now it’s finally here,” Mobley said. “Just coming back and getting ready to roll and let the kids play. A big key is, it’s probably going to be warm, so we’re telling them to stay hydrated and let them have fun and get after it.”

Stay tuned to The Sealy News’ social media accounts for live updates every Friday night and check sealynews.com for the full story from the game later that night.