The Memphis Cyclones are filled with hometown pride

MEMPHIS, Texas (KFDA) - In football, success is measured by the number of points you put on the board and the number of yards you fight for inch by inch.

Coach David Juardo measures the success of his team in a different way, by the players they become and the men they evolve into.

“It’s been great, these kids, whatever we think of, we raise the bar each week and each year, they rise to it, so I’m excited for them,” said Coach Juardo. “Our staff has been great, they’ve been doing whatever we ask, so it’s been good, so I’m excited to see where we’re at.”

A former Memphis Cyclone himself, Juardo takes his job a little more serious than the average gridiron enthusiast, making sure everything he does gives the community something to be excited about.

“Our alumni’s great, I was born and raised here, a lot of these guys, I have another three guys on staff that were born and raised, so they came back home.” said Juardo. "You know it’s fun, our guys love it, the older guys, we got a group text, are always checking in on how the boys are doing so everybody is big on the Cyclones, so we are hoping to put out a good product for everybody to be proud of.”

And it’s because of Coach Juardo’s attitude that his players have adopted the same mutual respect for him and the community they play for.

"I was born and raised here, so it means a lot, this whole football team, this town revolves around the football team, they come out and watch two-a-days and come out every Friday night with support,” said junior running back Christian Lockhart.

Senior wide receiver Jalen Drew is another player who has a large amount of the respect for the culture that has been instilled into this team, and a large part of that is because of the coaches on staff.

"Probably my coaches. One is Coach Alexander because he has always helping me keep my head up, making me laugh when times are down, and everybody else made the times fun.” said Drew.

When push comes to shove, these guys are all competitors, and they want to win as many games as possible while having the best of times.

“It’s been a blessing. I've never once thought that going into this profession that I’d come home, but the man upstairs brought me home and he knows what he’s doing and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.” said Juardo. “So we're going to ride this train as long as we can, and we're going to make these kids better people and make this community proud of us and just keep on going.”

Memphis will start off its season on the road against Spearman on August 30th at 7:30 p.m.

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