The defending 5A state champions opened their 2024-25 season on Tuesday against Panther Creek, but despite leading for more than 30 minutes, the Redhawks fell short 30-28. 

For head coach Ross Reedy, the game provides an opportunity to highlight specific areas which need improvement in order to improve.

“We played well in spots, there are some things we haven’t been able to see or emulate in practice that when we ran up against the game we kind of struggled,” Reedy said. “We had an early lead of 24-11 after half, but didn’t have enough offensively to finish off the game. The big thing you have to do early in the season is take small pieces of the game we struggled on and expand so that we know how to function and operate.”

For sophomore Danivea Hughes, the recent game was a great teaching moment.

“It wasn’t a bad outcome, it was definitely a learning experience, as it was our first game,” Hughes said. “[I’m going to] continue to practice, continue to learn, and continue to focus on the little details for the next game.”