Young Paris team is moving in the right direction

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - In Tyquan Rice’s first season at Paris, the Greyhounds won four games. It was an improvement for a program that had won only three games in the two previous seasons combined.

“Everybody judges your program on wins and loses, but really like I said, we want our guys to compete,” said Rice. “You know we can be outclassed. We just don’t want to be outworked.”

Working hard will be key to building back the program.

“We build on that this year by working even harder and hitting even harder,” said lineman Corde Patterson. “As you can see, we were hitting hard, and we can hit even harder.”

Numbers are always a concern in Class 1A, and the Greyhounds will lean on their youth this season.

“You know we’re a young team,” said Rice. “We have two seniors. So we’re extremely young, but you know, here’s the thing, win or lose, we just want them to compete, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Sophomore Kaden Fredrick moves from defense to offense this season to take over the quarterback position.

“It’s been a challenge, you know, not because of the team but my individual,” said Fredrick. “I got a lot of things to work on, but we’re making it. It’s a game of inches.”

One thing Fredrick is confident in is his teammates around him.

“You know I got a lot of weapons on me,” said Fredrick. “I got everybody outside. I got my backfield, and I got my line. So I think we’re pretty set.”

Paris has a long and proud history in football, and the players want to uphold that tradition.

“We uphold that by studying our history, and then just making sure that we live by the Paris history rules,” said Patterson, " work hard no matter what, persevere, and just keep on working.”

Copyright 2022 WKYT. All rights reserved.