Midnight Madness practice at Westwood
It may be hard to believe, but the high school football season is upon us. Teams across Michigan will hold their first practices of the season later today, but one U.P. team just couldn’t wait to get started.
The Westwood Patriots held their annual ‘Midnight Madness’ practice just after midnight Monday morning. The players spent 90-minutes running up, down, and around the field doing various conditioning drills.
The ‘Midnight Madness’ practice has become a tradition at Westwood. Practicing with the moon in the sky to begin the season is something that the players and the coaches look forward to each and every year.
“To begin practice under the lights with the beautiful weather we’ve been having this week, it’s just a fantastic night for football,” said Patriots head coach John Jessen.
“It’s nice that everyone is out here playing around,” said Westwood quarterback Trevor Burke. “It’s nice that the seasons back and I’m excited.”
“It feels good because it’s like a family out here,” said Patriots running back Marquise Baggiore. “We just want to have fun and win games.”
“It’s nice to have the fans out here and the (Ishpeming Township) Fire Department out here supporting us,” said Westwood wing back Mitch Messing. “It’s a great community thing for us. I like it.”
Westwood begins the season Aug. 29 at Stephenson.