It did not take long for the Boyd Yellowjackets to face their first adversity of the season. Defensive leader Garrett Ragsdale was lost in the Lindsay scrimmage with a foot injury and will be out at least till the district opener.

The setback hits the biggest concern the Yellowjackets have this young season – depth.

“We found out it was broke, so he will be out until district,” Boyd head coach Brandon Hopkins said. “We are always one or two guys getting hurt from being in trouble.”

Boyd will be forced to get through the early part of a tough schedule without their starting middle linebacker.

That difficult stretch begins Friday as Boyd travels to Gunter for a 7:30 kickoff.

With everything else going on, Hopkins also begins his tenure as head coach Friday night, but he has not had too much time to reflect on it.

“I’ve been doing this long enough, that even though I wasn’t the head guy I got into a routine,” Hopkins said. “I haven’t thought about it much [first game as head coach], I just want to have them prepared and ready to play.”

The match-up with Gunter has been a regular start to the season for Boyd the past few seasons and Hopkins looks forward to it.

“It has been a big physical game the past few years,” Hopkins said. “They will come right at you and try to run it down your throat.”

The Tigers will be young after losing a lot of kids to graduation off their 10-3, regional finalist team.

“They are still physical up front, but not as much size as in the past,” Hopkins said. “We have to limit their yards and get stops.”

When the Boyd offense gets their hands on the ball, they will look to go to their leader.

“We’ve got to get the ball to Fino Cardona,” Hopkins explained. “He will get a lot of touches and we have to protect Blake [McDonald] up front.”