SABINE PASS — The more that Sabine Pass’ football players can forget about 2017, the better the season may turn out for the Sharks.

Anything that’s more like 2016 would suit them just fine.

“We’re definitely going to pick up off of what we did that year,” senior linebacker/offensive lineman Logan Odom said. “We’ll look at the things we did last year and try to redo them this year, but improve on those things.”

The Sharks two years ago had their most successful season since 1983 in posting a 6-5 record and making it to the UIL 2A Division II playoffs.

In 2017, their season was nearly washed out thanks to Tropical Storm Harvey. The Sharks had begun preseason camp with fewer than 10 players but had gained enough to start the season, only for the weakened but devastating hurricane to make landfall during opening-game week.

Sabine Pass finally started its season last Oct. 13 with a 53-6 win over Burkeville, but did not score a point in its remaining four games. Due to attrition through injuries and players needing to help their families recover from Harvey, a healthy team of 21 players dwindled to 14 by season’s end.

Fifteen showed up for Monday’s opening practice, a high number for the start of Sharks’ camp compared to recent years. Jason Thibodeaux, who’s starting his third season in his second head coaching stint at the school, is expecting up to 22 players to be ready for the Aug. 31 opener at Pasadena First Baptist.

“We’ve had a few guys who’ve called in and said they’re still out of town, but they’ll be here in the next couple of days,” Thibodeaux said. “They have to make sure they get their 10 days they need before they can play an actual game, which we have enough time to do that if they get here on time.”

Even with small numbers, the Sharks won’t be small on experience. Only one senior graduated from the 2017 team.

“The more people we get in practice, the less we’ll have to struggle with in practice,” Odom said. “We’ll get to see more people get experience. So those who don’t get into the game and have to get in the game, [we’ll have] those kinds of situations.”

Thibodeaux is more concerned about the size of his team than he is how many are on the team. With the number of returnees, he won’t worry about changing his offense or defense to fit a team where every player has to play on both sides of the ball.

“As Logan usually says, if that’s all we have, that’s all we need,” Thibodeaux said. “If that’s all we have, we’re going to have to be bigger than them, stronger than them and faster than any opponent we face this year.”

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews