Fordson Football Program Builds Momentum Following 7-3 Season

DEARBORN — Though the Fordson High School varsity football roster may be considerably younger this year, Coach Fouad Zaban is hoping to build on the momentum from the Tractors' highly successful 7-3 season in 2012.

"One of the biggest challenges this year is replacing guys like Kassem Makki, Ali Farran, and Kamel Faraj, among others. But we have some good young kids that will need to step up. Also our depth is a concern at this point; we hope to have some younger kids come in and build that area of our team," Zaban said.

The Tractors are returning several key players to their line-up, including Hady Bandar, Jamil Sabbaugh, Salim Makki, Hussein Kdouh, Abdallah Jafal, Mehdi Shukr and Bilal Mroue.

Bandar finished last season with 122 total rushing yards, and helped lead the Tractors to their fourth Western Wayne Athletic Conference Blue Division championship.

Junior Abdallah Jafal also showed promise during the 2012 season, and was recently named as one of the D-Zone's "Players to Watch."

Zaban said last year's season is still fresh in his mind. After winning the Western Wayne Athletic Conference Blue Division championship, the team started to lose steam as their season wound down, dropping the final game of the regular season to Monroe in a heart-breaking 8-6 loss, and then losing a rematch with Dearborn High School in the first round of the state playoffs.

"What I learned most from last year is trying to prepare as many kids as possible to step in," Zaban said. "We were cruising last year and then the injury bug bit us and pretty much affected our play, and, more importantly, affected the way we coached.

"As the head coach I have to do a better job of being prepared for those types of situations. One way is making sure we prepare our No. 1 kid and our No. 4 kid the same way.

Zaban said its too early to make any predictions on the season, however he said he is looking forward to getting back on the field to face teams like Macomb Dakota High School, and of course, Dearborn.

"We play some tough teams starting with Macomb Dakota; that is a great program led by a terrific coach. The only prediction I have is that we will play hard," he said.

Fordson's opening game will take place at 7 p.m. at home. For more information, or to view a complete schedule of games, check out the athletic department's website at Fordson High School.