LIVE OAK — The Suwannee Bulldogs may not win any contests on looks alone.

Kyler Hall will admit that. But the second-year Suwannee head football coach believes that what the Bulldogs lack in size and stature, they will make up for with grit and determination and can, hopefully, win enough games to return to the playoffs and perhaps even capture the district championship.

“When you see us on Friday nights, you’re not really going to be blown away by our stature and how we look,” Hall said Monday at the Rotary Club of Live Oak’s meeting where he was the guest speaker. “Our receivers, our tallest one may be six foot. We’ve got a bunch of little guys like this that are quick, tough and run good routes.”

Part of the grit and determination that Hall has witnessed from the 2017 Bulldogs is a result from a disappointing finish a year ago.

Last year, Suwannee finished 6-4 but missed out on a handful of opportunities to capture the district championship and earn a playoff bid. The Bulldogs fell 40-20 to Yulee and then lost again to Yulee 15-14 in overtime during a three-team tiebreaker at Paul Langford Stadium. Both teams had already lost to Ribault during the tiebreaker.

“Looking back on it, and I tell our guys, I believe we got exactly what we deserved,” Hall said. “Looking back, I don’t know that we deserved to be district champions last year. Not because they were bad kids or anything like that, but you can’t cheat this game. You can’t cheat it. Whatever your preparation is, it’s going to show up.

“It really came down to a 2-point conversion in overtime of a three-team tiebreaker. All the preparation came down to one play and we didn’t get it done.”

That loss, that failure, has been a driving force for the 2017 Bulldogs.

“That sting doesn’t really leave you, but for our group and what we have coming back, I think that’s exactly where we needed to be,” Hall added. “It left that bad taste in their mouth. It left them with that sting. So we’ve had a really good offseason.

Suwannee 2017 schedule

“From the weight room to conditioning to our grades to our conduct, we have had a really good offseason.”

The offseason also provided Hall even more evidence that the current Bulldogs had something extra in them to help overcome some of those shortcomings in size or even experience.

At a 7-on-7 tournament at Wakulla, Suwannee limped through a rough morning in which it dropped all three of its games. Against the odds, the Bulldogs then went on an unbeaten run through the elimination round of the tournament to beat Madison County, Brookwood (Ga.), Rickards and Taylor County to win the title. Suwannee’s win against Brookwood came on a last-second play.

“There is something about these guys, I can’t quite put my finger on it yet on exactly what it is, but it’s something that you can’t exactly coach,” Hall said, adding that he talked with his father in between the two sessions and said that they’re day was about over. “I really didn’t say a whole lot those last three games. I wanted to see how our guys responded. And they really responded.

“Yeah, 7-on-7 is not real football. But it shows something that they have inside of them.”

What the Bulldogs also should have inside of them is unity. Prior to school beginning Aug. 10, Hall took the football team to Pickett Lake in Lafayette County for a three-day, two-night camp.

No cell phones were allowed as the Suwannee coaches wanted to see their players come together as a unit, much like it did when Hall played at Suwannee in the late 2000s.

He believes the trip achieved that purpose.

“If you want to talk, talk to each other,” Hall said of taking the players’ phones away. “If you want to sing a song, sing to each other. Everything is just together. We learned the fight song. Just bringing back some traditions that I think are special here. We used to sing the fight song after every game. So everybody on the team got up and sang the fight song. The coaches sang the fight song.

“It was a good experience.”

It had to be a better one than the memory Hall shared of Pickett Lake from when he was a player.

“One of the worst experiences ever was at Pickett Lake,” he recalled. “That was back when you could do multiple practices every day. So we had a four-a-day practice and it was beyond hot. I just had this massive headache, it was thumping on both sides and on top. My dad was giving out some Tylenol to kids that had some headaches and he’d give them a couple. Then I get up in the line and he said, ‘Nah, you’re good. You’re OK.’

“I have not forgotten that experience. His own son couldn’t get some Tylenol.”

Hall, though, hasn’t had many headaches with getting the Bulldogs ready for the 2017 season, which begins with a 7 p.m. kickoff against Gadsden County in the Kickoff Classic at Tallahassee’s Gene Cox Stadium today. Suwannee’s regular season opener is Aug. 25 at Fort White.

“I’m very thankful to be here,” he said. “I’m glad Year 1 is over with. There were a lot of things to work through and kind of process. Year 2 has been a much smoother start and hopefully it stays smooth.”

Part of that smooth season would be redemption within the district and a playoff berth as district champions. Hall said that is Suwannee’s clear-cut top goal, especially with the new playoff structure that is decided from a points system that is based on opponents’ winning percentages.

But for Hall and the Bulldogs, there is one way to cut through that clutter.

“If we’re district champions, we’re automatically in,” he said. “If we’re not district champs, then it’s up the point system.

“We’ll see how it goes but again, for us, district champion and you’re automatically in as a top 4 seed.”

And if that happens, the Bulldogs will be looking good.