CONWAY — Dayton Winn picked up yardage in bunches as a tailback for Pea Ridge over the past three seasons, helping the Blackhawks to one of the best seasons in school history this year.
But instead of breaking tackles, he hopes to be making tackles for the West in the 58th annual Arkansas High School Coaches Association High School All-Star Football game at 7 p.m. tonight in Estes Stadium.
Winn, who will play running back for Hendrix College in the fall, will play defensive back for the West tonight. But the position is not foreign to him. He was a two-way starter and almost never came off the field for the Blackhawks this season.
West coach Tony Travis knows all about Winn’s ability since he coached him at Pea Ridge, but he thought Winn could be more helpful for the West on defense.
“I know everybody wants to play quarterback or tailback,” Travis said. “I know Dayton wants to play running back. But the goal here is try to win a football game. When we sat down as a coaching staff , we felt like this would give us the best opportunity to win.
“We’ve got five or six guys that were outstanding running backs, but in this situation they can’t all play running back and we had to look at moving some of them around to help us at other positions.”
Winn said Travis talked to him about the situation and he’s looking forward to the opportunity. Winning the game isn’t lost on him either even though it’s an all-star game.
“He said it’s best for the team and we’re here to win,” Winn said.
Travis’ familiarity with his own players also played a part in the decision to play Winn in the secondary.
“I don’t know if some of these other guys can cover and tackle, but I know that one can,” Travis said pointing at Winn. “When he gets to Hendrix he may play both ways, too, when they fi nd out how good he is on defense.”
Travis made a similar decision with Blake Roughton, who was another two-way starter on the line for his Blackhawks.
Roughton (6-foot-2, 260 pounds) has played more defense most of his career, but he will start at guard for the West tonight.
Travis was concerned about the East’s big defensive line, which he considers a strength for the opposition.
“We’re fixing to go against some big guys on the East and we want to make sure we’ve got guys on the O-line who can handle it and that’s a reason we brought Blake over,” Travis said.
Travis has enjoyed the All-Star coaching experience overall, getting the chance to be with his own players one last time and others he’s played against.
He singled out Prairie Grove defensive end Jared Murphy, who gave the Blackhawks fits this year.
“It’s nice to have him on my side for once,” Travis said. “I can be happy when he does good now and I told him that when he checked in.”
But it’s also been fun to see 46 players come together as a team in only a few days, Travis said.