The Pioneers return seven starters on both sides of the ball, and construction has begun on a $3.5 million indoor practice facility.
Gentry coach Brian Little gushed with excitement when he talked about watching his team in spring practice the past couple of weeks.
“You look at these guys and you think ‘that’s a returner and that’s a returner and that’s a returner,’” Little said. “The knowledge level is there. They aren’t playing apprehensively. They are to the point they can just read, react and play ball.”
The Pioneers have been limited in practice since Jerod Cousins and John Brown, the returning starter at quarterback and running back, competed in the decathlon last week.
Both showed their athleticism as Cousins finished 20th and Brown 53rd out of 72 competitors in the two-day competition, which included 10 events. Cousins was limited by a few injuries last season, but is a dual threat at quarterback, Little said.
Cousins also won the Class 4A state title in the discus and finished fourth in the pole vault.
“He’s certainly and athlete capable of running or throwing,” Little said. “He’ll be more prepared this year as far as managing the game.”
The indoor facility is just one more thing to be excited about. It will have a turf practice area 50 yards long plus the end zone, along with locker rooms, coaches offices and a weight room.
“There’s no question a building of this magnitude can service all our youth programs,” said Little, who is also the school’s athletic director. “It’s endless really what it can do for our community and our kids.”
He was hoping initially the building would be ready for use when school starts back in the fall, but Little said they are now shooting for an October 1 completion date.
“We didn’t want them to rush it,” Little said. “But before the football season ends we hope to be in it.”
— PAUL BOYD
GREENLAND
Pirates Show Toughness
Greenland coach Lee Larkan had a unique problem this spring.
He had to stop practice early one day because his players were actually being too physical.
Larkan said the Pirates surprised him with the toughness they showed from the first drill in pads, giving him reason to be optimistic despite losing several key contributors from this past season.
“From the first day we put our pads on, this group for whatever reason — we’re still trying to figure that out — is the most physical, most hard-hitting group we’ve had here,” Larkan said. “They walked out there the first day a couple of weeks ago and started knocking the snot out of each other.
“I don’t know if it’s because everybody is on the same level and we don’t have a lot of big stars, or whatever it is. Or maybe it’s just a lot of young kids trying to prove themselves.”
Larkan said the physical play occurred on both sides of the ball. Greenland must replace much of its offensive line, which dominated opponents at times last season and cleared the way for the team’s power running game.
“We lost a lot of seniors, and I think people thought we might not be as good,” Larkan said. “I think these kids have kind of taken it personal, and they had a good offseason. They came out with something to prove last week, and we really had a good week.”
Larkan said even several players who were religated to backup roles last season “lit people up” in drills. He admitted he was impressed with his team’s intensity during spring practice, which wrapped up last week.
— ALEX ABRAMS
GRAVETTE
Lions Excited About Numbers
Gravette’s football team had practiced for about 1 1/2 hours Monday before the first clap of thunder was heard, and everything came to a halt.
“We were getting out of there,” Lions coach Bill Harrelson said. “We’ve been going in and out throughout the spring and dealing with this weather.”
It was the sixth of nine scheduled days in pads for Gravette, which has had 66 players report for spring workouts. That is a significant increase from last season, when the Lions had only 52 on their roster.
Harrelson and his coaching staff has an interesting combination of experience and youth with this spring’s team. There are 20 seniors participating in workouts, and there are also 34 sophomores that are moving up from last year’s junior high ranks.
“We have those larger numbers, which always helps,” Harrelson said. “And that sophomore group, that’s a huge number, but I’m really pleased with it.”
Ryan Bolduc, a returning two-way starter last year, continues to catch Harrelson’s attention with his work on the offensive and defensive lines. Cody Robinson, the Lions’ starting tailback last season, has moved to a fullback/H-back role on offense and will also see time on the defensive line.
“He’s back to what he played on offense when he was a sophomore,” Harrelson said of Robinson. “And he’s really been hard to block when he’s on the defensive line.”
Gravette will have two more practices today and Wednesday before its spring game, which is scheduled for Thursday.
— HENRY APPLE
FARMINGTON
Defense Focus For Cardinals
Coming off a season with less than spectacular results on the defense, Farmington used its 10 days of spring football practice to focus on improvement on that side of the ball.
“We wanted to get better defensively,” Farmington coach Mike Adams said. “We felt like we didn’t have that good of a year on defense so we wanted to work on that.”
The Cardinals wrapped up spring drills last Friday, using two weeks to get in their allowed 10 days of practice. A total of 63 players were out from Farmington’s spring practice, including baseball players who did return for the final three workouts after being eliminated from the Class 4A state tournament.
“We had good numbers out and we got everything accomplished that we wanted,” Adams said. “Even before the baseball players came back, we had plenty of kids out here, so it went well.”
— VERNON TARVER