Gravette’s Success Leads To Roster Additions
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — GRAVETTE — Since taking over as Gravette’s football coach before the 2006 season, Bill Harrelson has enjoyed seeing a few more players arrive for preseason practices than he saw the previous year.
That is, until this summer.
When the Lions reported for their first workout more than two weeks ago, there were 56 players in attendance. That’s 15 more players than the team has last year, giving Harrelson reason to rejoice.
“I feel real good about this group,” Harrelson said. “The bigger the number (of players participating), the better they are.
“We have 14 seniors on this group, and they are providing some great leadership to the rest of the team. They want to keep this program going in the direction it’s going right now.”
The direction has been a good one. The Lions have won at least nine games in each of the last three seasons and reached the second round of the Class 4A state playoffs, and the 28 victories during that time is the most in school history.
Gravette welcomes five returning offensive and defensive starters from last year’s 9-3 campaign. That much experience means Harrelson doesn’t have to do a major rebuilding job.
“We won’t do a whole lot of changing,” he said. “There will be a few adjustments to make, but this will be the same style of team we had last year.
“We have the potential to be as good as we were last season. But doing it is a lot different. We’ll have to be there, ready to play, every Friday night.”
After splitting time at quarterback last season, Colton Davis assumes full control of the Lions’ Spread offense this fall. Davis threw for almost 800 yards in his part-time role last fall.
Derek Strzelecki will join Davis in the backfield, while Trey Tyner returns to lead the Lions’ receivers. T.J. Chevallier and Tyler Glenn are both back for a third season and will help anchor the offensive line.
“We have some kids that can get into the open field this year,” Harrelson said. “We have some speed at our running back and receiver positions. We just don’t have a lot of big kids on the line.”
Kahlief Steele returns at noseguard to anchor the defensive line and will be joined by Cody Bullock at one of the end positions. Kelton McDougal gives Gravette a formidable tackler from his middle linebacker slot, while Tyner and Tyler Greenhaw return at the cornerback positions.
“Defensively, we have kids who have the ability to get to the ball,” Harrelson said. “We’re just on the small side lately with our size. We have one starter that weighs 240 and another at 225, but then we have a dropoff at that point.
“But we gave good skill players and good athletes. They have to play hard to be successful, and we stress that in practice.”
One thing Harrelson doesn’t have to worry about much is the kicking game. Cody Montee returns for his senior season after hitting 11 of 16 field goals — four in a playoff victory over Valley View — and 31 of 33 extra points last season.
Montee also averaged 43 yards per punt and put 68 percent of his kickoffs in the end zone for touchbacks. His feats are impressive enough to get attention from Alabama, LSU and Notre Dame, as well as others.
- Henry Apple
Eagles Gearing Up For Season
HUNTSVILLE — Huntsville coach Ken Harriman likes the mentality his players have shown throughout the spring and summer months.
He’s also been impressed with the way they’ve conducted themselves during workouts, agility drills and fall practices.
“More than I’ve seen them before, our kids are focused,” Harriman said. “They like the challenges we’ve set before them, and they want to go out and prove themselves.”
Huntsville, which will compete in the 5A-West Conference this season, has focused on not dwelling on past experiences, including how the Eagles went 9-30-1 during their time in Class 5A from 2002-05.
Instead, Harriman said his players — all 45 of them — have stayed confident in their abilities to surprise teams on Friday nights and win more than others predict.
“We like playing the underdog role; people are going to underestimate us,” Harriman said. “But if we can gain some confidence early in the season, win a couple of games, I think we’ll be fine down the stretch. We just have to stay away from injuries because depth is always a concern.”
- Nathan Allen
Saints Ready To Scrimmage
SPRINGDALE — Shiloh Christian’s players are ready to lace up the pads and pop someone else besides their own teammates, coach Josh Floyd said.
The Saints will get that opportunity Monday when they travel to Harrison to take on Greene County Tech in a scrimmage starting at 6 p.m.
“It comes to a point where you just need to see somebody else,” Floyd said. “That’s the way you improve.”
Floyd said the Saints, coming off back-to-back Class 4A state titles, have gotten great leadership from a talented senior class, and the focus and tempo of practices has been excellent.
One of the question marks coming into the season was the center position and who would replace former center Josh Salsbury, who started on three state title teams. Junior Jed Beach has responded to that challenge, Floyd said.
“Jed Beach has really come on at center,” Floyd said. “He’s doing a good job. We haven’t had any bad snaps.”
The Saints will open the season on Aug. 30 in the Hooten’s Kickoff Classic in Pine Bluff against Class 5A’s top-ranked Watson Chapel. Kickoff at Arkansas-Pine Bluff is set for around 8 p.m.
— Chip Souza
Competition Intense For Blackhawks
PEA RIDGE — Competition for starting spots at quarterback and tailback is still intense as Pea Ridge prepares for Monday’s preseason scrimmage at Fayetteville.
Bo Rylee (5-foot-11, 171 pounds) and Austin Easterling (5-10, 150) are still working at quarterback, while Blackhawks coach Tony Travis said as many as four players could carry the ball at tailback.
Rylee, a junior, played tight end last season while Easterling was the junior high quarterback.
“The good news for us is that we have two guys that can play quarterback,” Travis said. “They are both inexperienced on the senior high level and that will show itself at times, I’m sure. One of them is going to play quarterback and one of them (is) going to play someplace else.”
Rylee would return to tight end if he doesn’t win the job while Easterling would play in the secondary.
Andrew Woollard (5-9, 150), Dayton Winn (5-7, 126) and Dalton Fisher (5-6, 155) are in the mix at tailback.
“We don’t have a back that we are going to give the ball to 25, 28 times,” Travis said. “But the good news is we have three, possibly four guys that can split up the carries and hopefully stay fresh. We may get our receivers involved in some running game stuff.”
- Paul Nielsen
Pioneers O-Line Working To Mesh
GENTRY — Gentry coach Brian Little doesn’t have many offensive linemen with varsity experience, but he’s happy to have some depth at those positions.
Only a couple of linemen have gotten much playing time on Friday nights, but Little has seven or eight who can rotate into a variety of positions on the line.
“We try to make them feel like we’ve got seven or eight starters really,” Little said. “We’ve got a combination that has been spending a lot of time together to become a unit. They’re all very smart; I’ll tell you that.”
The offensive line is a special group, Little said.
“They are the unique ones in the bunch,” Little said. “They are a new little family of five.”
Senior tackle Gunter Dezurik (6-foot-1, 305 pounds) leads the way. He’s got the most experience, playing some the past two seasons. Junior Dock Hudson (5-9, 175) also played some as a sophomore and is “one of the smartest kids we’ve got,” Little said.
The rest of the group consists of three seniors and two juniors, and that’s a good thing since all of them have spent some time learning Little’s system.
The remainder of the group is junior Ricky Hernandez (6-0, 214), senior Klae Metz (5-6, 236), junior Trae Wilkins (5-11, 218), along with seniors Gary Williamson (5-7, 241) and Joe Savage (5-6, 260).
Versatility along with the depth is a strength for the group, Little said.
“Most of them can play any position,” Little said. “Not everybody would be at center, but any of the guys can rotate to the other spots.”
The Pioneers will participate in a scrimmage Tuesday night at West Fork. The junior highs will scrimmage first, beginning at 6 p.m., followed by the varsity teams.
— Paul Boyd
Wolves Have Offensive Options
LINCOLN — The Wolves have their quarterback in sophomore Cheyenne Vaughn.
Lincoln Coach Brad Harris also likes Vaughn’s options at receiver and in the backfield as the Wolves prepare for a scrimmage at Gravette on Aug. 26 and the regular-season opener against Westville (Okla.) on Sept. 3.
Vaughn moved up from the junior high team last year as a freshman and threw for nearly 400 yards in Lincoln’s final two games. This year, the sophomore will have plenty of targets to throw to — including junior Julian Ortiz and senior Jesse McGraw.
Ortiz played mostly on defense last year, but Harris said he is a “playmaker,” and that a full offseason of hard work has paid off for McGraw so far at practice.
“(Ortiz) isn’t anything special when you look at him size-wise, but he makes things happen for us,” Harris said. “I’m really proud of Jesse. He’s really bought into a leadership role for us and has made a lot of plays for us.”
In the backfield, Harris has liked what he’s seen so far from sophomore Nou Long Thao and senior Shane Oswald, a transfer from Waldron.
“(Thao) can burn, and Shane is going to add something to us” Harris said. “They are both explosive.”
- Kurt Voigt
Big Week Ahead For Elks
ELKINS — Before taking the field for real in its season opener against Pea Ridge on Sept. 3, it appears Elkins will get in plenty of tuneup work just to be on the safe side.
The Elks will hold their annual Purple-White game Friday at John Bunch Field, with both the junior and senior high teams splitting up in separate scrimmages.
“We’ll go for about a quarter or two in the varsity game,” Elkins coach Aaron Clark said. “We don’t want to go too hard, but we want to give the fans something that they can enjoy.”
The junior high contest will begin at 6 p.m., followed by the varsity game at 7 p.m. Entry fee into the Purple-White game is a towel, with no additional charge.
“It’s just a way for the folks to help our kids get through the season and help them stay clean,” Clark said.
Along with the Purple-White game, the Elkins junior high will scrimmage Green Forest on Monday, followed by a senior Elks scrimmage against both Mountainburg and Green Forest on Tuesday, to be played at Mountainburg.
“One reason we’ll only go a quarter or two on Friday is because we have to come back and scrimmage on Tuesday,” Clark said. “We’ll want to be fresh for that.”
— Vernon Tarver
Tigers Improving With Practices
WEST FORK — West Fork coach Rodney Selph has been impressed with the determination and focus his players have given during the last two weeks.
It’s something that makes him think this could be a successful season for the Tigers.
“We’ve been working extremely hard and just staying focused for the season,” Selph said. “Our kids are ready to get started. They want to get the season started, but we’ve still got a few things to work on before that happens.”
With 23 seniors and 16 returning starters, Selph said this year’s squad is one of the most experienced he’s ever had. With Logan Genz and Wil Jarnagan in the backfield, and junior Dylan Harrison playing quarterback, Selph said his offense will have plenty of options this fall on Friday nights.
“We feel good about our ability on offense, we’ve got some skilled guys that we think have a chance to be pretty good,” Selph said. “On defense, it’s kind of the same deal. We’ve got a lot of guys that have experience back there and will be big for us.”
— Nathan Allen