PREP FOOTBALL: Hillbillies living large in the trenches

Around the Burns family, there's a debate on who wins the friendly wrestling matches -- Brock Burns, or his dad, Jerrod, or his uncle, Jeremie.

Brock Burns, a senior lineman for the Ozark Hillbillies, says he can take them both.

"I know that's a lie," said Jeremie Burns, Ozark's coach. "He tried to bow up on me one day just messing around. It's like the old Toby Keith song, I still had one more good one in me."

Brock Burns goes 6-5, 305 and both Jerrod and Jeremie were linemen for Alma under Frank Vines so family wrestling matches can get pretty physical, and competitive, especially in a living room.

"We get after it sometimes," Brock Burns said. "We might have broken a few things."

Brock Burns is part of a trio of big senior linemen for the Hillbillies along with R.J. Karns and Bryar Yates that like imposing their will on defenses.

"Ground and pound, mauling people," Burns said. "We want people on the ground every play. We're looking for pancakes every play."

All three were over 300 pounds last year, comprising one of the biggest offensive lines in the state. Karns trimmed up this season and is playing at 280. Yates is 325.

"I've lost 40 pounds," Karns said. "I was around 320. I just did more cardio stuff instead of weightlifting every day. I mixed it in more. I can still bench over 300 pounds."

Handling those guys is the biggest concern for the Charleston Tigers today as the Franklin County Feud is renewed between the two long-time rivals.

It's not a matter of combatting Ozark's size up front, though, for the Tigers.

"Not necessarily combatting it, just not letting it kill us," Charleston coach Ricky May said. "We've got to use our quickness and our speed. They're so much bigger than we are. Jeremie's a good coach, and he knows how to use those big dudes. We've got to come up with something to offset it."

Charleston can match up with Ozark's brawn some with defensive linemen Roy Hudson, who's 6-2, 265, and Dale Smith, who goes, 6-1, 295, at noseman.

"We've been playing about five defensive linemen," May said. "Not just to get them ready for this, but to get them ready for the playoffs to see how many we can count on. That's helped us to get ready for Friday because they roll their guys in pretty good."

Charleston will also play Daniel Hice, Brady Clayton and Trevor Jones along the line as well, but they don't have near the size.

Last year, Ozark's offense pounded out 283 yards per game on the ground and ran for 54 touchdowns.

"We rely on our run game a lot," Yates said. "I love it. It's our bread and butter. Every day that we get to go do that is amazing."

It's become a trademark of sorts.

"It's our pride," Karns said. "For a lineman, it's about how many yards we can get. That's our thing. That's our job. That's what we're there for."

Thus far, though, Ozark's offense hasn't found its groove mainly because it hasn't had the opportunity.

In a 14-13 win over Clarksville in the season opener, Ozark managed just 22 offensive plays against the ball-control Panthers, who ran the ball 53 times.

In a 42-12 loss to Booneville, the Hillbillies only had 39 offensive plays with 27 rushes for 145 yards.

"We had some plays called back against Clarksville," Jeremie Burns said. "Then Booneville, we struggled. We've got to stay on the field and help our defense out. Then we have to score when we have the opportunity."

Yates was offered by Hendrix College last week. He's the "brainiac of the team" according to teammates, with the highest ACT on the team and plans on being an anesthesiologist.

Brock Burns visited Middle Tennessee State and Southern Arkansas University recently.

He likely has some more growing to do. His grandfather on his mother's side is Ken Andrews, who played basketball for the Memphis State team that beat Ernie DiGregorio's Providence Friars in the semifinals and lost to Bill Walton and UCLA in the 1973 National Championship game.

"He's going to grow some more," Jeremie Burns said. "Somebody's going to get a good one when they get him."

Ozark's senior class will look for a career sweep against Charleston with wins each of the last two years. They would be the first senior class to go 3-0 against the Tigers since the rivalry was renewed in 2004.

Friday marks the final week of nonconference play.

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