Coach Corey Henry likes the ability of players he has on the team in his first year to take over the reins of the McDonald County High School football program. He just wishes he had more of them.
Henry said with only 45 players in grades 9-12, there will be several of players going both ways. He said dodging injuries will be key for the Mustangs. Henry said he excepts the number of freshmen to increase now that school has started.
"We are going to have to keep several players on the field a lot of the time," Henry said. "We need to avoid injury. A lot of kids are young and inexperienced, but we want to get the younger guys in as much as we can to give our starters a chance to get their breath."
One position where the Mustangs do have plenty of depth is at running back.
"We have a strong core of tailbacks," Henry said. "We can go four deep. They all bring something different to the table."
Leading the way is returning starter Lavante Jackson. Jackson ran for 491 yards as a junior.
"We will run the spread offense, but we will run the ball 60 percent of the time," Henry said. "We take every snap from the shotgun with anywhere from two to five wide outs. Our philosophy is to spread the defense out so you will have some running lanes. With the speed we have on the back end, we should find more success running the ball this year."
Others who will see time at tailback include Jarrett Sanny, Jake Will and Isrrael DeSantiago.
Directing the offense will be returning starter Jake Wood at quarterback. Wood threw for 802 yards last year and accounted for almost 150 more on the ground.
"Jake has done a great job of learning the offense," Henry said. "He understands what we want to accomplish and puts us in position to be successful."
Leading the receiving corp will be Josh Kinser, Damian Monsalvo, Jake Wilkie, Billy Leach and Will.
"All of them have great hands and know how to get open," Henry said. "They put their body in position to give Wood an opportunity to get them the ball."
Defensively the Mustangs will play an aggressive style of football out of a base 4-3 scheme, Henry said.
"We will blitz a lot with rolling coverage in the secondary," Henry said. "We will use several stunts, including some coming from the secondary. We have got to be aggressive."
Leading the returning starters on the defensive side of the ball are Austin Grotts and Donavon Hadley on the line, linebackers Seth Shockley and Derek Lawson and Kinser at defensive back.
"We will be physical," Henry said. "There is no doubt about that."
The 2014 season marks the first year since the collapse of the Southwest Conference at the end of the 2007-2008 school year that McDonald County is in a conference, having been admitted to the Big 8.
"We expect to make a run for the conference title," Henry said. "We are a different team than we have been in the past few years. We expect to be successful and we are working hard to be competitive. I don't see any reason why we can't be in the conference race."
Henry said Lamar, Carl Junction and Mount Vernon look to be the pre-season favorites in the conference.
Also new for the 2014 season will be the border war with Neosho after an absence for the past couple of years. The Mustangs open against the Wildcats on Aug. 22 at Neosho. McDonald County then begins conference play on Aug. 29 when they host Aurora in the home opener. All games start at 7 p.m.
"Neosho is a key for our season," Henry said. "It will give the boys some confidence with a win. It's good getting the old rivalry back. We should play them every year in every sport."
Sports on 08/21/2014