SOUTHSIDE BATESVILLE
The Southerners are looking to improve their record after eight tough losses that left them out of the playoffs last season, finishing 2-8 in the 4A-2 standings, head coach Brian Reardon said. This will be his second season as the Southerners’ head football coach, and he said he hopes the team will strive for better results.
“We hope to flip that record upside down and all those close games we lost this [past] year,” Reardon said. “Our expectations are to play for the conference championships, to be one of the top two seats.”
The Southerners are returning 17 players. Nine of them are on offense, including quarterback Landon Haas, running back Bryson Duncan, wide receiver Blayne Warden, wing back Jacob Dunne, tight end Alex Cooper, tackle Caedmon Majors, guards Dylan Hodge and Cole Weaver, and backside tackler Caden Siler. Eight returners are on defense, including corner Justin Vanhatten, Colby Harris and Pierce Duncan at safety, linebackers Austin Mathis, Alex Allen, Nicky Risner and Bryson Duncan, and defensive linemen Ricky Vickers and Cole Weaver.
The Southerners quarterback Haas missed most of the 2020 season as a result of a collarbone injury, the coach said.
“He got hurt last year [during] Week 4,” Reardon said. “That did not help our season a whole lot. He was out last year with a broken collarbone on the first conference game. He had one huge game before he got hurt against Pocahontas.
“We are bringing back almost our whole line [and] tight end and wing back. Those are part of our line the way we run our defense.”
Reardon said the team mainly runs a Shotgun Wing-T offensive formation and a 3-4 defensive formation.
“Last season we lost five games, in the last possession of the game that could have [gone] either way,” he said. “We could have easily won seven or eight, but instead, we lost and dealt with a lot of key injuries.”
The coach said the Southerners have been working hard this summer to increase their technical skills because the team’s main shortcoming is its players’ dearth of knowledge in some positions.
“We are still young in our lack of experience in skilled positions,” Reardon said. “I feel like talent is young or new.”
The coach applauded his team for their strengths as well. What they lack in one skill, they make up for with their offense and defense dynamic, he said.
“The team’s strength is up front on the trenches of both sides of the ball, offense and defense,” Reardon said.
With several experienced seniors returning this upcoming season, Reardon said, he expects that the team’s weaknesses can become strengths.
Many of last season’s scores were really close and could have ended in a win if the Southerners would have had stronger game finishes, the coach said.
“We didn’t do real good inside the red zone last year, finishing the drives and getting inside the 10,” Reardon said. “Many times, we did not finish, so we’ve preached that all season.”
Last season, the Southerners had an unfortunate 42-0 loss against their key competitor, Stuttgart, but Reardon said he is seeking an improved outcome this year, now that his team is back in the swing of things.
“Our expectations are to play for the conference championship. We are hoping to be one of the top two seats,” Reardon said. “Stuttgart is the big dog in our conference; everyone is shooting for them.”
Although tragedy struck the Southerners in week four of 2020, the coach said, he believes there is hope that with a recovered team in good health, the 2021 season will look drastically superior.
“Conference is where you get to the next level,” Reardon said. “It gets you to the playoffs. You want to win everything you [play] because we are competitors, but obviously, if you have a choice, you want to win your conference games. … When we get to Week 4, we get to see where we are right away when we start conference play.”