Bombs away

Mountain Home finished 6-6 last season and earned a postseason victory for the first time since 2006. But many of the key cogs who catapulted the Bombers to success a year ago are gone.

Opening week preparation for Mountain Home has gone about like it has for every other team in the state.

Nothing out of the ordinary, just a lot of preliminary work.

“You know what first games are like,” Mountain Home Coach Steve Ary said. “You try to have all your T’s crossed, you dot all your I’s. We know we’ve got to play well because we’ve got a good team in Harrison coming in here.

“We feel like our backs are against the wall.”

The Bombers finished 6-6 last season and earned a postseason victory for the first time since 2006. But many of the key cogs who catapulted the Bombers to success a year ago are gone.

Mountain Home does welcome back 13 regulars, but Ary will have to replace productive standouts such as wide receiver Logan Walker, quarterback Bryce McKay and running back Gage Hershberger.

“We’ve definitely got some big shoes to fill on some of those seniors that graduated,” Ary said. “We really don’t have those home run hitters like we had last year, but we’ve got to get better collectively as a unit. Everybody’s got to pick up for those missing pieces, and hopefully as a group, we’ll get better because we’ve got some experience back.

“The bulk of our offensive line is back, so we’ve got something to work off of.”

Sophomore Cade Yates is set to get his first start under center Friday when the Bombers face Harrison, and Ary is confident the youngster will do well. He also knows some bumps are likely.

“The upside for Cade is that he’s a good football player, but the downside is that he’s not played any varsity or JV football,” Ary said. “He’s going straight from the freshman level to the high school level. He’s got a lot of growing to do, and he’s going to do a good job of running the offense because he’s a really intelligent kid and makes good decisions.”

Decision-making will be key against the Goblins, who smashed their way past Magnolia 26-7 a week ago. Ary has seen what Harrison has to offer, and he believes his Bombers have to match that if they’re going to avenge last year’s 48-34 loss.

“They’re extremely physical,” he said of Harrison. “They’re like a pack of wolves. They really run well, and they’re extremely large up front. It was like they just freight-trained [Magnolia].

“We’ve got to play a nearly perfect game. Gotta take care of the football and eliminate the big plays, eliminate mistakes.”