Tigers off to strong start

Craig Bentley has spent the past two years molding the Mansfield football program into what he wanted including more of an emphasis in the weight room and that’s paying dividends this season.

His Tigers are off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2008, but he talked to his team about pushing forward during a bye week before beginning 3A-1 Conference play on Friday against West Fork.

“We’ve had to implement our program and expectations over the last two years,” said Bentley, who is in his third year at Mansfield and in his first head coaching job. “The kids are understanding what we expect and what we’re gonna have to do to be successful.

“We have a good group of juniors who won the conference in junior high and got thrust into key roles pretty quickly as sophomores.”

Junior quarterback Ethan Stovall has accounted for 12 touchdowns (seven passing) through the first three games, after earning the starting job as a sophomore but missing time with a knee injury.

“He’s the part that makes the engine go,” Bentley said. “He’s made a big jump from his sophomore to his junior year in understanding the offense and he’s a run threat, too.”

The Tigers finished only 2-8 a year ago, but a rash of injuries hurt, too, Bentley said.

“We lost three games by a touchdown or less,” Bentley said. ‘We could have easily been 5-5 or 6-4 and made the playoffs.”

The strong start has been great, but Bentley has talked to his teams about reaching other goals, too.

“We told them it’s been eight years since we’ve started 1-0 in conference, too,” Bentley said. “We’ve put an emphasis on doing things that haven’t been done in a long time and let’s keep doing them. I’m impressed with the way our kids have handled the games so far.”