Dragons back on the right path

Mountainburg’s season got offtrack early when starting quarterback Ethan Gregory suffered a knee injury, but the Dragons have finally found their groove with a different type of player taking snaps.

Gregory was injured in the first quarter of the zero week game against Lavaca, but one doctor cleared him to play the next week against Cedarville, Mountainburg coach Tom Harrell said.

“It didn’t take us long to figure out everything wasn’t good,” Harrell said. “Early in the Cedarville game, it was apparent something was really wrong.”

Malachi West, a 6-foot-3, 236-pound senior, stepped into the position and the bruising runner has rolled up 764 yards and nine touchdowns in just five games.

Mountainburg coach Tom Harrell said the offense, the spin series from the single-wing, had to be fine-tuned to fit West, who is far different from the fleet-footed Gregory.

“Our offense is pretty complicated with all the shifting and everything,” Harrell said. “And everything had to be revamped to fit Malachi at quarterback instead of Ethan.”

The verdict came down the next week that Gregory was out for the season. Despite the fact the Dragons (4-2, 2-0 2A-4) lost 47-14 to Greenland, Harrell was encouraged about his team’s performance.

“We moved the ball against them, and they are a good team,” Harrell said. “It was more us stopping ourselves, and that gave us confidence. It was 21-14 at one time, and we were right there for three quarters.

“It took us a week or two to get it going, but I think we’re back on track now.”

Mountainburg has won back-toback 2A-4 Conference games and rolled up a combined 86 points in the process.

Senior Dylan Coughran has rushed for 353 yards on just 37 carries and has learned how to follow his blocks, Harrell said.

“You can be fast, but he seems to know how to use blocks and when to cut,” Harrell said. “The last two weeks he’s really come on.”

Mountainburg hosts Hackett on Oct. 25 in its next game.