King, Gators looking to build on to recent success
FOREMAN, Ark.—In Mark King’s first year as head football coach at Foreman High School, he proved smashmouth football can still win games in the modern spread offense era.
King took a 1-9 Gator squad in 2015 and transformed them into an 8-4 playoff team in his debut at the school.
It’s been 30 years since Foreman has won a conference championship and King believes his 2017 Gator could possibly make a run for that crown.
“We want to build on the success we had last year, try to keep that going and build on that week by week. Our goal right now is to win a conference championship,” Foreman head football coach Mark King said.
Foreman runs a flexbone offense, that mirrors the offenses ran by Georgia Tech, Navy or Air Force. This traditional offense seemingly wears opponents down throughout the season, who are accustomed to seeing spread no-huddle formations.
In 12 games the Gators gave up 307 points but to their credit, Foreman scored 426 points against opponents in 2017 with a vicious ground attack.
Competing in the physical Conference 7-2A and succeeding, relies on the confidence of your backfield and offensive line.
”We went to the second round of the playoffs last year. Our running game is the foundation of our offense here.
Our offense rushed for over 5,000 yards and averaged 400 yards per game, King said.” Realistically, we could’ve went 10-2, if it weren’t for a few turnovers here and there.”
The Gators plan to put the yard-eating offense in the hands of junior Kyren Batey (5-10, 180), with sophomore Issac Carver taking up the backup duties.
Seniors Corey Lovewell (5-10, 195), Chase Boyd (5-10, 165) will man the Gator pounding ground attack.
“Our kids had a lot of success in our first season in the system,” King song.
Seniors CJ Green (5-9, 165) and Sam Gamble (5-10, 160) will alternate in the slot positions in their triple option attack. Lovewell, Batey and Boyd will also substitute in the slot position in certain offensive sets.
“We’re going to have a bullseye on back this season. There weren’t many expectation for Foreman last year and I believe we caught a few people by surprise, so it expect it to be somewhat tougher for us this
season,” King said.
2016 All-Area defensive end senior Brandon Thomas (6-2, 190) will continue to man his defensive position, but he will also be asked to split offensive duties from tight end to wide receiver, depending on the play.
“Brandon is a good player and very athletic. We’re looking for big things from here on both sides of the ball,” King said. “He’s one of those guys that he’s big enough to play tight end, but he is also athletic enough to be a force at receiever. He’s very athletic and he runs well, so we’re going to try to get the ball to him.”
The Gator offensive line will consist of senior anchors Darian Graves (5-9, 176), Tyler Nelson (5-11, 295), KJ Green (5-10, 182), Hunter Bryant (6-3, 260), Logan Lindsey (5-10,
220) and Ty Buchanan (5-9, 235). Juniors Jeremy Jones (6-0, 258) and Davin Cross (5-7, 220) are also expected to contribute to the offensive line.
“We have 26 kids on the roster, so we have a bunch of two-way players,” King said.
The senior driven Gator defensive line will consist of Cross, Lindsey, Thomas and K.J. Green.
Foreman’s linebacker core will include Boyd, Lovewell and junior Chance Gross (6-0, 130).
The Gator secondary will include upperclassmen with ball-hawking ability and experience to match their game. C.J. Green, Gamble, Batey and Carver will roam the back end.
“One thing we have to get better at is our play-action protection and how we run our play-action plays. We don’t necessarily have to block your best defender, we just have to read them, running the triple-option,” King said. “If you don’t honor the run against us, you might be in a little trouble.”