Shelton leads Cobras to playoffs despite a host of challenges
FOUNTAIN LAKE — Fountain Lake head coach Kenny Shelton battled all sorts of adversity in the 2021 football season, but he still managed to lead his team to the playoffs despite a multitude of challenges.
Fountain Lake came into the season with low numbers already, and a large amount of season ending injuries shrank the Cobras’ roster even more.
Dressing just 17 players at one point in the season, Shelton led his team to the Class 4A playoffs. Shelton is The Sentinel-record’s All-garland County Coach of the Year.
“The biggest challenge was definitely injuries, lack of numbers, then you throw COVID in the mix,” Shelton said. “We started the season with 27 on the roster. We had five season ending injuries along the way and some other injuries that knocked guys out for a week or two.”
Shelton described the style of football his players played as Iron Man football because some of those players played every single snap on both sides of the ball.
“(They played) 150 or 160 plays a game,” Shelton said. “Just really speaks for the fortitude and the heart of all these players. I’m very, very proud of them.”
Shelton credited his great coaching staff for helping him get through the amount of injuries the team had this season.
With limited time in practice, players had to learn two or three different positions on the field. During some points in the season, players had to learn fourth or fifth positions on the fly.
“The kids really did a great job of stepping up and being able to play multiple positions and having to learn so many different spots,” Shelton said. “Sometimes having to make those adjustments in the middle of the game where they didn’t maybe have enough time.”
One of the biggest blows to Fountain Lake came when senior Caleb Lacy went down with a season ending injury in the first conference game of the Cobras’ season against Joe T. Robinson.
“Well, you know, at that time he was averaging 10 yards a carry,” Shelton said. “Was very hopeful that he could come back, but it was not long before we found out it was going to require surgery. I can’t speak highly enough of everybody else that just kind of picked up. He’s the type of player one guy can’t fill those shoes.”
Gavin Nguyen got injured half way through the season and was the leading tackler on the team. He was also one of the pulling guards, which is an essential part of Fountain Lake’s offense, the Wing-t.
Offensive and defensive lineman Preston Taylor missed a long stretch of the season, and tight end Trystan Redifer suffered a season ending injury. Special teams player and occasional linebacker Elijah Dean also suffered a season ending injury.
Shelton said since Fountain Lake has been short-handed the past few seasons, his players knew the possibility of what was in store.
“We had a few concussions along the way,” Shelton said.
“Some twisted ankles here, broken hands. Just your normal typical injuries that add up. The wear and tear on the kids really made us have to adjust how we practiced.”
Despite all the injuries, Fountain Lake was able to beat Nashville 54-21 on the road in one of the highlights of the Cobras’ season.
“That was huge,” Shelton said. “Only second time in school history that we defeated Nashville. First time we’d ever beat them at Nashville. Just that really, really gave our kids a boost of confidence to know that they could play with the top teams in our conference and the top teams in the state. That was probably the most complete game we played all year, and it happened in a hostile game on the road at Nashville.”
Even with all the injuries,
the Cobras still made the playoffs and traveled to Pocahontas in the first round.
“Again, it just speaks so well of our coaching staff and our young men,” Shelton said. “We had seven seniors on our team this year; they just did a great job of showing that leadership along the way. Just fighting, scratching and clawing every game. No matter if we were up or down, our kids never gave up.”
Fountain Lake stayed in the game against Pocahontas for the first three quarters, but the Cobras’ low numbers eventually caught up with them in a 47-28 loss.
“To make it to the playoffs was a great accomplishment,” Shelton said. “Unfortunately didn’t go our way in that game. We had a really good showing for about three quarters. Unfortunately again, a lack of attrition and some injuries got us in that fourth quarter. We really felt like we had a great chance to have a big upset in that first round, but it just didn’t go our way.”
Although Fountain Lake lost in the first round, Shelton was still proud of his team for earning a berth to the playoffs.
“Just pride,” he said. “Just being so proud of our program and our kids and coaches. You know, every one of us walked off that field with our heads held high knowing that while our record might not have shown how far we came, just you know the last three years have been a really tough stretch for us.”
The Cobras play in the Class 4A-7 conference. The conference is considered one of the toughest in the state, and the fact Fountain Lake battled through it to make the playoffs said a lot to Shelton about his team.
“It’s extremely tough,” he said. “Fantastic conference. It just shows the heart and the determination of our young men to be able to play teams that had 60 to 70 players. Most of the teams we play have guys that just go one way and have multiple guys that come in. So just our guys being in really good shape and having played through a lot of minor injuries. … To be as competitive as we were and to win the games we won just speaks so highly of our young men.”
Shelton unexpectedly took over as head coach of the Cobras in the 2019 season, and since then he has faced challenges like COVID-19 and low numbers. However, each year the Cobras seem to battle through the adversity.
“I think that it just speaks highly of our community and our young men,” Shelton said. “We’ve just got a bunch of blue collar kids. They just face every issue they have head on and roll up their sleeves and go to work. We really push our kids to excel not only on the field but in the classroom and in life as well. It’s a great community, a great school to be at.”
Shelton said he has created a culture of working together, working through adversity and hard work at Fountain Lake.
“These last couple of offseasons have been some of the best offseasons we’ve had in all the years I’ve been here,” Shelton said. “These kids just were so hungry to be successful and earn that respect from the teams in our conference and the teams in the state of Arkansas. Just couldn’t be more proud of those kids.’
Moving forward, Shelton said that hopefully the program’s numbers are slowly creeping up, and Fountain Lake’s pee wee football numbers are up. The program also had a good seventh grade group this year.
After graduating two stellar classes of seniors two years in a row, Shelton expects next year’s seniors to step up for the Cobras.
“That next batch of seniors is going to have to step up and be leaders like the last few groups of seniors we’ve had,” he said. “We’re going to have to have some incoming sophomores contribute and get some significant playing time a lot quicker than they think they’re going to get. … It’s going to be the same thing. We’re going to have kids playing Iron Man football and be in great shape and be mentally and physically tough.”