Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Tigers Must Improve Passing
LINCOLN — Between 45 and 50 kids are out for junior high football at Lincoln and the season looks promising according to second-year head Lincoln junior high coach Tyler Dorton.
“We’re featuring a lot of eighth-graders coming off a 9-1 schedule as seventh-graders,” Dorton said.
The only loss came to rival Prairie Grove in the final game.
“They really jelled,” Dorton said. “They only scored three touchdowns their whole career in pee wee.”
Assistant coach Justin Bounds noted the group had more touchdowns in their 2015 season-opener against Westville than they had managed throughout pee wee.
Dorton paid the group a high compliment, saying, “They bought into what we’re doing. They are extensions of coaches on the field.”
Dorton isn’t ready to write the ninth-graders off despite their 1-9 junior high record last season.
“The ninth-grade class has showed extreme commitment,” Dorton said. “They have taken their lumps, but we have the ones we need. They understand their leadership roles. I’ve been impressed with their continuity.”
Varsity head coach Don Harrison said the junior Wolves have two strong attributes as a team.
“They have a great attitude and great effort,” Harrison said.
Dorton agrees, saying, “That is the cornerstone of everything they do.”
“This group, they’re so coachable,” Dorton said. “You tell them to do something, they just go out there and do it, no questions. They are all really close, all really good friends. They are so fun to be around, an awesome group.”
“Basically, we’re just trying to build off the success of the seventh grade last year,” Dorton said. “We made a statement with the seventh grade last year and we want to carry that over and spread some of that infectious winning attitude.”
“We never want to be seen as an automatic win on anybody’s calendar,” Dorton said. “This group has all the things, they have the potential to compete for a conference championship and they truly believe it.”
Dorton describes the junior high team as a group of blue collar kids, who know the coaches’ expectations.
“They understand the road to a conference championship is not an easy one and they’re up for the task,” Dorton said. “They’ve bought in, they believe in what we’re doing. There’s not a game they don’t walk out there and believe they’re going to win it.” PRAIRIE GROVE — Head football coach Danny Abshier and assistant coaches John Elder, Craig Laird, Mason Pinkley and Nik Paroubek are busy preparing for the season opener Friday at rival Farmington, one of only two teams to beat Prairie Grove last year.
The staff expects contributions from a number of players.
Junior Dustin Burton (5-11, 210) was discovered as a freshman when Anthony Johnson got hurt. The hardnosed halfback returned a kickoff for a touchdown against Berryville in 2015.
“He’s the type of guy you can give it to 20 to 25 times a game and not feel bad about it,” Laird said.
Senior Isaac Disney (6-0, 150) has big- play ability giving the Tigers a “quickstrike” threat. Disney’s versatility gives Prairie Grove an advantage and they plan to get him the ball in a variety of ways.
On the offensive line, key reserves include: junior Landon Walldrop (5-9, 308) at tackle; senior Carl Simpson ( 5- 10, 185) at guard; senior Nick Wilton ( 6- 0, 205) at guard; and junior Joe Reynolds ( 5-9, 190) at tackle. Among that group, Paroubek said Wilton is wanting to finish up his career strong, Simpson is quick, Walldrop has good size and is intelligent, while Reynolds has been playing the tackle position a long time. Reynolds has put in a lot of extra time in the weight room and become stronger.
At linebacker, senior Reed Orr (5-9, 205) is one of the strongest guys on the team. Orr was hurt in week one of the playoffs with an MCL sprain, a knee injury.
“He came back and played in the finals,” Laird said. “We’re looking forward to having him back.”
Laird said Johnson hitter.
“He’s a smart kid, that helps, too,” Laird said. “He makes good grades.”
Junior Stone Bryant (6-0, 155) has worked hard and improved his speed.
“He’s one of the guys, we’re kind of asking to play a couple of different roles at outside linebacker and free safety,” Laird said. “He’s a really good kid, really savvy. During mop- up duty in games where we had a big lead last year, he was a guy making a lot of tackles.”
In the defensive backfield, senior Clay Fidler (5-11, 170) runs well and has a good work ethic.
“We finally just said he’s going to be a cornerback,” Laird said. “Every year in some sport, he gets a hustle award. He’s gotten a lot faster, that’s one thing that impressed us to move him to cornerback.”
Junior J. D. Elder ( 6- 2, 160) is working at both free safety and strong safety. Laird called Elder “really smart and good at knowing where to be on the field.”
The Tiger staff is working to get junior Tyler Davidson (5-8, 145) more experience at cornerback.
“He’s definitely our quickest underclassman,” Laird said. “He’s really agile, he’s coming along. He made some good plays in 7-on-7 covering people. He’s a strong kid for his size and he loves working out.”
Junior Clay Spinks (5-10, 135) could play cornerback is a LINCOLN — Position by position the Lincoln Junior High football team is out to turn around a 1-9 season from a year ago with an infusion of eighth-graders coming off a 9-1 season in 2015.
According to Lincoln head junior high football coach Tyler Dorton, there has been a battle between ninth-grader Mason Pagan and eighthgrader Tyler Brewer for the starting quarterback position. Dorton said Pagan brings some speed and throws a good ball; while Brewer has proven success in quarterbacking last year’s seventh grade to a 9-1 record.
“Brewer has a good arm, he’s left-handed and makes great decisions with the football,” Dorton said.
Ninth-graders Blake Arnold and Abraham Calvillo and eighth-grader Noe Avellaneda play tailback. Arnold is smart and physical. Calvillo has natural speed with a burst and Avellaneda has a knack for finding the end zone.
“Avellanda can take it 80 (yards) any time,” Dorton said. “Arnold doubles as a tailback and fullback. He’s extremely physical, smart and knows the scheme.”
Arnold recently hurdled a defender in practice while playing fullback, putting his body on the line and drawing praise from the coaches.
“He upped his carries,” Dorton said.
Eighth- grader Nathan Khilling transferred from Mansfield and also plays fullback.
Offensively, Lincoln will spread defenses out by operating out of a four wide receiver set with twin slot receivers.
“We’ll run a four wide-receiver unit most of the time,” Dorton said. “We’ll feature two slots at any given time.”
Eighth-grader Daytin Davis is a model student in the classroom, who started at wide receiver on the junior high offense last season as a seventh-grader.
“He’s extremely talented,” Dorton said. “He was our only sparkplug. When we needed a play last year on ninth-grade, we went to the seventh-grader. We’ll target him frequently.”
Eighth- grader Eli Rich, son of boys basketball coach Tim Rich, gives the junior Wolves another play-maker at wide-receiver.
“He give us some speed on the outside,” Dorton said. “He has great hands.”
Ninth- graders Marcus Sturgill and Christian Sellers add depth at wide-receiver. At tight end is ninth-grader Cordelle Whetsell.
“He has great hands and is probably the strongest kid in ninth- grade pound-forpound,” Dorton said.
A fresh infusion of eighth-graders revamps the offensive line with Malik Bagsby (left guard), Jaime Garcia ( left tackle), Levi Wright ( center), Noah Moore ( right guard) and Audie Ramsey (right tackle) among the starting lineup. Ninth-graders Dalton Lankford and Austin Raines provide depth.
On defense, Lincoln lines up in a four-man front with Bagsby and Garcia at defensive ends and eighth-graders Kris Martinez and Bryce Swinford at defensive tackle. Ninth- graders Raines and Keagan Thorpe will rotate in at defensive tackle.
“We’re going to try to have six or seven defensive linemen we can roll in the game,” Dorton said.
Whetsell plays middle-linebacker with Arnold at strongside linebacker and Khilling at weak-side linebacker, giving Lincoln a physical-style of play according to Dorton.
Defensive coordinator Justin Bounds agrees, saying, “They throw their body around. They do use the right technique when it comes to tackle. They play fearlessly.”
The four fastest junior Wolves start in the secondary with Davis and Rich at cornerback, Avellaneda at strong safety and Pagan at free safety.
“Davis has the ability to lock down on a man and shut down coverage on his side of the field,” Dorton said. Rich has also shown ability to excel at the position.
“We feel like it’s going to be extremely hard for teams to throw vertical against us with those two out there,” Dorton said. “They are so athletic. If you throw it around them in their wheelhouse, they will come down with it. It’s going to put a bind on teams’ vertical game.”
Sturgill, ninth-grader Christian Sellers, eighth-grader Caden Redfern and ninthgrader Andrew Chavanna are available should the junior Wolves want to switch into a nickel or dime package.