PEA RIDGE BLACKHAWKS

COACH Tony Travis

LAST SEASON 4-6 OFFENSE Pro I DEFENSE 4-2 POINTS SCORED PER GAME 17.2 POINTS ALLOWED PER GAME 24 OFFENSIVE PLAYERS TO WATCH Dayton Winn, RB; Austin Easterling, QB; Daniel Beard, WR. DEFENSIVE PLAYERS TO WATCH Braxton Caudill, LB; Dallas Morgan, LB; Dayton Winn, DB. KEEP AN EYE ON Dayton Winn rushed for over 1,500 yards last season and the senior has added about 20 pounds.

OFFENSIVE OUTLOOK Austin Easterling returns for a third season as quarterback and the Blackhawks will look to pass more to take pressure off Winn and the running game.

DEFENSIVE OUTLOOK The strength of the defense will be physical linebackers Braxton Caudill and Dalton Morgan, who have almost 250 career tackles.

SEASON OUTLOOK Pea Ridge has good numbers and 15 returning starters. If Winn stays healthy and Easterling can open up the passing game, then the Blackhawks should be able to make a run at the school’s first playoff berth since 2005.

KEY GAME Sept. 21 vs. Gravette. Pea Ridge needs to get off to a good start in the conference opener against the Lions because the Blackhawks have a late season stretch that has back-to-back games against Farmington and Prairie Grove.

QUOTING COACH TRAVIS: “Number one, we have a quarterback that can throw the football, and we have developed a couple of guys at receiver that are legitimate threats,”Travis said. “Last year, defenses knew coming in that if they stopped Dayton, they had a chance of stopping us. Dayton is going to be a threat, no doubt, and a primary weapon. If people try and take the running game away, we can exploit some things more.”