... WE’RE GOING TO BE INEXPERIENCED BUT WE’VE GOT SOME TALENT, ESPECIALLY IN THE SKILL SPOTS.
Junior Fletcher Dickerson powers through blocking drills during practice at Center Hill High School in Olive Branch.
“I think we have some high expectations going in,” Mustangs coach Alan Peacock said. “Obviously making the playoffs is one of those expectations. We’ve made them four years in a row now. We’ve only been playing varsity football for seven.”
It’s a youth movement of sorts for Center Hill, which lost 24 seniors off last season’s team. Peacock, though, is excited about his crop of sophomores.
“We only have three (starters) on each side of the ball coming back, so we’re going to be inexperienced,” he said, “but we’ve got some talent, especially in the skill spots.”
The Mustangs are turning over the quarterback duties to sophomore Danterius Ellington, who will benefit from the pass-catching abilities of recent Louisiana-Monroe commitment Dee Gillespie.
“He’s going to be a name to watch,” said Peacock of his young signal-caller. “We’ve just got to put him in the best positions to be successful and let him understand that we do have guys that are just very capable with the ball in their hands.”
Among them is tailback Kaelin Thomas, who eclipsed the 100-yard mark against Oxford, Saltillo and New Hope. Fellow junior Malcolm Johnson, at 6-3 and 330 pounds, is back to anchor the offensive line.
Said Gillespie: “We’ve just got to make a statement. Let everybody know we’re for real — that we’re ready to play.”
Peacock feels the secondary is a strength with Tau- rice Fields and Malek Butler returning for their senior years. Senior Cole Mullins is also a key for a unit that will play without last season’s leading tackler Cole Paulino, who broke his leg in the spring game against DeSoto Central.
“I definitely think we’re going to be OK defensively,” said Peacock. “I think we’re going to be undersized, but like I told the kids, we’ve got to be in better shape. If we can still be at 90 percent in the fourth quarter and the other team is at 80, that gives us an advantage for 12 minutes.”
Non- region contests against the likes of Tupelo, Byhalia and Itawamba AHS will help i n that department.
Said Fields: “They’ll show us what we need to do to play better. Gives us opportunities to stop the bad things from happening.”
“I’m excited. I guess I’m kind of cautiously optimistic. We’re going to have to stay injury-free. We’re going to have to have some luck along the way. It’s just a matter of our kids believing in what we have to do — give it 100 percent every snap and then seeing what happens.”
26 Matthew Scales
27 Joshua Arthur
29 Ta’Quan Fields
31 Jasper Small
32 Brandon Hall
33 Carlziah Greer
36 Cody Carter
46 Isreal Well
49 Mitchell Hall
50 Aaron James
51 Javier Tunstall
58 Hunter Gross
59 Johnny Le
61 Isaac Dodson
69 Hunter Rowley
70 Justin Drake
79 Kylan Brown
80 Darian Coburn
81 Jose Davila
96 Telvin Harden
99 Nick Parks
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