Rebels on the rebound in ’08 Injuries, bad breaks derailed FS Southside’s season a year ago
Posted on Monday, August 18, 2008
Williams
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories previewing 7 A-West Conference opponents for Bentonville, Rogers and Rogers Heritage.
BENTONVILLE — Fort Smith Southside has been on both sides of the breaks during the last two football seasons.
The Rebels got hot late in 2006 and caught some breaks along the way in winning the Class 7 A state championship as a fourth seed. Southside rallied from a 16-3, fourthquarter deficit to stun previously undefeated Rogers 23-22 in that game.
In 2007, Southside was a perennial league favorite in the preseason with several returning starters, but the Rebels were hit hard by the injury bug and limped to a 4-5-1 finish, including 2-5 in the 7 A- West Conference. They missed the postseason. This year, head coach Jeff Williams hopes the Rebels ’ fortunes resemble those from two
years ago instead
of last season. “ A lot of times your season goes with a break here or there and staying injury-free, ” said Williams, who is 18-14-1 in three years at Southside. “ We feel like if we can get some breaks and keep the injury bug away this year that we’ve got a chance to be very competitive. ”
The Rebels return senior running back duo Anthony Warren and Daniel McGee, who combined to rush for 1, 243 yards last year. The two were expected to combine for even more yards last year before the injury bug hit Warren, who missed four games.
The Rebels are also excited about sophomore David Adair.
“ He’s a little bit of a different back, ” Williams said. “ He’s only 5-6, 180 pounds, but he’s extremely strong. He’s a guy that’s very elusive and quick. ”
The Rebels are excited about senior quarterback Trent Welbern, who’s been a quarterback in the Rebels ’ program for the last two seasons.
“ He’s worked extremely hard this summer, ” Williams said of Welbern. “ He had a great summer in 7-on-7 and understands our offense. Had a great first week of practice. He just hasn’t played a lot on Friday night but is a guy we feel pretty good about right now. ”
Williams knows that there is added pressure on the quarterback position because defenses will load up to stop Southside’s running attack and force the Rebels to throw the ball.
“ I think you could talk to any defensive coordinator in America and that’s what they’re going to tell you also, ” Williams said. “ They’re going to try to stop the run and play the pass second. We try to keep a balanced attack and be able to throw it. That’s always our No. 1 goal. Bottom line is we’ve got to go down and execute.
“ We’re looking for a quarterback that’s efficient and keeps the sticks moving. We feel like he can do that. We’ve got some pretty good receivers. If we need to throw it every down we can do that also. ”
The Rebels return senior receiver Spencer Tooley after he was lost to a broken leg against Rogers a year ago.
Southside returns eight starters on offense.
“ It’s a group that’s a very veteran group, ” Williams said. “ They’ve been through the wars in the 7 A-West. It’s a group we feel like can compete with anybody. I’ve been in this league long enough to know that everybody’s good. Week in and week out it’s always very difficult. ”
Defensively, Southside picked up a bonus when senior Richard Kirksey moved back into the district from Michigan. He’s supposed to see action on the defensive line.
The Rebels also return All-Conference linebackers Daniel Berry and Chris Marsh and All-State cornerback Tony Thompson, who had nine interceptions last season. The Rebels return six starters on defense. “ We’ve always tried to play good defense, ” Williams said. “ We feel like we’ve got a pretty good nucleus back on defense. We feel like they could be a very good group. ” NOTES: The Rebels ’ 24-14 loss to Bentonville was its biggest loss of the season. Southside’s other four losses came by 7 points or less, including a 12-7 loss to Rogers. … After starting last year 3-0-1, Southside lost five consecutive games before beating rival Fort Smith Northside 28-21 in the final game of the regular season.
• • • Tuesday: Fort Smith Northside.
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