Wood: No drop-off for Wildcats
Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008
Wood
Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of stories previewing 7 A-West Conference opponents for Bentonville, Rogers and Rogers Heritage.
BENTONVILLE — A run to the Class 7 A state championship game left Springdale Har-Ber with the bar set high.
A large group of seniors left the Wildcats with plenty of holes to fill.
The Wildcats, who went 6-1 for a share of the 7 A-West Conference title and lost in the state finals to league foe Fayetteville, lost 18 starters.
“ Any time in this league when you’re able to have success and share a conference championship in the 7 A-West, that’s pretty special, ” third-year coach Chris Wood said. “ It was hard fought (last year ) and the kids saw how close the games were.
“ You have to take care of the opportunities in a game and we were able to do that. I think the kids understood that being able to be part of that team last year. ”
Wood said the Wildcats’ 36-man senior class knows the expectations.
“ I feel good about this class, ” he said. “ There’s not been a whole lot of drop-off, to be honest. ”
The Wildcats have experience in the backfield, where senior tailback Derek Brinker (6-foot, 206 pounds ) is a three year-starter and senior quarterback Zach Faust (5-10, 190 ) split time with graduated Patrick Calcagni.
“ I consider (Faust ) a returning starter to be honest, ” Wood said. “ He may not have gotten the first series in a football game but he got a lot of quality snaps and he plays with confidence. The guys around him like playing with him and I think that’s a great leadership trait. ”
Faust completed 71 of 115 pass attempts for 1, 566 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Brinker rushed for 15 touchdowns and more than 1, 000 yards last year.
“ He has good field vision and runs hard, ” Wood said. “ He’s kind of a hard-nosed guy between the tackles. I really like that experience coming back, especially when you’re breaking in new offensive linemen. ”
The Wildcats graduated all five linemen and are working on gaining a new group experience.
“ They need reps, ” Wood said. “ They need Friday nights. Until they get out there in the crowds, the game, the adversity; we’ll
get them as many
snaps (during nonconference schedule ) and get them ready for conference play the best we can. ”
Faust will have plenty of options in the passing game with a big group of receivers. The Wildcats were able to rotate two groups of five receivers during 7-on-7 games. “ It’s one of the first times we’ve had that luxury of being able to do that, ” Wood said. “ I feel good with any of those kids stepping up on any given Friday night and doing the job for us. ” Six-foot-5 Brad Taylor (200 pounds ) is solid in the slot while juniors Kaleb Vaughn (5-11, 170 ), Josh McKinney (6-0, 175 ), Tay-Tay Lane (6-4, 180 ) are Har-Ber’s down-field threats. Seniors Taylor Murray (6-3, 160 ), Trenton Mosser (6-1, 175 ) and Brye Payton (6-1, 170 ) all work the intermediate passing game well, Wood said. Junior Houston Pruitt (6-0, 170 ) returns to anchor a strong secondary for Har-Ber. The physical free safety received an offer from the University of Tulsa after his sophomore season, in which he recorded 103 tackles. He’s joined by senior strong safety Chandler Collyar (5-8, 175 ). Senior Zach Smith (5-9, 155 ) fills one cornerback while juniors D. J. Donahue, Russ Raynerson and Levi Copher are battling to fill the other side. Senior linebacker Berkley Cox (5-10, 180 ) and senior defensive ends Stephen Needham (5-11, 205 ) and Jeremy Pinalto (6-3, 210 ) also return to the defense. NOTES: The Wildcats averaged 33 points per game while allowing 22 points last year … Har-Ber will participate in the Gridiron Classic Preview at Tulsa Union’s Union-Tuttle Stadium on Aug. 29 and will open the season at Greenwood a week later.
• • • Friday: Fayetteville
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