MOUNTAIN PINE -- A year after winning the small schools division state title in eight-man football, the Mountain Pine Red Devils are back and hoping to complete the season without any delays due to COVID-19.
The Red Devils have already started off the season much like last year with the team having to quarantine, but head coach Sam Counce has been trying to make sure his players are ready to play while doing everything he can to avoid another shutdown.
"You always want to err on the side of caution, and, you know, at 12 years old, you can get the vaccination, and probably that's, that's probably one of the best ways to make sure we're OK," he said. "But, you know, I understand if you don't. ... But we're trying to, you know, keep everything clean, clean up after ourselves, sanitize, and make sure that we're doing everything we can to prevent another quarantine.
"And then, in an outside situation, you know, you have to be right beside each other for 15 minutes, so we very seldom have that situation out on the practice field. So, we feel pretty good while we're out on the field. You know, inside is probably where our biggest chances are."
Counce said that eight-man football is a faster game than 11-man, but that does not mean that it is simpler.
"The field is 40 yards wide, and the length is still the same," he explained. "A regulation football field is 53 yards wide, so you know that, that narrows it up. Whenever you're on a hash mark, and you try to go to the short side, you're just basically running ... out of bounds. So it really, really makes you predictable, in a lot of ways. We've got speed, thank the Lord, so we go to the wide side of the field in that situation. So, you know, I guess we're pretty predictable in some things we do, but, you know, so is everybody else."
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The Red Devils will have several new players this season after many skill players, including quarterback Josiah Walpole, graduated.
"We lost the quarterback and a defensive end and an offensive lineman, and we, we're able to probably fill those spots with the guys from last year -- the back-ups," Counce said. "But at quarterback we're gonna be young with Jonah Wilburn, and we're gonna have Bryce Langley play in there, too. And then, you know, our two backs will be Isaiah Miles and Keelan Dobbins, which they were All-State running backs last year."
Wilburn, a sophomore, is an athlete that may be undersized, but he is a hard worker.
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Mountain Pine Red Devils at practice
The Mountain Pine Red Devils have plenty to look forward to this season. - Photos by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
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"Jonah's a 10th grader and in stature, he's a 10th grader," Counce said. "You know, he's just, he's a young guy that really hasn't developed yet. But he works hard, he's very coachable, and we can depend on him. Where if we get in a run situation, Brice Langley'll probably -- he can, he can get beat up a lot more than Jonah. ... Jonah has a good touch on the ball, throwing it, where Brice tries to throw it from center field, but I think it gives a lot of options with both of them, and we'll need both of them to, to have the kind of year we want to have."
On the offensive line, senior Andrew Gooden returns at center with classmate Toby Seymour at guard. Junior James Glasco also returns to the line after performing well in his sophomore season, and sophomore Jamason Stephenson will likely get time on the offensive line as well.
Junior Jayden Walker will lead the Red Devils' receiving corps with Counce looking for others to step up.
"We've got a few other guys that we can put out there," he said. "We've got some new guys that we're gonna try to filter in, but that spot's probably a little bit open, you know, our other receiver."
Mountain Pine has many of the same faces on the defensive side of the ball, but the team has junior Dayjon Matlock joining Glasco anchor the defensive line at end. Sophomore transfer Miguel Honey will also see time on the defensive line.
"We feel pretty good about that front part," Counce said.
Seymour and Bryce Langley return at linebacker with Miles at safety and Dobbins and Walker at the two corners.
"I feel like this year, we have some backups that's gonna give us a lot of good playing time, a lot of good minutes that these guys can rest, especially these first three or four games as hot as it is," Counce said. "We have a solid group. You know, mostly my job is to stay out of their way and make sure they show up on time to the bus, you know, because they're talented. The thing that we got to make sure we don't get complacent and feel like that, just because we did it last year, we're gonna do it again with a lot of young guys."
Counce is sticking with a Wing-T style of offense that will play into the team's strengths.
"We feel like we can move the ball running it," he said. "You know, I think early in the season, we're gonna depend on that a lot, just for the fact of not being in as good a shape as what I'd like for us to be in right now, where we can just stay and run the ball and kind of control the line of scrimmage. That's going to be very important for us. We can get out in a two-by-two and feel pretty good about it, but I think if we stay with with our Wing-T set with two tackles, two guards, center, quarterback, two running backs, that's what we're going to try to establish first."
Counce is happy to see the Red Devils face off against Cutter Morning Star again.
"It's going to be fun," he said. "That's what, that's what small towns are about, is playing another school like Cutter. And they see these kids in town; they see them around Hot Springs. They know each other's names. You know, some are from over here, some of them will come over here, and we go over there. So it's gonna be fun. You know, I don't think it's bitter or anything. I think it's a good, fun, competitive rivalry. And these kids, you know, ... that's the thing they look forward to. We've got to beat Cutter. That's later, but, you know, that's, that's part of the process in small, Small Town, USA."
Mountain Pine opens its season Friday night at home against Episcopal Collegiate at 7 p.m.