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Cole Brumley help stuff up the middle. Linebackers Inside linebacker Baylor Kissinger got a lot of playing time last year. The other spot was up for grabs. "Parker Dougan's been doing it all summer long, but now he's got some competition with Morgan Cobb and that Cale Bray kid that moved in. He shows a lot of promise," Pinkley said. "They'll all play some. We play a lot of guys on defense." Stucki and Sugg, who impressed coaches with his effort in seventh grade, add depth and hunger for playing time to the mix. "Sugg's in a good spot," Pinkley said. At strongside outside linebacker Carte returns a lot of experience from last season at Bandit. Blake Coughran played the position as a seventh grader. The weakside outside linebacker is designated as "Rover" in the junior Tigers defense. "Our free safety and rover are kind of interchangeable," Pinkley said Secondary Breshears, Edwards and Cox battle for two starting slots at safety. "Those three guys will kind of take over those two spots. We'll try to get rest for the odd one out. Eighth grader Jace Oxford can play either safety or rover. Ethan Richardson will push for playing time. Eighth grader Cooper Hull hasn't hit his growth spurt yet brings intensity. Three good freshman candidates are also challenging one another to start at cornerback, Alex Abshier, Cooper Stephens and Tyler Tigert. Classmate Wyatt Parker is new to football. He's a soccer player and when running drills Pinkley discovered Parker has really good spatial awareness. "I got a bunch of good eighth grad- ers who are pushing for playing time at cornerback, Isaac Moss being kind of the foremost. Jordan Martinez fights to overcome missed time over the summer. Eighth graders Aaden Istre, Colt Meyer and Ryland Smith are also in the mix. OVERVIEW Coaches got their first look during a summer team camp at Springdale and since then much progress has been made due in part to simplifying the scheme. "There was a lot of moving around in parts and pieces trying to figure out who plugs in best where," Pinkley said. "Then we had a bunch of 7-on-7s. We got leaps and bounds better. By the end we were very competitive winning most of our games." "Especially on defense we were figuring it out, but we keep everything very vanilla. We run two coverages and it all looks the same and we were figuring it out." Friday nights are made for football! Springdale 479-756-9337 deCaTUr 479-752-3399 elKinS 479-643-2004 14C Enterprise-Leader Wednesday, August 25, 2021 2 0 2 1 F o o t b a l l P r e v i e w CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13C JUNIOR TIGERS: Breshears, Edwards, Cox Are Battling For Starting Spots At Safety PRAIRIE GROVE 2021 JUNIOR HIGH FOOTBALL ROSTER No. Player Grade 1 Tate Cox 9 2 Cole McGarrah 8 3 Jace Oxford 8 4 Holt Caswell 9 5 Wyatt Parker 9 6 Isaac Moss 8 7 Ethan Richardson 8 8 Aaden Istre 8 10 Braxton Breshears 9 11 Cale Bray 9 12 Cooper Stephens 9 14 Titus Tustin 8 15 Caleb Carte 9 19 Jace Edwards 9 20 Jordan Martinez 9 21 Mark Stucki 8 23 Karsen Mitchell 8 24 Blake Coughran 8 25 Cooper Hull 8 43 Baylor Kissinger 9 44 Maddox Ogle 8 45 Colt Meyer 8 50 Ashton Woods 8 51 Anthony Hall 8 52 Chandler Bielser 8 54 Anthony Helton 9 56 Trey Froud 9 57 Morgan Cobb 9 58 Kaiden Rochier 9 59 Corbin Stearman 8 61 Caleb Marsh 9 62 Jackson Pierce 8 64 Ethan Vanco 8 65 Jeremiah Thompson 8 66 Eli Stanley 8 67 Parker Dougan 9 68 Wyatt McNatt 8 70 Tylen Laycock 8 71 Cole Bromley 9 72 Ty Slaughter 8 73 Jose Aguirre 8 74 Trace Boyd 9 75 Conner Reed 8 76 Calvin Crawford 9 77 Caleb Wilson 9 78 Dane Pifer 9 79 Lance Buckman 8 80 Tyler Tigert 9 81 Alex Abshier 9 87 Elijah Sugg 8 88 Ryland Smith 8 Head coach: John Elder Defensive Coordinator: Mason Pinkley Assistants: Danny Abshier, Craig Laird, Nic Paroubek MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Prairie Grove freshman Trey Froud, 6-0, 165 pounds, plays left tackle and linebacker on the junior high football team.