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"We're expecting a lot of good things from him. He's put in a very, very tough offseason. He works hard. He's a great blocker, great at catching, he's a lot faster than he looks. I think he's going to be a really good player for us," Covington said. "He'll play inside, he's very capable, but he's also capable of being split out and running routes." The position at the junior high JV squad features two players splitting time between freshman Luke Chandler and eighth grader Jett Pierce. Chandler is new to the position while Pierce has a year of experience. "They're both battling it out right now to be that starter on the junior high JV," Covington said. The junior high squad has an assortment of receivers. Akin Johnson, Dawson Keaton, and Brady Richards start. "Those three together they block well downfield, they catch the ball and they run routes they're supposed to. They're pretty much all you can ask for out of a receiver and they'll go make a play," Covington said. The offensive line picture was still coming into focus for coaches the second week of August. "It's almost a puzzle right now. We're kind of honing in on who we want there," Covington said. Freshmen Truman Capshaw and Isaac Rodriguez play tackle as do eighth graders Chandler Bunn and Zach Stilwell. At guard the junior Cardinals feature Layton Mitch- ell and Dodge Usrey. "Layton Mitchell is probably the leader of really that offense. He's our right guard. He's a big time leader for us," Covington said. Freshman Koby Hayes plays center with eighth grader Jadon Davidson and some other rotating players such as Connor Denham on the junior high offensive line. DEFENSE At defensive end freshmen Trevor Harvey and Jacquel Brown bookend the front. Fresh- man Jaxen Seward starts at nose guard and mans an interior defensive tackle position when the junior Cardinals go into a four man front. Eighth grader Jason Maynard will play the other tackle. Freshman Braxton Hartman, Memphis Boyle rotate in. "If we go by what training camp looks like, right now that looks like the strength of our team," Covington said. "That D-line's pretty strong. At middle linebacker, freshman Peyton Wells keys the junior Cardinal defense. "It goes and comes with Peyton Wells. He's our middle linebacker and he's the leader of that defense. He's a very good player, he's hardnosed, he's downhill," Covington said. Sam Reynolds, a twin to defensive back Noah Reynolds, starts at outside linebacker. Ean Shadden, Aiden Suchhowski, Townes Boger, Avery Case are candidates to fill the outside linebacker roles. "We've got a lot of options there so we can have a pretty good rotation," Covington said. "We've got a couple of eighth graders who can probably play there like Crosby Schmitt. To fill the secondary some players switched from offense. Freshman Peyton Bailey has his side locked up. "He's a fantastic player, a fantastic kid," Covington said. "The other side we stole from the offense. Right now it's looking like it's going to be Connor Nastasi, who's also going to be playing backup runningback for us, but we always have a couple rotating." Freshmen Corbin Smith and Hunter Vanhook rotate in. At safety freshman Bryce Thompson established himself as a starter. Noah Reyn- olds and Vanhook are reserves. KICKING GAME Peyton Wells has been doing all of the kicking including kickoffs and extra-points. Lester, the quarterback, doubles as the punter. "Right now he's our most consistent punter. In junior high JV Brenner Watkins, our runningback, is doing all the kicking. He's going to do punt as well," Covington said. Keaton and Nastasi handle kick and punt returns. "I feel like those two give us the best chance. They read blocks well. They can set up their blocking and they've got the speed to take it to the house if it opens up," Covington said. At the junior high JV level, Hendrix and Michael Shofitt do returns. CONFERENCE AFFILIATION Farmington's new conference is called "The River Valley Conference." "It's a lot of the teams high school plays. It's not all of them because we're playing Greenwood and teams like that. It's a simi- lar schedule with teams closer to our size. Now, we're traveling more than we have in the past years instead of just going to Fayetteville or Springdale, we're doing to Dardanelle [and other places]. It's teams closer to our size and I've got great hopes and expectations for this team. I think we've got a chance to be pretty good," Covington said. FARM • HOME • LiAbiLity S e r v i n g A r k A n S A S S i n c e 1 9 2 2 Have A Great Season! Washington County Farmers Mutual Fire I N S U R A N C E Company 2209 North Henbest Drive • Fayetteville • www.washingtonins.net 479-442-2612 6C Enterprise-Leader Wednesday, August 24, 2022 2 0 2 2 F o o t b a l l P r e v i e w CONTINuED FROM pAGE 5C JuNIOR CARDINALS: Farmington Is Now Part Of 'The River Valley Conference' MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Payton Covington takes over as head coach for the Farmington junior high football team in 2022.