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LINCOLN — The 2017 football season holds promise as Lincoln's junior Wolves return more than 30 freshmen from that class with 10 starters back on offense and seven on defense. The junior Wolves have a new head coach, Reed Mendoza, who will teach eighth-grade Social Studies. Also new to the junior high staff is Erwin Starts, who will teach Civics/Economics at the high school and coach defensive backs and wide receivers on the junior high and high school football teams. The freshmen are expected to carry their weight during 2017. Last season the junior Wolves 5-5 (2-5) were competitive. They were handicapped in a week 10 loss to Prairie Grove when play-maker, wide receiver Daytin Davis was out. Lincoln lost to Gravette and Huntsville by a single touchdown in each game. Lincoln has enough punch on offense that oppo- nents, who try to trade scores will likely find themselves playing catch-up. OFFENSE Quarterback Tyler Brewer won the starting quar- terback position as an eighth-grader. Brewer has a good arm, he's left-handed and makes good decisions with the foot- ball. Brewer has proven success. He quarterbacked the class to seventh-grade 9-1 record in 2015. Last year, Brewer averaged 134.3 yards-per-game through the air. He completed 60 percent of his passes (84 of 134) for 1,343 yards with 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Tailback Noe Avellaneda took snaps in a mop-up role at quarterback. He completed 10 of 10 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown. Lincoln averaged 156 passing yards-per-game. Running Backs At tailback Avellaneda was the junior Wolves leading rusher. He ran the ball 70 times for 513 yards, posting an impres- sive 7.3-yards-per-carry and scoring 9 touchdowns. He had just two fumbles and broke off a long gain of 56 yards. He has a knack for finding the end zone, and is a threat to break long runs. Nathan Khilling, who transferred from Mansfield as an eighth-grader, also plays fullback. Avellaneda demonstrated his versatil- ity by contributing 13 pass receptions coming out of the backfield for 197 yards and 15.2 average. Receivers Offensively, Lincoln likes to spread defenses out by operating out of a four wide-receiver set with twin slot receiv- ers. The junior Wolves operate from a four wide-receiver unit featuring two slots at any given time. Davis is a model student in the class- room, who started at wide receiver on the junior high offense as a seventh- grader, but missed the 2016 season finale due to injury. The talented Davis aver- aged 18-yards-per-catch last year. He is an offensive spark plug, a go-to-guy when Lincoln needs a play. Lincoln will target him frequently. In 2016, Davis caught 31 passes for 558 yards and 7 touchdowns in 9 games. His longest reception went for 82 yards. Eli Rich, son of boys basketball coach Tim Rich, gives the junior Wolves another play-maker at wide-receiver. Rich gives Lincoln some speed on the outside, and has great hands. Last season, Rich had 20 receptions for 257 yards, an average of 12.9-yards-per-catch. He accounted for 3 touchdowns with a long of 47. Offensive Line On the offensive line, Malik Bagsby (left guard), Jaime Garcia (left tackle), Levi Wright (center), Noah Moore (right guard) and Audie Ramsey (right tackle) formed the starting lineup last year. The line powered Lincoln to 2,297 yards of total offense in 2016. The junior Wolves averaged 23-points-per- game and 229.7 yards-per-game. Their ground attack compiled 82.1-yards-per- game while throwing the football added passing yardage of 147.6-yards-per-game. 14 | EntErprisE-LEadEr WEdnEsday, aug. 23, 2017 Junior Wolves Return Plenty Of Offensive Punch By Mark Humphrey ENTERPRISE-LEADER LINCOLN JUNIOR HIGH PREVIEW SEE JUNIOR PAGE 15 MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Lincoln's junior high football team hopes to contend for a conference championship.