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Uniontown picked 2nd on TRL ballots
PITTSBURG — Both Uniontown and Northeast fielded teams with young rosters last season. This year both UHS head coach Jeremy Neville and NHS head coach Phil Hobbs look forward to seeing their teams mature.
Both coaches spoke to the media here Wednesday as KSHQ Radio played host to its annual Southeast Kansas Football Media Conference. Pre-season coaches polls were also released.
The Three Rivers League’s 11-man football coaches picked Jayhawk-Linn to repeat as champions. The Jayhawks have won the last three titles. Uniontown was picked in a tie for second but received Jayhawk-Linn’s first-place vote as coaches could not vote for their own teams. Northeast was picked to finish in last place.
St. Paul was picked to “three-peat” as the eight-man champion. The Indians finished 11-2 last season and as the State runners-up in Eight-Man Division I.
Hobbs feels that his team, which went winless last season despite showing some improvements, will be able to mature because his coaching staff is stable.
“We’ve had the same coaching staff for the last couple of years,” Hobbs told the media and coaches. “We’re probably the deepest we’ve been on the (offensive) line in the past few years. We started a lot of freshmen and sophomores.”
The Vikings lost four seniors but return a lot of young players who gained experience under fire. Quarterback Karter Dugan, a sophomore, his brother and receiver, Kaden, who will be a junior, and running back Thomas Cronister all return on offense.
Neville hopes he can get his numbers up. By the end of last season, injuries contributed to a decimation of his roster that resulted in being able to suit up only 12 players in the Eagles’ last three games. In those games, they still beat Oswego by 16 points and lost by only two to TRL runner-up Yates Center before a deep Colgan team beat them in the final game of the season.
“We’ve had 16 kids in the weight room this summer,” Neville said. “Which, for us, is a large group.
“We have an immediate need to build up numbers in our program. I’m expecting 20 to 30 kids to come out this year.”
The entire offensive backfield returns for the Eagles. This includes junior Andrew Reed — who J-Linn head coach assistant coach Clint Johnson told the gathered he “hates to tackle.” — junior Ty Davidson and senior Hayden Miller. Like Northeast, Uniontown also lost four seniors.
“We’re also strong at linebacker,” Neville said. “We need to build our line.”
Miller is the most experienced of the linebackers. Davidson, Reed and Izayah Houk, a senior, manned the secondary last season.
Johnson spoke for Jayhawk-Linn as head coach Randy Leach was unable to attend. The Jayhawks are 22-8 over the last three seasons but Johnson seemed to express a bit of caution.
“We have went through two very talented senior classes,” Johnson said. The ’Hawks return their running back and quarterback but Johnson said they’ll probably be thin on the line.
Southeast head coach Jerrad Hansen was the only 11-man coach who spoke. His team went 0-7 last season playing a non-league schedule as they were transitioning from the CNC to the TRL. He has a senior quarterback, Brett Malle, who he says is the kind of “kid who shows up early and leaves late.”
The season begins Aug. 31.