SPARTANS Continued from 7
“ When you have a person and an athlete like Monquelle , when they leave there ’ s always the heartbreak , because you had someone that really showed athleticism in which you could count on when that time came and knowing that he was a threat at any given moment ,” Lee said . “ When you graduate someone like him , and prior to him we had Kyle King , prior to him you had Jonathan Carr . So it ’ s always quarterbacks like that that you miss . Even before I got here you had Isaiah Kinder . You see those guys go out of the program , you miss them because you know what kind of value they added to your program . You just hope the young guys that were behind them saw the value of them and learned from them .”
Lee said he and the coaching staff are excited about the position going into the season . Sophomore Brody
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Hamric stands to step in as the starter .
“ We had him in a couple of 7-on-7s and he threw the ball well ,” Lee said . “ The good thing about him , he ’ s young , he soaks things up like a sponge and he loves playing the position . He ’ s got good size , standing about 6-3 , probably about 175 ( pounds ). We ’ re counting on him really to just take control of our offense and be the guy that everybody looks up to .”
Suttle , who Lee said will play multiple positions , will also take snaps .
Suttle is a player who could be one of Hamric ’ s top targets , bringing good hands and speed to the receiver position . Suttle was a state track qualifier in the 100-meters last spring .
Burdette also brings explosive potential at the sniffer tight end spot .
“ Grant has all the tools to be — and I ’ ll predict it now — has all the tools now to possibly be a Division I player by the time he becomes a senior ,” Lee said .
Senior Robert Bennett and junior Caleb Tolley are
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players who have put in the work to make themselves better and be top contributors . Senior Abram Wickline could surprise people , Lee said . He was a fraction of a second from joining Suttle at the state track meet .
Defensively , the Spartans will have to replace the likes of Luke Carolla up front and Lucas McCallister in the secondary , both of whom are now at Bethany College .
Seniors Sam Wright and James McCraw and juniors Ashton Mentz and Rhett Baker will all be first-year starters on the defensive line . Cole , as a third-year starter at center , could also find himself going both ways to bring experience to the defensive front .
Wickline and Suttle will also be two-way players in the secondary . Freshman Daniel Butler has shown promise and could see playing time . Tolley also saw a lot of defensive action last season , and Stone will be a contributor as well .
Hamilton , senior Weston Pence and Burdette will be
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the starting linebackers . Freshman Keshawn Bland could get into the rotation .
A big weapon for the Spartans last season was kicker Noah Dotson , who is now at Fairmont State . Among his many accomplishments was a school-record 44-yard field goal last season at Hampshire .
“ We ’ re going to miss Noah ,” Lee said .
Sophomore Owen Romero will step in and has been impressive in the preseason .
Wickline and Suttle will be returning kicks , as will Stone .
Inexperience will again be an issue for the Spartans , but enthusiasm will not .
“ The biggest thing that the coaching staff and myself , we ’ re impressed with our guys ’ attitudes ,” Lee said . “ Attitudes that they ’ ve come into camp this year , our offseason , shows their commitment to our program , shows their commitment to our school and shows their commitment to our community . That ’ s something that we ’ re proud of and I want to commend them on that .”
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MAVERICKS Continued from 13
“ We have some potential out there , but that experience means something , too ,” Mustain said . “ There are going to be some growing pains there .”
Baker , a two-way tackle , is the big man on both sides of the line , a guy with all-state potential on either side of the line .
He missed a portion of last year but still was an all-state selection . Missing time helped the depth , but the Mavericks did lose firstteam all-state offensive lineman Jeffrey Jones and second-team offensive lineman Jacob Proffitt .
“ Brady does an outstanding job and he ’ s started since he was a freshman ,” Mustain said . “ Having
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him healthy would be big . Having Jacob Hall ( center ) back is also big , he started a good bit as a freshman and he ’ s now a senior , along with Ashton Evans ( guard ). Those three started on the offensive and defensive lines last year . We have a very good core for our offensive line with those three .”
Jackson Phillips ( center-tackle ), who filled in admirably for Baker , Kole Ballengee ( guard-tackle ), Gavin French ( guard-tackle ) and Justin Feamster ( guard ) will be expected to step in there .
“ Just that base core right there , it seems like there is a lot we can do with them ,” Mustain said .
Peyton Gardiner and Shane Arthur , soccer players , will have to fill the role of graduated second-team all-state kicker Owen Jackson
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, who made 53 extra points and three field goals .
Losses on defense might be harder to fill . The defense gave up just 4.8 points per game in the regular season , 6.2 ppg through 13 games and 9.5 after the state championship game .
Gone are outside linebackers Hayden Parker and Ethan Ganoe , middle linebacker Granger Gore , cornerback Braydie Carr and of course , Allen , who had eight interceptions and was first-team all-state defensive captain , as well as defensive lineman Jacob Proffitt , who represented the Mavs in the North- South game .
“ We had a great defense last year ,” Mustain said .
On the defensive line , Brady Baker is a returning first-team all-stater and Ashton Evans and Jacob Hall were two-way players
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last year .
“ I think we have the potential to be pretty good there ,” Mustain said .
Ridgeway returns at linebacker and Gavin French returns with experience and Brock Parker figure to see action but beyond that the group will be figured out in the preseason .
Defensive backs are Chaz Boggs , who started , but the rest are gone ., potentially Layton Dowdy , who didn ’ t play much defense last year , and Ryan Manns , Will Boggess and newcomer Noah Jewell , who Mustain said could be a “ diamond in the rough .”
The Mavericks will play in the state ’ s first marquee game , traveling to Wheeling Friday to take on Wheeling Central , a team the Mavericks beat 27-7 in the Class A semifinals at Lindside last season .
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