14 THE RIVER VALLEY REPORT FOOTBALL PREVIEW | 8.11.2024
Airedales excited about returning experience
Towns-Robinson a key cog on offense, defense
LELAND BARCLAY
SPECIAL TO RIVER VALLEY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
ALMA— The Airedales were a desperation pass away from tying for the 5A-West Conference championship and a home playoff game last season.
Instead, Harrison completed a 41-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-17 with 31 seconds left to rally for a win that in the end sent the Airedales all the way to the fourth seed and a trip to play eventual state champion Little Rock Parkview in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs.
Alma returns starters at 13 positions and looks to ascend back to the top of the conference.
“ We’ re extremely excited about the upcoming year,” Alma Coach Rusty Bush said.“ It’ s been a great offseason, great spring and rolling into summer. The biggest thing for us is we have a lot of returners coming back. We’ ve got eight defensively especially and five on offense. It’ s a senior class that has a lot of guys that have a lot of experience. A lot of them have been playing since the 10th grade and contributing. It’ s a veteran football team.”
The Airedales will move senior Israel Towns-Robinson to linebacker from end on defense.
“ Izzy will be more of a linebacker,” Bush said.“ He’ s down to 219 from 230( pounds). He’ s going to be a linebacker at the next level.”
The move serves two purposes for the Airedales, requiring less wear and tear from the defensive line and allowing him to be the top threat running the ball on offense.
Alma players take the field, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, before the first quarter of the Battle of the Bone against Van Buren at Blakemore Field in Van Buren.( River Valley Democrat-Gazette / Hank Layton)
“ Izzy is going to do that for us,” Bush said.“ It makes sense to keep him off the defensive line where he gets banged around on every single play. He can be more of a free player at linebacker and run a little bit more, which is something he’ s extremely skilled at. It won’ t be as much of a toll on his body, so he can still be the primary ball carrier.”
Other top returners are senior cornerback Ashton Chanhnouvong and Cash Farris.
“ They were No. 1 and 2 in tackles last year for us,” Bush said.“ They’ ll both be three-year starters. Those guys are going to anchor us in the back end. We feel really good about that.”
Chanhnouvong registered 79 tackles a year ago, and Farris 59 with six for loss. Farris also had two interceptions.
Senior Brayden Polecat returns in the secondary as well with Sam Schlegel working to fill the other spot.
Senior Byron Standridge returns at an inside linebacker slot and will join Towns- Robinson.
Senior Caleb Parker suffered a knee
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