18 THE RIVER VALLEY REPORT FOOTBALL PREVIEW | 8.11.2024

HAROLD MCILVAIN II

SPECIAL TO RIVER VALLEY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

LAMAR— Not one to put a square peg in a round hole, Lamar Coach Josh Jones is just fine using what offense best fits his current team’ s talents. Just a quick glance at his roster is all Jones needed to formulate what the Warriors will be running this year.

Behind the strong arm of senior quarterback Caleb Green and two up-andcoming twin tower sophomore wide receivers in Kade Boen( 6-foot-6) and Kendrick Carr( 6-foot-4), the Warriors will be utilizing a spread for their base attack. Eli Jones, the coach’ s son, also projects for a big year at receiver.

“ In high school, you just have to go with what you got,” Jones said.“ You can’ t force things. We were all shotgun back in 2013 and 2014, so it’ s not like it’ s completely new. A lot of this stuff we ran last year, but it wasn’ t our primary offense. We work on it and keep it in case we need it. Now the spread is our base. Just in recent years, we’ ve had games where we passed it once or twice, so it is different.”

The Warriors have traditionally been a run-first team. Back in 2022, three rushers went over 1,000 yards individually. But the players are now excited for the offense to air it out this year in a potentially big season after making the playoffs in a 7-4 season.

“ The seniors want to end this right,” Green said.“ We have a lot of young guys that are stepping up. We’ ve got spots to fill everywhere. If we can get everything together, we are going to be really good. We have a lot of expectations for ourselves. The jump from my sophomore year to junior year was big for me. I just had to step in and make some big plays. Everybody is ready for this season to start.”

Green, now a three-year starter, will again be a key cog for Lamar as the signal caller. He passed for 488 yards and 10 touchdowns. Green also rushed 93 times for 880 yards and 13 scores. He did it all last year for the Warriors when it was needed most. In a win over Clinton, he scored the game-winning touchdown to rally the team to a 27-point second half after being shutout in the first half.

“ Caleb gives us a chance,” Jones said.“ If he gets in the open field with some room, he has the speed to take it to the house. Moving to the spread, that should open up his opportunities to run as well. He throws it well, too. I feel we have a lot of offense. We’ ve got some receivers that will be problems for people. Kade is 6-foot-6. Kendrick is 6-foot-4. They are both just sophomores, too. They are so young.”

Lamar last year with a win in its final game could’ ve secured a share of the 4A-4 conference title, which would’ ve been the first since 2008. It didn’ t work out for them. The Warriors are excited to give it another chance in a revamped league that will now feature a playoff rematch against Ozark, which ended

LAMAR WARRIORS

Lamar’ s season last year.

“ I think since 2007, Lamar has made it to the playoffs every year but one,” Jones said.“ Teams I’ ve coached have been in the playoffs every season since 2006 at Magazine and Lamar now. I hope it continues. This is a good bunch. Football is kind of funny right now because it’ s hard to get kids to play anymore. I’ ve been very fortunate that at Lamar they still want to play.”

* – Denotes 4A-4 conference game. All kickoffs 7 p. m. unless noted.

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