The River Valley Report 2024 Football preview | Page 19

THE RIVER VALLEY REPORT FOOTBALL PREVIEW | 8.11.2024

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HAROLD MCILVAIN II

SPECIAL TO RIVER VALLEY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

WALDRON— Doug Milholen has broken down and analyzed a lot of film in his days as a football coach. It’ s usually for player scouting and evaluating. But now as a firstyear coach at Waldron, a video of the stands is what caught his attention the most.

“ After I saw the job was open and thought about applying, I started watching some of Waldron’ s games on YouTube,” Milholen said.“ The crowd was going nuts no matter what was going on. The stands were full. Since I have been hired, I’ ve learned it’ s a really good town. The community support in Waldron is great. We have a lot of people on board. The town and team is hungry to have some success. We’ ve got 48 guys on our senior high roster. We can do some damage with that.”

Milholen spent the past seven years at DeWitt, where he was the defensive coordinator for the past three. The Mount Ida native is the third Waldron coach in the past three years and the fourth in the last six seasons. He looks to provide stability now to a program that is starving for just that.

“ These kids, the town and the school deserve better,” Milholen said.“ I didn’ t come here for it to be a stepping stone. I brought my wife and three boys. I don’ t want to be here a year and be gone. With this being my first head coaching job, I’ m excited to grow with this town, the kids and my assistants. We are eager to do something different. Change is a good thing.”

After being hired in April, Milholen has hit the ground running looking to get Waldron back in the win column after finishing 0-10 last year. The Bulldogs are now in the 4A-4 conference after being in the 4A-7 the past few years. Milholen has liked what he has seen in the summer with the experience of eight starters back on offense and seven back on defense.

“ I can work with that,” Milholen said.“ A lot of these guys are three- or four-sport guys. We have some athleticism. We’ ll run spread, but we will be multiple and have some heavy sets. We’ ll be wide open and are looking to give teams a different look. We will be run first from the spread, but we’ ll be throwing the ball a lot.”

The team will be guided at quarterback by senior Keegan Lynch and sophomore Eli Kluthe. Lynch will be used as a Swiss Army knife— also being utilized as a running back and wide receiver. The offensive line looks to be a strength up front with Aden Allen, Hunter Copeland, Nathan Canada, Chris Allen and Dakota Taff clearing the way.

After missing action last year because of an injury and a lot of program turnover in his career, Lynch and the senior class look to end their time at Waldron strong.

“ Every year for my high school career I’ ve

WALDRON BULLDOGS

had a new coach,” Lynch said.“ Just getting to know him and how he coaches has been fun. I’ m confident in what he is building with this program. I’ ve played multiple positions in the past, so this isn’ t something new for me. I’ ll be wherever they think I need to be. We’ ve been working hard toward a winning season. We want this to be our year.”

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