High school football report

Bombers give keys to Joyce

El Dorado Coach Scott Reed welcomes back 11 starters this season and expects his Wildcats to be among the top teams in Class 6A again.
El Dorado Coach Scott Reed welcomes back 11 starters this season and expects his Wildcats to be among the top teams in Class 6A again.

David Joyce has experience turning around struggling programs.

He's back in his home state attempting to turn around a third one.

Building again

David Joyce is beginning his third rebuilding job in seven seasons, but this one is at Mountain Home, which is currently on a 20-game losing streak. Joyce, a Van Buren native, coached at Battle Mountain and Doherty in Colorado. He lost his first 13 games at Battle Mountain and his opening eight games at Doherty, but eventually led both schools to the state playoffs.

BATTLE MOUNTAIN

YEAR;RECORD;OUTCOME

2008;0-10;Missed playoffs

2009;2-8;Missed playoffs

2010;3-7;Missed playoffs

2011;9-2;Made playoffs

CAREER 14-27 in four seasons

DOHERTY

YEAR;RECORD;OUTCOME

2012;2-8;Missed playoffs

2013;8-3;Made playoffs

CAREER 10-11 in two seasons

Joyce, 34, coached at two high schools in Colorado in 2008-2013 but is now in charge at Mountain Home, which has lost 20 consecutive games and went 0-11 last season.

The Van Buren native and former Huntsville and Green Forest assistant was hired by Mountain Home in March, taking over for Benji Mahan after leading Doherty High School in Colorado Springs to an 8-3 record in 2013.

As he heads into his first season at Mountain Home, Joyce is using the lessons from his first two head coaching positions. In his first seasons at Battle Mountain in 2008 and Doherty in 2012, Joyce started 0-10 and 0-8 respectively, finishing a combined 24-38 in six years at the schools.

Mountain Home -- which advanced to the Class 6A state championship game in 2006 but hasn't won a playoff game since the semifinals that year -- may be Joyce's toughest rebuilding job. The Bombers have not won a game in almost two calendar years, last winning at Harrison on Sept. 7, 2012.

Joyce said he has no plans on taking shortcuts to get the Bombers back in the victory column.

"When you take over a program, you can't sacrifice a win early on for the establishment of the program," Joyce said. "Sometimes, that's tough, but that's what you have to go through. It's not an easy situation here. You have to go to to work and do things the right way."

At Battle Mountain in Vail Valley, Joyce took over a program in 2008 that was 1-9 the previous year. The team lost its first 13 games under Joyce before finally winning in week four of the 2009 season, then two years later made its first playoff appearance since 1991.

After four seasons at Class 3A Black Mountain, Joyce moved up to Colorado's largest classification, Class 5A, to coach at Doherty. Doherty was 6-33 in the four seasons before Joyce arrived in Colorado Springs. Under Joyce, Doherty lost the first eight games of the 2012 season before winning its final two games of the season.

Last season, Doherty won eight games and advanced to the Colorado 5A state playoffs before losing to Thunder Ridge.

Doherty's turnaround from year one to year two at Doherty was in part because of improved discipline, work ethic and execution.

"We put a plan together," Joyce said. "We put in a system early on that we weren't going to compromise the standard. It takes a while before the kids trust you. Once you earn that respect and trust, everything improves.

"We had some decent talent, but that's the thing that helped the most was earning the kids' trust."

Mountain Home, which plays in the 7A/6A-East, has 40 players in fall camp. One of those players, junior Zane Walker is expected to start at quarterback for the Bombers.

"We ask our quarterback to be a physical part of our offense," Joyce said. "Sometimes, we have to lead block. Sometimes, we have to run the option.

"Zane is ready to take over the reigns."

Joyce said moving back to Arkansas was a plus for him and his family, but the opportunity to turn around another program enticed him.

"It was one of those situations where we kept up with it and we felt like it was a good situation to come to," said Joyce, a 1998 graduate of Van Buren High School, where he played quarterback and defensive back.

Mountain Home opens its season Sept. 5 at Harrison.

EL DORADO

Wildcats back

El Dorado has won four of the past five Class 6A state championships, and Coach Scott Reed expects the Wildcats to be back in contention this season.

The Wildcats return 11 starters from last year's 9-5 team that beat Pine Bluff at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock last December.

El Dorado started 0-3 in 2013 before winning nine of its final 11 games to win the school's sixth state championship.

While the Wildcats lost defensive tackle Bijhon Jackson (now at Arkansas) to graduation, they return six starters on offense, including receiver Dadraques Harris, who caught five touchdown passes last season.

"I'm excited again," Reed said. "I think we're going to have a pretty good team."

Reed added that the 6A-South will be tougher this season and that a second consecutive title will be difficult.

"There are some really good teams coming back," Reed said. "Pine Bluff, Jonesboro, Greenwood, there are a number of them.

El Dorado opens the season at home against Camden Fairview on Sept. 5.

EXTRA POINTS

Pulaski Academy is installing a sports turf and athletic development center, Coach Kevin Kelley said. The Bruins are on the road the first four weeks before facing Jacksonville on Oct. 3 at Joe B. Hatcher Stadium at Rector Field. ... Pulaski Robinson will host a three-team scrimmage Aug. 25 that will include Greenbrier and Sylvan Hills. ... Reserved seats in the club level at Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium for North Little Rock's home games this season are $20 per game, North Little Rock Athletic Director Gary Davis said. The Charging Wildcats will play four games at War Memorial because construction of the school's new stadium isn't complete.

Sports on 08/10/2014

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