MAYFLOWER — The 2014 football season was a homecoming for new Mayflower coach Todd Langrell.
Langrell, a 1990 graduate of Mayflower High School, coached the Eagles to a 9-4 record, a second-place finish in the 3A-2 conference and an appearance in the Class 3A state quarterfinals. With those accomplishments, Langrell has been named the River Valley & Ozark Edition Coach of
the Year.
“I knew that we had some good players, but I didn’t know how good they would actually be and if they would actually come together,” Langrell said. “Coach Jed Davis was here, and he’s a great coach. Coming back to Mayflower, it meant that much to me, too. Every time we took the field, it meant something. The wins were great, and the losses just meant that much more to you.”
Davis was hired as head coach at Class 6A Marion in spring 2014.
Langrell was previously an assistant coach at Mayflower before stints at Oak Grove High School and at Greenbrier, where he spent the last eight years as offensive coordinator.
“I had mixed emotions because I wanted to do so good,” Langrell said. “I didn’t want to come here and not succeed. Our first three games, we went 1-2. I felt like if we could just keep getting better each and every day that we could have a good season.”
Langrell said he had a lot of “blood, sweat and tears” from playing and coaching on the field at Mayflower High School.
“It was satisfying,” he said.
After starting 1-2, the Eagles reeled off five consecutive conference wins before dropping a 55-48 decision to eventual conference champion Harding Academy in Searcy. Mayflower bounced back with a 56-36 win over Marianna in the regular-season finale, then beat Greenland 35-19 in the first round of the Class 3A state playoffs.
Then a quirk in the playoff scheduling set up a rematch between Mayflower and Harding Academy in the second round. This time, the Eagles rallied from an early deficit to beat the Wildcats 39-33 before losing to Little Rock Episcopal 47-34 in the quarterfinal round.
“I can’t say enough about how good of a coach that coach Roddy Mote is,” Langrell said of the Harding Academy coach. “He does things the right way. That is why they are so successful, because he is of high character and he teaches his kids the right things. They are so well-disciplined.
“Things just went our way that night,” Langrell said of the rematch. “Our kids didn’t give up, but it was very satisfying to get that monkey off our back.”
Harding Academy has a 45-game conference winning streak.
“Mayflower was the last one to beat them in 2008,” Langrell said. “The victories against them are few and far between. I think when you get off the bus and know you have a chance, I think that is where we were. We knew we could play with them. Of course, we went out and did it.”
One thing that made the 2014 season a special one for Mayflower was coming back from the devastating tornado that ripped through the area April 27. Langrell said he had three players lose everything in the storm.
“I’ll never forget waking up one morning, going to help, and a whole bunch of our football players going out to help,” Langrell said. “It kind of brought us closer together, especially as a football team. Any time you are invested and emotions are high, I think that brings people closer.”
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.