High school football

Mounties to start practice with midnight drill

Joseph Sultemeier, Rogers High quarterback, looks for a receiver July 16 during the Mounties team camp.
Joseph Sultemeier, Rogers High quarterback, looks for a receiver July 16 during the Mounties team camp.

ROGERS -- After Rogers High opens fall drills Aug. 3, the Mounties are going camping.

And the team won't have to travel.

ROGERS HIGH

Last Year’s Record: 2-8 (1-6 7A-West)

Returning Starters: 6 offense, 6 defense

Key Losses: FB Bryan Grigsby, QB Cole Evans, LB Austin Pinkerton, DL Daniel Salvador (injury), LB Colin Mayer.

Players To Watch: Returning defensive backs Tony Roller and Jay Young will be three-year starters and junior Joel Carrasco is back at safety. Roller has 4.6 speed and had 31 tackles last season. Young had 22 stops.

Season Opener: Sept. 4 at Siloam Springs, 7 p.m.

Rogers is going to kick off the 2015 football season with a midnight practice at Whitey Smith Stadium on Aug. 3, the first day teams can practice. Rogers coach Shawn Flannigan said the team will assemble late Sunday night at the fieldhouse, then hit the field for a 12:01 a.m. practice.

After practice, the players and coaches will pitch some tents and call it a day.

"We will practice, and then we will have the guys bring some sleeping bags and let them sleep," Flannigan said. "Then we will come back Tuesday morning."

Rogers concluded its summer workout program Friday, and Flannigan has given the players this week off.

"You have to let kids be kids," Flannigan said. "It gives the players and the coaches a little time to disconnect and recharge their batteries. Hopefully, when we come back, they will say 'It's football season, and it is time to get going.'"

Rogers put added emphasis on throwing the football this spring and summer, and the Mounties took part in the team's first major 7-on-7 competition since Flannigan became the coach in 2011.

The Mounties will still operate out of the run-oriented triple option, but Rogers will look to add more balance this fall.

"We have made tremendous improvements from the spring through the summer," Flannigan said. "When you have not thrown the ball a whole lot the previous few years, the guys have not been used to seeing that or doing that. There has been a learning curve there, but they are learning. At the Elite 7-on-7, they made leaps and bounds and got better every day.

"But we still have a long ways to go."

Senior Joseph Sultemeier and junior Max Horton are battling for the starting job at quarterback.

"I told them, 'Guys, we have 31 days from the first practice to the first game, and I don't know which one of you will be the quarterback,'" Flannigan said.

Rogers has big holes to fill left by graduation of the defensive line and at linebacker, but new defensive coordinator Alan Rettmann said the secondary will be a strong spot. Three-year cornerbacks Tony Roller and Jay Young return, and junior Joel Carrasco is back at safety.

"I feel the strength of our defense is the two corners," Rhettman said. "They are both seniors, and I have told them they need to be leaders on this football team. They are the guys that need to correct the other guys on the field."

Another possible weakness is the Mounties' lack of depth, which may mean several players have to play both ways.

"We are working everybody on both sides of the ball," Flannigan said. "We want to get our best 11 on the field."

Rogers opens the season Sept. 4 at Siloam Springs.

Sports on 07/26/2015

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