LAVACA — Lavaca is hoping for a carryover after winning four of five games down the stretch to make the playoffs last season.
But that may be difficult with a stacked 4-2A Conference led by Hackett and Danville, which each won 10 games last year. Danville is a slight favorite to repeat as conference champions after reaching the state quarterfinals last season.
“This conference doesn’t get the props sometimes it deserves,” said Brian Schlinker, who begins his third year as head coach at Lavaca. “Danville is the odds-on favorite, and Lonnie (Hester) does a great job over there at Hackett. Then you throw in coach (Tom) Harrell at Mountainburg, which is always tough, and don’t forget Magazine, which is only a few years removed from a state championship. This is tough conference with a lot of parity, but we certainly expect to contend.”
Lavaca finished 6-5 in its first year after dropping down from Class 3A. But the Golden Arrows expect to be improved after going 4-1 down the stretch and battling Murfreesboro before losing 38-30 in the first round of the playoffs.
“We overcame some adversity with injuries and still made the playoffs, so we expect to build on that,” Schlinker said. “We should be better than 6-5 this year.”
Lavaca will rely heavily on senior Ryan Dockery, who moves to quarterback after rushing for nearly 700 yards last season. Dockery is a standout athlete who averaged over 20 points per game last season in basketball for the Golden Arrows. Tyler Armistead returns at running back while Tripp Lile and junior Trevon Moore are the leaders up front for the Golden Arrows.
“I’m very excited about our skill kids on both sides of the football,” Schlinker said. “Ryan is a great athlete, great basketball player and trackster. He knows the game of football, and he’ll do a good job of running our offense. Tripp Lile is an explosive player who can lead our offensive line then flip over and play linebacker for us. Trevon Moore started every game for us last year as a sophomore, and he’s going to be a big key for us again this year.”
Hackett expects to make a deep playoff run after posting 10 wins for the second consecutive season. The Hornets lost only two games, including a 40-20 defeat to England in the Class 2A playoffs.
“We feel like, position for position, we match up well with anybody in our conference and anybody in the state in 2A football,” Hackett coach Lonnie Hester said. “The problem right now is our numbers are a little down. Our sophomore class has only four football players.”
Hackett returns seven players on offense, including Brady Hester (the coach’s son), who moves from quarterback to receiver this season. Cooper Shipman returns at running back after rushing for 1,000 yards as a junior.
The conference championship could be decided when Hackett plays at Danville on Oct. 13. Both teams were 6-0 in league play last season when Danville beat Hackett 32-22.
Danville is the favorite to win its third consecutive conference title. But the Little Johns must rebuild after losing 11 seniors from a team that finished 10-1. Junior Quentin Tolbert is back after scoring three touchdowns in the win over Hackett.
Mountainburg could challenge the leaders with veteran coach Tom Harrell (144-130-3), who is the second-winningest active high school coach in the state. Five players return on offense for the Dragons, who beat Marked Tree 41-8 in the playoffs before losing 34-28 at Des Arc in the second round.
Magazine and Johnson County Westside will fight for playoff spots after both teams went 4-6 last year. Western Yell County and Decatur bring up the rear after winning only one game apiece in 2016.
Ryan Woolard takes over at Decatur, which often struggles to field teams and has won more than three games only once in the last eight years. The Bulldogs have 15 players out so far, and the season is a go, Woolard said.
Rick Fires can be reached at rfires@nwadg.com or on Twitter @ NWARick.