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BURNSVILLE – Confidence swells here, even on Mountain Heritage football’s first day of practice. The Cougars have already installed most of their offense and are jumping right into perfecting it.
After going 10-3 last year and reaching the third round of the NCHSAA 1A playoffs, nearly all of the Cougars’ roster returns. The expectation is to compete for a state title, and nobody is shying away.
“That’s where we feel like we should be,” Mountain Heritage coach Joey Robinson said. “We feel like we should be the target. For years, we were the bull’s-eye in the conference, and we want to be there.”
Mountain Heritage didn’t pick up the football much over the summer, instead lifting and learning the playbook all summer. When they finally get on the field on day one, Robinson said, they’re starving for football. Practice is loose, which has been helpful for players like junior tight end Cason Jones.
“We know we can’t be so tense anymore,” Jones said. “Now we know we have to calm down. Most of us, we have to relax and have fun and we end up playing better than we do when we’re tight and thinking too much.”
All but one starter is returning on defense after linebacker CJ Burleson, who was second on the team with 118 tackles, graduated. The Cougars are losing just three starters on offense, the biggest of which is All-WNC lineman Hunter Hamlin. But they return 4,667 total yards of offense, almost all of their production from a season ago. Just 120 receiving yards, all from tight end Maverick Gilley, and 22 rushing yards, all from Burleson, graduated last season.
“The biggest thing (in having experience) is just the confidence,” Robinson said. “The biggest thing we have to do is stay humble.”
Mountain Heritage wasn’t successful last season in spite of its age, but rather because of it. The…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-mountain-heritage-football-isnt-124509168.html
Author : Asheville Citizen-Times
Publish date : 2024-08-07 12:45:09
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