(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a story from the 2019 football preview "The Audible." This story is being released now and a story for the remaining three city schools - Texas High, Liberty-Eylau and Pleasant Grove - will be released each day until Sunday when the 104-page magazine comes out.)
_____
TEXARKANA, Ark. - Despite graduating 27 seniors from last year's 10-win team, Arkansas High isn't looking to rebuild in 2019.
The Razorbacks are reloading to defend their 5A-South conference title and make a deep postseason run.
"Every year, it's a new team. It doesn't matter if you have a lot of starters back or if you're replacing a bunch; it's going to be a new team, you never know how it's going to jell together, and everybody's got to go earn their spots again," Norton said. "Two things are really important.
Photo Gallery
"Drawings and Drips" Opening
Rachel Thompson celebrated her art display "Drawings and Drips" at the ACAC with an opening reception Friday, January 8.
"The success we had last year creates an expectation. So many times, people don't differentiate between hope and expectations. Some people have hope. Some people have expectations. There's a difference, and it's all in the preparation you put in."
Arkansas High, which travels to Liberty-Eylau Friday to begin the season, returns three starters on offense and two on defense. But the new starters won't all be new faces to Friday nights.
"The kids are doing a great job; they bought into the program over the last couple of years," Norton said. "It's still not fully ingrained in them, yet, but it's getting close. We lost a great group last year. They had really bought in, and it was a close-knit group of kids.
"This year, we've got a small senior class. Our junior class is a good group of kids, who're close-knot; they're similar to what we had last year. So everybody's sorta going the same direction."
Moving forward will be key for the Hogs to continue building on the success since Norton took over the program in 2017.
"Our motto this year is 'One Rope' and we're trying to get everybody's hands on the rope, pulling the same direction," Norton said. "We're getting it that way. These are our kids now; we went from a program that wasn't winning very many games to 10 wins last year, and they're buying in and doing a good job."
OFFENSE
The three offensive starters back include QB Sean Foreback, center Gaylon Williams and guard Tre Ross. Williams is a junior, and Foreback and Ross seniors.
Also vying for the quarterback position is junior Braylon Bishop and sophomore Layton Lammers.
"We've got quarterback depth, which is great," Norton said. "We just want to see consistency from this team; play well every day. I tell our kids, 'we try to stack up days,' in practice you've got to pile one good day onto another. If you do that, come conference you can look up and you're a good football team. You've got to be consistently good before you can be great."
Junior Torie Blair is back and expected to tote the load as running back, and junior Torie Blackwell will add depth at t tailback.
Sophomore Von Soloman and junior Eric Flowers are at fullback, and there are five juniors among the top eight receivers for Arkansas High. Seniors Demarcus Day and Deshannon Patterson will be at the wide receiver spots and backed up by juniors Jalen Pastchol and Niajah Taylor.
Tyler Green and Tavree Green are junior slot receivers with depth from junior Jay Johnson and sophomore Logan Williams.
"Our strength is going to be at our skill positions and the depth of our skill positions," Norton said. "We lost some really good players at those spots, but we have guys coming in to fill the holes. At receiver and defensive back, we have a lot of depth.
"What we're having to do is replace the big guys, on the offensive line and defensive line. We've got some guys on the defensive line, but I think the skill guys, right now, are the strength of our football team. We'll have to play to that."
Joining Ross and Williams on the line will be junior Kamron Davis and sophomores Johnny Murphy and Miles McBay. Nate Fort is a senior backup at center, and the majority of the depth up front will be sophomores.
DEFENSE
Seniors Charles Stewart, Kailon Harris and Michael Johnson anchor the defensive line. Junior Quavion Hayden and senior Jacoby Hall are working at the end position, and there are three sophomores adding depth up from.
"We've got a couple of starters back on the defensive line, and we've got some good younger players who will help there," Norton said. "But they're going to be young and green. We're looking at moving some guys back to linebacker; we're playing around with the fronts, looking at playing to our kids' strengths and seeing where it unfolds."
Seniors Cornelius Moore and Larry Jefferson will be joined by Flowers at linebacker, and the secondary will feature Blackwell and Jacobie McClinton at cornerbacks and Taylor and Johnson at safeties.
Senior Jaquavion Smith and sophomores Williams and Soloman will help at linebacker, and in the secondary Davis, Tylee Green, Tavree Green and sophomore Rickie Williams will help.
EXPECTATIONS vs. HOPES
Norton likened the difference between hope and expectation to a baseball batter coming up with two outs and a runner at second. Some players would hope to get the game-winning hit, while others expect to get the hit.
Norton and his staff have grown the expectations with the AHS program in just a couple of years.
"We once had hope we would win some games; now we're getting to where we expect to win," the Razorback coach said. "We expect to play well, expect to pay a price - work really hard - and I think those expectations are there and getting better everyday. Our kids understand that if they do things the right way, on a daily basis, then we can go out there and expect to win ballgames."
Along with building depth and gaining experience for the younger players, Arkansas High will plan to defend its conference title. Last year was the first league championship for the Razorbacks since 2006.
"Our goal is to win the conference championship," Norton said. "We had a good game against Little Rock McClellan; it was a tough, physical contest. They've got just about everyone back; on paper, they're the favorites. Camden Fairview will be really good, but we ought to be in the mix. Our goal and our expectation is to win the conference."
___
2019 SCHEDULE
Date Site-Opponent
Aug. 30, at Liberty-Eylau
Sept. 6, Texas High
Sept. 13, Open date
Sept. 20, Open date
Sept. 27, x-Magnolia
Oct. 4, x-at Camden Fairview
Oct. 11, x-HS Lakeside
Oct. 18, x-at LR McClellan
Oct. 25, x-at Hot Springs
Nov. 1, x-Hope
Nov. 8, x-at De Queen
x-Denotes 5A-South conference game. All kickoffs 7 p.m. unless denoted.
____
QUICK FACTS
SCHOOL: Arkansas High
2018 RECORD: 10-2
HEAD COACH: Barry Norton
YEARS AT SCHOOL: 3rd
COACHING STAFF: Jeff Harrell, asst. head coach/def. ends; Scott Norton, special teams coordinator/running backs; Tyler Morton, def. coordinator/safeties; Rick Cullum, off. coordinator/quarterbacks; J.,R. Hunter, def. tackles; Hayden Rybiski, linebackers; Jeff Ritter, cornerbacks; Elgie Richards, receivers; Andrew Morton, off. line; Elgie Richards, Jr., tight ends; Joe Ward, off. line; Jared Brown, receivers; Kierra Harris, def. backs; Kendrix McCann, linebackers; Frank Pearson, operations/punters.
LETTERMEN LOST/BACK: 27/12
STARTERS BACK: offense 3, defense 2
PLAYERS TO WATCH: QB Sean Foreback, C Gaylon Williams, G Tre Ross, DE Larry Jefferson, DT Michael Johnson, DE Charles Stewart, LB/TE Larry Jefferson, WR Demarcus Davis, TB Torie Blair, OT Kamron Davis, CB Louis Blackwell.
TOP NEWCOMERS: QB Braylon Bishop, FB Von Soloman, WR Tyler Green, G Miles McBay, WR Tavree Green, S Jamarious Johnson.