Area High Schools Wrapping Up Spring Football

All four Jackson County high school football programs have been busy the past three weeks with spring practice. Spring practice will come to a close this week as all four teams will take part in their respective games.
The Cottondale Hornets were awful young last season and managed just one win in the 2009 campaign. But the Hornets are hopeful that their fortunes will be better this season now that some of those younger players have more experience. They return 8 starters on offense and 9 starters on defense. On the offensive line they return Chris Krauser, Ronnie Dixon and Neal Walker. C.J. Smith, who shared time at QB last year as a freshman, will be the likely starter this year as a sophomore. One of his primary duties will be handing the ball off to Dominique Webb, who returns this season after leading the squad in rushing last season. Defensively for the Hornets returners include Juwon Johnson at cornerback and Webb returns and will play either safety or corner. Cottondale, under long time coach Mike Melvin, concludes their spring practice with a spring game against Holmes County on May 21st in Bonifay at 7 pm.
The Graceville Tigers are also hoping to improve on last season as the Tigers went 3-7 and missed out on the FHSAA playoffs for the first time since the 2004 season. The Tigers saw their two leading ball carriers, Leron Hoover and Treyshaun White, graduate. The offensive line also lost three key blockers so filling those five spots has been a priority during the spring. Returning linemen include Leander Ford, Hunter Lain, Curtis Pinkard and Leon Woulard. David Miller or JT Russaw will be the likely starter at the center position. Carrying the mail will be Jeremy Watford, Derae Laster and Conner Renihan, all of whom saw action last year as backups. On Tuesday May 25th Graceville, under the direction of Head Coach Todd Wertenberger, will play host to Freeport in their spring game.
The Marianna Bulldogs headed into the spring under second year Head Coach Steve DeWitt. The Bulldogs have several task to be working on like finding a starting quarterback. Fidel Montgomery has graduated and will be headed to Troy University so the Bulldog must find a replacement. Hakeem Holmes saw some playing time last year at QB as a sophomore and will see action again. Micheal Mader, a familiar name to baseball fans, has come out for football and the QB spot. Hakeem knows our system and Michael has done well also. Both will see action in our spring game this Thursday,” said DeWitt. The Bulldogs will play host to Northview (Dothan) Thursday night at 6:30 pm. The Bulldogs have spent a good portion of their spring focusing on defense, an admitted weak link from last year. “We didn’t have problems scoring last year (averaged 28 points per game) but we did have trouble stopping folks. So we’ve worked real hard on that and I think we’ll see improvement on that side of the ball,” said DeWitt. While not singling out any particular player, DeWitt has liked what he has seen this spring from his soon to be seniors.
The Sneads Pirates have been having a good spring according to third year Head Coach Don Dowling. “I like what I’ve been seeing from our guys. They’ve been working real hard.” Dowling said. They’ll need that hard work because they must replace some fine talent that has graduated including almost their entire offensive backfield. Gone is Mark Lawson who rushed for more than a 1,000 yards in both his junior and senior season. Also gone are Terrence Green and Jeff Davis. The Pirates have been working on replacing Green at the QB spot and four guys have been battling. Going into their spring jamboree it looks like Blade Osborne has the slight edge with T.J. Granger right behind him. Both will see playing time in the Pirates Jamboree in Wewahitchka on Friday night. Aaron Green and Trent McDaniel may also take a few snaps under center as well. Senior Jamar White returns at the fullback position but the other running backs are all young and inexperienced. Delontre Keys, Keontez Daniels, Ron Brown, Jaylon Daniels and John Locke will all have a shot at toting the pigskin for the Pirates. The young backfield however may be helped out by the fact that the Pirates return most of their starting offensive line. The jamboree in Wewa on Friday night will feature Sneads, Wewa and Blountstown.