Ozark-
Ozark second year head coach Josh Watson loaded his team up this past Sunday and headed up to Pitt State for their Team Camp giving the Hillbillies some steady work and reps before the AAA mandated dead period. I had the opportunity with Coach Watson about his teams performance and what positives he got from the camp and things that they needed to work on the second half of summer workouts.
“The goal when you go to any overnight camp is for your guys is to grow as a team on and off the field. At a camp like Pitt state when you get 5 sessions that are 1.5 to 2 hours long in a 2 day period you are going to get plenty of reps. You have to push your guys to still get good reps in sessions 4 & 5 when they are tired and hurting. Guys who are tough find ways to win football games. I think we got that done! We faced some quality opponents and were the second smallest school there.” Other teams that participated in the camp were Blue Valley (KS), Bentonville West (AR), Fort Gibson (OK), Jeff City (MO), Columbus (KS), Shawnee Mission South (KS), Lawerence Free State (KS), & Park Hill South (MO). The Hillbillies were able to see schools they have never seen and to see the different stuff they did schematically from rotation to rotation. It forced the guys to be able to think on the go and run their offense and defense against multiple different looks. Watson thought offensively they looked really good. There were a couple schools that did well against the run, but were able to throw the ball and loosen the box successfully. “We just have to clean some of the pre snap questions and penalties up offensively.” Defensively they will be much improved in all aspects
Easton Fox (6’2 218) caught the eye of the Pitt State coaches and they want him to come up to camp in July. He is a big back who ran a 4.7 laser 40 and broad jumped 10’2 at Harding back in May. He has made the move to the MLB spot defensively. Of course John Skolarski (5’8 165) had moments that wow you! He is coming off a season where he rushed for 1667 yds. Look for him do that and more. He will switch to corner defensively. Cade Capp (5’11 190) had great command of the hudle and offense. He also made some great throws and runs. “I was very pleased with our top 7-8 guys on the offensive front.” The Hillbillies will be led by retuning tackle JakSen Ross (6’0 320) and returning TE Cooper Perrin (6’3 215). Defensively Xander Johnson (6’1 175) did some good work at Outside linebacker, Levi Hitcher (5’11 240) made some good plays inside at nose guard, and Jackson Detherage (6’1 170) and deacon Gage (5’11 165) looked really good in the secondary. “We aren’t where we want to be yet but we are a whole lot closer than we were last year at this point!”
The 4A-4 welcomes back two old foes with Subiaco jumping back up from 8-man football and Booneville makes the jump back up to 4A from 3A making one of the fiercest rivalries in the river valley a battle for a conference crown once again. Ozark will start their season with the benefit game against Gentry on August 18th, before starting the regular season on the road against 5A Maumelle the 28th.
