Last season was a mixed bag for Mount View.
The Golden Knights were one of the few teams in the state to play a full 10-game schedule, but finished 4-6 on the outside of the playoffs looking in.
Now they have a few key contributors to replace, starting with quarterback Jesse Rose who was a three-year starter. Fortunately there’s a plethora of talented players returning in what head coach Maurice Gravely hopes is a big year.
“I hate to lose the guys we lost, but we have a lot of good kids returning,” Gravely said. “We have a lot of good skill players coming back. Tony Bailey, Jaylen Hall, Johnathan Huff, Justin Haggerty, these guys when I first came in were freshmen. They took their bumps and bruises and got some quality playing time over the last couple of years and now they’re the leaders. So we had a scrimmage and played Covington, Va. and I was quite pleased with what I saw. If the real identity of these guys comes forward we could be very surprising to a lot of people. I have no predictions with that but I’m happy with what I have returning.”
With a talented stable of dynamic playmakers, Gravely feels confident in what his offense can do. In their scrimmages the Golden Knights have turned heads with their athleticism, fitting the mold of what the head coach wants from his offense.
“I’m a fun and gun type of guy,” Gravely said. “I want these kids to have fun themselves. We’re going to travel through the air but we’re going to mix it up a lot with our running game. We have T.J. Bell returning from last year and he’s a weight room type of guy. He’s heading into his senior year so he’s expecting big things along with Travis Bell. We want a 60/40 type of deal but we want to roll with whatever’s clicking that night and hopefully we can make Mount View exciting every game.”
Still, the Golden Knights need somebody to get the ball into the hands of their athletes. With Rose gone there are questions surrounding the quarterback spot but Gravely has spent the last few years preparing for life after him. In other words he has a plan.
“I always prepare for the winter,” Gravely said. “During the time we had Jesse I was kind of working behind closed doors for a rainy day. We have a couple of kids we think can play quarterback for us. Ryan Long is just a workaholic and he wants to be the best he can be. I was pleased with him against Covington and then you have the two Haggerty twins in Justin and Jason who also can step in at quarterback. I won’t announce a guy yet, but I’m quite pleased with all three of those guys.”
On the defensive side of the ball Gravely against feels good about the athletes he’s fielding. As such he anticipates the secondary being the strength of the team on that side.
“The strength in that defense is the skill guys in the secondary,” Gravely said. “You’ve got guys that are seniors and have taken their battle scars back there. I think they’re ready to go. The linebacker corps is kind of new but one of our guys there, T.J. Bell is senior. But we’ve got a variety of skill guys that are hybrid types and can come down and play linebacker as well. We’ll do something special on defense with those skill guys, but it’s a matter of these guys executing what we want to do.”
The Golden Knights will be challenged each week as they’ve compiled a schedule loaded with talented teams. Included in the 2021 slate are River View, Summers County, Greenbrier West, Tug Valley and Class AA Westside. Gravely doesn’t see many breaks from week to week.
“I try to tell the kids that each week we need to play like we’re going up against the No. 1 team in the state,” Gravely said. “Because there’s not going to be any easy one’s with nobody. Looking at the schedule we have River View. We have a tough single-A schedule. Tazewell will be tough, Man is always tough. If you can play with those type of teams that’s when you know you’re heading in the right direction. We have each one of those teams marked and there’s not one I think is lesser than the other, I just know that we’ll be tested every Friday. These kids, if they want to prove what they are about then they’ll have to put some dubs on the board by beating some of the teams I’ve named. That won’t be an easy task but we’re up for the challenge. I feel like we can match up with every team on our schedule.”
Contact Tyler Jackson at tylerjackson@lootpress.com, call him at 304-731-5542 and follow on Twitter @tjack94
Schedule
1 08/27/21 7:30PM H – RIVER VIEW –
2 09/03/21 7:30PM A – MAN HIGH SCHOOL –
3 09/10/21 7:00PM A – TAZEWELL, VA H.S. –
4 09/17/21 7:30PM H – SUMMERS COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL –
5 09/24/21 OPEN –
6 10/01/21 7:30PM A – SHERMAN –
7 10/08/21 7:30PM A – VAN SENIOR/MIDDLE SCHOOL –
8 10/15/21 7:30PM H – TUG VALLEY –
9 10/22/21 7:30PM A – TOLSIA –
10 10/29/21 7:30PM H – WESTSIDE –
11 11/05/21 7:30PM A – GREENBRIER WEST –