Gardner – In year three of Jason Spears’ tenure at PikeView the Panthers weathered the Covid storm which saw them play nearly every day of the week to improve to 3-7 after finishing 2-8 the year before.
While failing to make the playoffs and losing an all-state receiver in Dylan Blake, there’s reason for optimism amongst Spears’ troops with brighter days on the horizon.
“Dylan’s a tough one to lose but from our first scrimmage we can tell we have a lot of good skill players and freshmen the are fast, strong and do everything you need them to do,” Spears said. “I’m pretty excited about seeing these freshmen coming up and making an impact in their first year. You’re talking about 14 year-old kids going against 18 year-olds and they have to grow up quick but they have fully embraced that and are ready to go. I had about five starting on offense and five on defense in our first scrimmage and they did a good job. There’s still a lot of work to do but they stepped up and played the game.”
Leading the charge of the retuning players is quarterback Peyton Greer, an athletic player who made the switch from wide receiver to quarterback last year. After throwing for over 1,200 yards in his first year, Spears expects to see an improved player and the early returns have been positive.
“He’s improved reading downfield,” Spears said. “He’s been better on his feet and with his timing. His timing is good and he’s gotten better with his receivers and he’s got a lot of weapons to throw to. He relied on Dylan but now he’s got four or five guys he can throw the ball to and we have a stronger backfield that can help him out.”
Adding to Spear’s optimism in regards to Greer’s upcoming campaign is the group of skill players he’ll be working with.
Anchored by standout senior Nathan Riffe, a three-sport athlete, the group features a mix of youth, speed and more than anything, potential.
“The depth I have at slot and wide receiver is awesome,” Spears said. “There was one Kaylum Kiser, Peyton Mounts – those kids are ninth graders that are stepping in. Chase Mounts is a junior and Chase is a hard-nosed player that uses his speed to get open and once he gets in the open field he’s gone. That kind of takes some of the pressure off Nathan and gives Peyton some more weapons to work with and we can throw the ball around a little bit. It’s going to be exciting to see them mature. Once these freshmen get the hang of things and mature you’ll see a lot of excitement from that area.”
While the quarterback and skill positions have Spears radiating hope, the offense will still need time to execute which is where the offensive line comes in. Heading into the season Spears sees the position group as the one that could stand to improve the most with a trio of seniors and two underclassmen anchoring that front. Fortunately they’ve shown the resolve to improve.
“Offensive line is probably where we’re weakest,” Spears said. “We’re a little down on offensive line because we’re thin and we’ve got so many kids in this school that should be playing football. We’ve got three returning seniors on the line that are doing good but we’ve got to fill those holes with freshmen and sophomores. We’re really thin on the line but they work hard and want to get better. Right now that’s where I’m most concerned but we’ll get there because they want to get better. They’re proud to be playing this position.”
On defense Spears anticipates the speed of his skill players will translate on defense as his younger group gets the hang of the high school game. On that side of the ball he’s high on the linebacking corps which will be led by a new player in Brian Huggins who has set the tone early.
“Defensively our speed has stood out,” Spears said. “We have a good linebacker group led by Brian Huggins who transferred from and started at Graham. He’s taken on that leadership role and that group has been mean as snot and is ready to go. They make sure they’re all over the field and in on every play so that speed will help us a lot.”
PikeView will open the season Aug. 26 when it hosts Summers County.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack9
| 1 | 08/26/22 | 7:00PM | H – | SUMMERS COUNTY HIGH SCHOOLÂ | – | Â | ||
| 2 | 09/02/22 | 7:00PM | A – | VAN SENIOR/MIDDLE SCHOOLÂ | – | Â | ||
| 3 | 09/09/22 | 7:00PM | H – | LIBERTY (RALEIGH)Â | – | Â | ||
| 4 | 09/16/22 | 7:00PM | A – | WESTSIDE Â | – | Â | ||
| 5 | 09/23/22 | 7:30PM | A – | SHADY SPRINGÂ | – | Â | ||
| 6 | 09/30/22 | 7:30PM | A – | JAMES MONROEÂ | – | Â | ||
| 7 | 10/07/22 | 7:00PM | H – | BLUEFIELDÂ | – | Â | ||
| 8 | 10/14/22 | OPENÂ | – | Â | ||||
| 9 | 10/21/22 | 7:00PM | H – | WYOMING EASTÂ | – | Â | ||
| 10 | 10/28/22 | 7:30PM | A – | RIVER VIEWÂ | – | Â | ||
| 11 | 11/04/22 | 7:00PM | H – | NICHOLAS COUNTYÂ | – | Â |
