Prep Football Preview: Young Bobcats hope to rebound from tough season

Josh Evans’ first season at the helm yielded some positives for Summers County.

Though the Bobcats were 2-8, they were young and more importantly competitive in most of their games. Now comes the time to build upon the foundation that was laid last year and it has Evans giddy at the thought of what’s coming back.

“We’re all back and we’re excited,” Evans said. “We’ve got 28 kids on the team this year. We’ve got one of the best football players in Southern West Virginia in my opinion in Duke Dodson. He’s worked all spring and winter and during basketball season. He ran track and he’s gotten stronger and faster and he’s just got a mind for the game. His knowledge for the game is remarkable. You can tell him something and he gets it. He does what I’m thinking, not what I’m saying sometimes.”

Dodson, an ultra utility player who earned all-state honors last year, was one of the Bobcats’ best athletes and one who figures to be the focal point of the offense. With starting quarterback Brandon Isaacs out until midseason at best, Dodson will be asked to fill that role in the wing-t as a platoon player.

“We’re going to play Dodson everywhere,” Evans said. “He’s going to play quarterback, running back, fullback and we’ll split him out some. It’s awesome to have a kid like that. We’ll run him and Ryan Oliveros at quarterback. They both give us two different dimensions back there and we think we can do some stuff. Brandon just can’t catch a break though. He had a great 7-on-7 and we were really excited about taking him into camp and he tore his meniscus the week before camp. We’re hoping to get him back around Week 6 or Week 7 and that will give you three guys that can play the quarterback position.”

Dodson isn’t the only returner Evans is high on.

Drake Cole saw snaps as a running back last year and Tyson Adkins, a player that got better each week last season, returns for his sophomore campaign after earning second-tam all-state honors as a linebacker last season.

“We’ve got Drake Cole back who came on for us late last season and he’ll be junior,” Evans said. “He’s tough kid and gives everything he’s got. We’ll also have Tyson Adkins there in the backfield who was an all-stater at linebacker last year as a freshman. We’re excited to see what he’ll do. We return everybody up front but one and we’re still young up there. We’ve got one senior, a junior who’s started 20 games in Bryce Taylor and three sophomores that played a lot for us last year. We moved Coen Mcclaugherty to tight end and he’ll play a little bit of everywhere.”

Evans has also been pleased with the defense through August camp. In two tough scrimmages against Bath County, Va. and Nicholas County, the Bobcats have seen what it takes to compete at the highest level. It’s given them the ability to try some things out before the season begins.

“Defensively they’re all back,” Evans said. “They’ve got some experience and they’re all tough. We played two really good teams in Bath County and Nicholas County and those were physical teams that we got a lot of reps against. We tried some different things we decided to scrap but we’re going to do what we’re good at.”

If the Bobcats can return to the postseason, they’ll do so battle tested. Of the 10 games they’ll play, seven come against teams that made the playoffs last season.

“PikeView does a great job and they were young last year,” Evans said. “After that you’ve got to go to Greenbrier West and that’s a big rivalry but since we’ve been playing we’ve only beat them about nine times so that would be a huge win. If we don’t turn the ball over last year that’s a different game as well. It’s a tough schedule though brother and everybody always plays us like it’s their Super Bowl and we get their best shots.”

With a smaller roster, health will be the key to making sure those close contests go in the Bobcats’ favor this season. As such, Evans expects all 28 of his players to see the field this season, believing their work in the weight room will pay dividends.

“We’ve got 28 kids on the team and they’re going to play for us so we need to stay healthy above all,” Evans said. “Whether it be special teams, offense or defense they’re all going to see time as long as we can stay healthy. That’s what we’re hoping for the most because we’re not very deep but these kids have all put in the work. We had 20 or 21 kids weightlifting every day from December to June and when you only have 28 it shows. These kids don’t want to go 2-8 again. We were in a lot of those games and they want to win them this year.”

The Bobcats will travel to PikeView on Aug. 26 for its season opener.

Email: Tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94