Page 5 - TL Football Preview Sept 2016

TRI-LAKES EDITION OF THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE FOOTBALL PREVIEW | SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2016
5TT
BAUXITE MINERS
Bauxite’s new head coach Daryl Patton speaks to his team during practice.
BAUXITE continued from 4TT
The game was already on the schedule be- fore Patton and Calley took the jobs at Bauxite and Harmony Grove. Calley and Patton coached together at Bryant, beginning in 1999, before Patton left for Fayetteville in 2002. The two faced each other in the semifinals of the state tournament last year.
“I’ve had the upper hand the last couple times we have faced each other,” Patton said. “So I know nothing would please Calley more than to kick my butt on [Thursday].
“We are going to have our work cut out for us.”
Patton said he is not at Bauxite with one eye on the next big opportunity, but is here for the long haul.
“I want to be here until I retire, and that’s the truth,” said Patton, who replaces former coach Dustin Prescott.
Patton is going to have his work cut out for him at Bauxite after the team won just one game in 2015 and had only four seniors participate in the offseason.
“We are young, and we are not real big, and we are not overly fast,” Patton said. “We are switching from a run base offense to a Spread
offense, and there are not a lot of them right now. “But they are very excited. And the kids are like sponges. They are soaking up stuff every day.” Patton’s hire has already brought a lot of changes to Bauxite, including replacing the
grass at The Pit with artificial turf.
“I have seen a group of kids that are really
hungry and want to have success,” Patton said. “We are going from basically a running offense to a Spread offense, and it is a process that doesn’t happen overnight, but we are get- ting better every day and making strides.”
Leading the offense will be sophomore quar- terback Cameron Landry, who threw for more than 1,000 yards last season for the junior high team, which went undefeated, according to a state- wide publication. Sophomores Eeson Sandage and Seth McDowell will switch at running back for the Miners.
“This is a blue-collar community, and they work for their money,” Patton said. “So they want to see these kids play hard and compete.
“They want to see us win and score points, too, but more than anything, they want us to compete and play hard, regardless of the score and the talent we have to face.”
MATT JOHNSON/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
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