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RIVER VALLEY & OZARK EDITION OF THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE FOOTBALL PREVIEW | SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2018
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PERRYVILLE MUSTANGS
New Perryville coach Chris Norton talks to his players during preseason camp.
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will be seniors Clint Williams, wide receiver; Jacob Novoa, left guard; and Jesse Boshears, right guard. Norton said Boshears, 6-5, 298 pounds, is a key player. “He’s going to have a really, really good year; he’s a talented kid who’s going to excel.”
Boshears will play college football, Norton said.
Also starting are juniors Patrick, a run- ning back; Cole Griffin, wide receiver; ju- nior Ethan Marsh, who is returning at cen- ter; Colton Halpaine, senior left tackle; and junior Dyllan Collier, receiver.
Six defensive starters, who play both sides of the ball, are Tindall, outside linebacker; Williams, corner; Novoa and Boshears, defensive line; Gottsponer, inside linebacker; and Standridge, outside linebacker. Also, junior Nathan Gilbert will play defensive end, and senior Seth Robison will play nose and end. Patrick will play safety, and Collier, inside linebacker. Griffin will see some time on the defense in secondary.
“Some won’t end up starting on offense,” the coach said. “Collier — he’ll primarily play defense when we get going. James Patrick and those guys will primarily play offense when we get started. We’re trying to build a little more depth as we go.”
Norton said in early August that the team’s strengths are the skill positions.
“We’re returning a lot of guys who have played a lot of football and been really pro- ductive,” he said. “We feel pretty good upfront.”
line of scrimmage on either side of the ball,” Norton said.
The Mustangs will play Paris a week ear- lier during Week 0 to open the season; then the team is off on Week 3.
A key game on the schedule is Bigelow on Friday. “It’s a big rival,” the coach said. “We need to get some momentum behind us early on; it’s a tough schedule as it goes.”
“We expect to be a playoff team again. The conference is tough — Glen Rose, Mayflower with the Simmons kids; Atkins and Danville will be really well-coached. We feel like we can compete for a playoff spot again. We want to be able to compete for a top-three seed. We definitely hope to continue to play in November.”
It’s a different style than Mustang fans are used to, but Norton said he feels confident they’ll like what they see.
STACI VANDAGRIFF/RIVER VALLEY & OZARK EDITION
However, “there’s not a lot of depth on the