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BAUXITE MINERS
Miners optimistic for playoffs this season
BY MARK BUFFALO
STAFF WRITER
The Bauxite Miners, coming off their best season in recent years, hope for more in 2018.
Bauxite, which has won only 13 games in the past seven seasons, won four games last year under third-year coach Daryl Patton, who took over at the Saline County school in 2016.
Bauxite is coming off a 4-6 season in which the Miners switched to the Dead-T offense, which is the complete opposite of what Patton coached when he was at Fayetteville.
Bauxite won four of its first six games before dropping the final four and finishing tied for fifth in the 4A-7 Conference, but the Miners lost out on the tiebreaker, missing the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season.
“It was all player-driven,” Patton said of the switch from the Spread to the Dead T. “The strength of the team going into last year was more of the hand-in-the-dirt-type line- men, not the pass-protecting-type linemen. We were more fire off the ball and hit you in the mouth. From the old-school days of Bauxite football, that is sort of the tradition that we have.”
Patton said the running backs were hard- nosed gritty kids.
“Our quarterback was an athlete who had never played quarterback before,” the coach said. “And he didn’t throw the ball real well. If we had tried to run the Spread last year, we probably wouldn’t have won a game, to be honest.”
Patton said there probably isn’t a coach in the state who wants his team to throw the ball more than he does.
“I love throwing the football,” he said. “When I was at Bryant and Fayetteville, we probably went eight or nine years with 3,000-yard passers. That’s my background.”
At the same time, Patton said, it wasn’t a difficult decision to switch.
“As much as I love to pass the ball, I love to win more,” he said. “Our kids would not have had a chance to be successful if they had been in the Spread offense.”
BAUXITE MINERS
AUG. 25 ......................... CONWAY CHRISTIAN AUG. 31 ......................................... DES ARC SEPT. 7 ................................... @GLEN ROSE SEPT. 21 .................................. @MALVERN* SEPT. 28 .................................... ASHDOWN* OCT. 5 ............ @HASKELL HARMONY GROVE* OCT. 12 .............................. FOUNTAIN LAKE* OCT. 19 ................................ LR ROBINSON* OCT. 26 .............................. @ARKADELPHIA* NOV. 2 ....................................... NASHVILLE*
*DENOTES CONFERENCE GAMES
Patton said his team expects a winning season and to make the playoffs for the first time since moving up to Class 4A.
“I think it’s a very realistic goal,” Patton said. “Obviously, all of our games are tough. I call it the old coaching cliches — we’re go- ing to take it one game at a time. But I like our football team. We’re a senior-laden team. We’ve got experience coming back. There’s not a glaring weakness when you look at it on paper. We’ve got speed and size, and we’ve got some depth.
“I feel like a winning season and the play- offs are realistic.”
Bauxite returns its leading rusher from a year ago, senior Dawson Dabbs (5-7, 163), who rushed for almost 1,100 yards and 10 touchdowns. Senior quarterback Seth McDowell (6-0, 180) also returns. He rushed for 690 yards and 8 touchdowns. On defense, he had 107 tackles from his defensive-back spot.
Other key returning players, Patton said, are senior tight end and defensive end Zack Lasage (6-3, 210), senior fullback and line- backer Eeason Sandage (5-10, 200), senior receiver and cornerback Elijah Cruz (5-10, 148), senior offensive lineman and lineback- er Blake Garrett (5-9, 200), junior offensive lineman Nate Sky-Eagle (6-1, 290), offen- sive lineman Seth Everett (6-2, 235), senior linebacker Ben Brown (5-8, 170) and senior linebacker Emmanuel Hervey (5-10, 158).
Bauxite opened the 2018 season with a 49-12 win over Conway Christian on Aug. 25.
PHOTOS BY JUSTIN MANNING/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Bauxite senior quarterback Seth McDowell fights off a Conway Christian defender during the Miners’ season opener at Wildcat Stadium in North Little Rock.
SUNDAY,SEPTEMBER 2, 2018
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Miner quarterback Seth McDowell lines up under center early in the first quarter during Bauxite’s game against Conway Christian.
Bauxite senior Derrick Thomas runs the ball against Conway Christian at Wildcat Stadium in North Little Rock.
Miner running back Dawson Dabbs makes a move on the Conway Christian defense during the team’s season opener. The Miners won the game, 49-12.