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NORTH MURRAY MOUNTAINEERS
Head coach: Preston Poag (45-23 here; 69-43 overall)
Returning starters: 8 offensive; 6 defensive
Last year's record: 7-4 overall, lost in GHSA Class AAA first round
Key players: Seth Griffin (6-4, 200) Sr. QB, Jadyn Rice (5-10, 175) Sr. WR, Judson Petty (5-10, 175) Jr. WR/RB, Liam Rogers (6-0, 185) Sr. LB, Skyler Williams (6-3, 185) So. WR/DB, Carson Gibson (6-1, 215) Sr. DE, Aiden Ellis (6-1, 210) So. LB
Season outlook: What can Griffin do for an encore to his encore? Plenty, if you listen to his head coach.
Griffin generated nearly 6,000 yards of offense the past two seasons - the great majority through the air - and is likely to be more of a dual-threat quarterback this season if things go as planned.
"He's gotten bigger and stronger," Poag said. "I'm going to run him a bit more. People know he can throw it all over the field, but he can run it a bit, too. It will put a lot of pressure on defenses because he runs a low 4.7 (in the 40-yard dash) and he's over 200 pounds, so he's tough.
"The last couple of years, defenses sometimes have dropped so many into coverage that he could have taken off for big yards. We're going to do that this year."
Of course, there will still be plenty of air time for the Mountaineers considering the return of 1,200-yard receiver Jadyn Rice to go with the multitalented Judson Petty and the 6-3 Williams, a player Poag believes will be the team's next big star. The offensive linemen, led by junior Austin Newton, are young but huge, including a pair of 300-pound freshmen.
Defensive improvement will tell the tale of how far the Mountaineers, who allowed more than 600 points combined the past two seasons, can go after dropping down to Class AA. The team switched to a 4-2-5 alignment to take advantage of a strong group of back-end defenders.
"We've got more DB and linebacker guys, so this way we can be more unpredictable than we have been by moving people around," Poag said. "We've got to be better on defense, and so far I like what I'm seeing.
"The key for us is stopping people. We've scored a lot of points the last two years, but we've given up too many."