Fall 2021 preview: Ash Grove Football

Author Brennan Stebbins (OzarksSportsZone.com)

When Ash Grove’s national football team won last fall, it did so convincingly.

The Pirates ended 3-6 with a record, but surpassed their opponents 131-8 in those three victories. And three of those losses came in at 10 points or less.

It felt like we were in almost every game, head coach Ryan Long said. We were competitive with maybe all but one game, the Lockwood game (47-6) got out of our hands, but all the other games we kept up the pace. We had a hard time finding our identity last year. We wanted to run the ball, but we struggled with it. We threw the ball a lot more than we probably wanted. In defense, we sometimes played well, and sometimes we just lacked perseverance and things like that. These things were hoped to improve this year.

As the Pirates seek their first victory season after 2017, Long has plenty of weapons to attack in 2021. While Ash Grove graduated from five players who earned All-District or All-Conference honors, only Jake Thompson was insultingly recognized for his work as the second strict end of the team’s Southwest Conference. . He rushed 181 yards and five goals and took 29 assists with 407 yards and five points.

Ash Grove made an average of 82 attack feet and 171 yards per game last year.

Junior Brock Mooneyham returns as a quarterback after receiving an honorable mention of the All-Conference honors. He scored 84 passes at 1,466 yards and 20 points as a sophomore and added three touches to the ground. Also running on the back of Tristan Bowers (honorable mention of the All-Conference) and Parker Crow will return. Bowers, senior, scored 277 yards and scored once, while Crow, the junior, rushed 227 yards and scored and added 181 yards and three goals. Junior Nate Trammel (90 recipient cards, 1 TD) will also return to the slot receiver and return after he has collected replays at the end of last season.

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Senior Sammy Moreland, who is the all-round selection and second-team All-Conference recipient, is back after leading the team by 493 yards and five points. And the Pirates return to experience on the offensive line with senior Jared Lobdell, senior Cannon Palmer and junior Austin Lowak.

We have a bunch of pieces coming back and a bunch of pieces ready to play with them, Long said.

Brock as a quarterback is a very smart football player and hoped to take a new step this year, he said. He did a great job last year throwing football. I think we can expect him to run the ball a little more. Parker Crow has to run the ball hard. Nates plays the ball through. Tristan Bowers is the heart and soul of our team, we support us. He does everything we are asked to do, the kids really believe in him and he becomes the captain of us for three years. Outside, Sammy Moreland has had a wonderful summer at seven-seven. He runs great, sharp routes, he has great hands, he’s a big kid at a good speed and if we can get our line lined up, we were really excited about it.

While these three returning liners offer a good core front, the line still has holes to clear before the start of the season. Players such as junior Payton Griffin and sophomore Jasper Seidel are involved. In addition, junior Elijah Morrison fights from outside the reception area, and parents Zane Delk and senior Collin Doles fight for playing time tightly and can also play the receiver.

In defense, the Pirates got more hits by losing two leading strikers in Thompson, a defensive defender from all circles who scored 59.5 matches and added three turnovers, and Dylan McCroskey, an honorable mention All-Conference lineup who made 36.5 stops and 8.5 hit a loss when picking up two passes. Ash Grove restores senior lineup player Tristyn Davis, the second-team All-Conference selection; Lobdell, Honorable Mention All-Conference Line of Defense; and Crow, a tribute to the All-Conference Defender. Davis made 58 losses and four losses, Lobdell took 39.5 and nine losses and Crow added 16.5 fights and three abductions.

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However, several players see the time in different places. Trammel is one of two linebackers to return to this position this fall after making 30 matches and joining Morrison. Crow is the only secondary player, although Mooneyham saw it there for a while. The pirates will replace all members of the line of defense as Lobdell and Palmer take over as line builders. Lowak sees a lot more time in defense and Bowers moves from line builder to line of defense. Moreland also sees a lot of time as an angle and Delk, Doles and Griffin also influence the defense. Second grader Brady Nicholson also sees the field.

The Pirates allowed 161 rush yards and 51 overtaking yards per game in defense in 2020.

We had more comeback attacks and we went through seven out of seven this summer, and we had a really good attack, Long said. Seven against seven in the late defense really began to gather. We had a bunch of kids learning it and playing it for the first time in a crime they had some kind of identity from last year. The defense was still learning, but along with the songs we got, we were really excited about these kids on defense this year.

The pirates have added Cabool to their schedule in week two, giving a good test early on. Agape and Clever have also been added as Ash Grove replaces Lockwood, Greenfield and Pleasant Hope.

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