Youthful Hawks Aim to Reload Despite Low Numbers

CARROLLTON - The few. The proud.

The four words that Carrollton head coach Nick Flowers stated a day before the first practice of the 2019 season kicked off.

What stands out is the few Hawks on the roster:
27 to be exact, including one junior, which is the lowest this decade for any Carrollton football team. However, that's made this group a little tighter nit.

"We're starting a few less than we did last year. It's going to come down to like a lot of other 1A programs," Flowers said. "I think this is bringing us closer together as a group. Now that practices are going I do think these guys realize that the person next to them is going to make or break them. The 7-on-7s and workouts we did in the summer we maybe have gelled a little bit better this year early on than what we have in the past."

Carrollton is coming off a 7-4 season, with a WIVC South conference championship and a second-round Class 1A playoff exit to Camp Point Central. Despite the small quantity, the quality still has Flowers and the Hawks hopeful for another winning season in 2019.

"I really, really like what I see. If we stay healthy we're going to be pretty good," Flowers said. "Lower numbers, but man we got guys that are going to be able to play. "We've got quality returners coming back. We got all of the pieces to the puzzle, but we just got to put them together."

The Hawks return six starters on both sides of the ball, including three offensive linemen, and all-state quarterback, Hunter Flowers.

He comes into 2019 as statistically the best quarterback in school history and already one of the all-time greats in the WIVC. He's thrown 5,251 yards, 63 touchdowns, and 23 interceptions plus 17 rushing touchdowns. However, he won't have his two favorite targets from his first two years, Nathan Walker, the best receiver in Carrollton history and his cousin, Zach Flowers. Garrett Settles, who caught 29 passes and 473 yards last season is the only returning starter in the wide receiver core.

"Hunter's matured a lot this summer. He realizes this is it. This is his senior year," Nick Flowers said. "He's been humbled a bit having receivers like Zach and Nathan. This has been a lot of work for him this summer with these young receivers. He's still going to be Hunter, but I think this has helped mature him a lot."

Matthew Retherford is the lone junior on the squad but will play a significant role as a receiver and defensive back. Retherford has consistently hit the weight room for most of the offseason and gained growth and speed spurts as well.

Carrollton will rely on several sophomores, which is also the biggest question mark of how will they handle varsity football on the fly? Coach Flowers knows that, but at the same time is highly confident of his 2022 class of players.

"If you look at this group and point out which one of them are sophomores I don't know that a spectator could do it. Size-wise, strength-wise, speed-wise, and maturity-wise, this sophomore group is going to be it," Nick Flowers said. "We got very high hopes for them, and we don't want to have a learning curve with them. We want to compete with them. That's our goal."

Harley Angel (5-9, 175 lbs) and Grant Pohlman (6-0, 170 lbs) will rotate between running back and receiver. Kyle Leonard (6-1, 165 lbs), the youngest brother of Carrollton legend, Cody Leonard will start as a primary target at wide receiver. Hayden Flowers (6-1, 195 lbs), the head coach's son, will play both ways as a tight end and linebacker, which is a new tactic in Nick Flowers' offensive scheme. He insists the Hawks will continue to air it out the majority of the time but wants to balance things with the run and passing game.

"Where we don't have Walker back we're going to be able to split those receptions with a couple of guys," Flowers said. "We're still going to throw a lot, but we have to truly balance our passing to our rushing. We want our runs to be quality runs. That's going to be a focus; running the football in a spread and being physical doing it. With the tight ends, that's going to help."

In the trenches are sophomore linemen Ethan Moore, Ethan Harrelson, Myka Bryson, and Travis Evans, are expected to see varsity minutes. Other returning seniors on the offensive and defensive line with Cade McAdams (6-6, 320 lbs), Lucas Settles (6-0, 195 lbs), and Chris Beiermann (5-10, 225 lbs).

Another tight end/linebacker in the fold is, Willie Gillmore, a 6-foot-0, 200-pound freshman.

"We're going to move him around a lot of different places because he's an athlete," Nick Flowers said."

Despite the new blood of sophomores and some freshmen, their first practice, according to Flowers, was "the best offensive practice we've had in years to start a season off with."

Defensively, the Hawks gave up 16 points per game last season and return six starters. The Hawks plan on being much more aggressive by challenging their opponents upfront.

"We got guys that are stepping up and working hard. We're going to take more chances on defense this year," Nick Flowers said. "We're going to blitz more. We want to be more attack than being passive. Sometimes when you're aggressive it can be risky, but we're going to attack, and that's going to start week one going up to Mendon (Unity)."

The traditional goals for the Hawks are still the same: Win the WIVC South, get a high seed in the playoffs, and win multiple games. Carrollton lost out to Camp Point Central 31-6 in the second round at home, which was a tough pill to swallow. That's why Carrollton is hungry and determined by the time postseason starts; they'll have a much more experienced, seasoned team than they do now.

"We want to win the South conference and go deep in the playoffs," Nick Flowers said. "We're not going to be content with just winning a playoff game; we want to get in it and win some playoff games. We want to make a statement with an inexperienced team, and we are confident we have the pieces."

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