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CARROLLTON - When will the drop off come? Says every coach in the back of their minds that has to play them.
It’s been mentioned before, but since the 2012 season, the Carrollton Hawks have been in the business of winning. You could argue that last year's 7-4 team was a drop-off, but didn’t they tie for the WIVC South title, advance in the playoffs and oh yeah tear opposing secondaries apart with their spread offense?
The 2017 Hawks have the same high expectations they set for themselves and figure another good season is ahead of them.
“It’s not going to be a quantity type player [team], but definitely quality players,” Carrollton head coach Nick Flowers said. “We’re in much better shape now than where we started in the past this early in the season and [we have] a lot of speed across the field. We’re happy with the work ethic that we got out of this group.”
That’s not the first time we’ve heard Flowers say that about Carrollton teams. Not only that, but the Hawks return the majority of their offensive and defensive line that have been starters for the past two seasons. Emmett Harrelson, Ethan Newingham, Nathan Leonard and Logan Shaw had to be thrown into the fire as sophomores. Now as seniors that have learned, grown, and suffered they are ready to pave the way for one last season.
“That’s what we’re building off of. We did a lot of linemen and 1-on-1 work this summer. Our returning linemen handled themselves against some big kids from big schools,” Flowers said. “We have experience up front but have some inexperienced skill guys. We’re definitely gonna run the ball and give him Hunter time to throw the football.”
Hunter is Hunter Flowers, a nephew of coach Flowers, is the new starting quarterback. His predecessors, Jacob Smith and Wade Prough know a thing or two on racking up large chunks of yards through the air. Smith graduated as the all-time leader in school history for passing yards, but the record lasted just two years as Prough overtook him this past season.
Flowers is a different breed than Prough and Smith, however. He stands at six-foot, one-inches tall, throws left-handed, has impressive arm strength, and will be utilized as a pocket quarterback.
“We’re gonna do more pocket passing and pocket protectwith him,” Flowers said. “We’ll have to rely on a team on offense, and not just a sophomore quarterback coming in and rule.”
Who will be the receivers that will haul in the passes this year?
“You’re going to see fast-paced offense. Tempo wise I don’t know if we’ll be real up-tempo, but we may be more unique play wise this year than we’ve been the last couple years.”
The main man is senior Alex Bowker. A three-year starter, Bowker caught 41 passes for 846 yards and scored six touchdowns last season. He has over 1,000 yards, and 11 touchdown catches in his career.
“We’re going to rely on Alex as our top receiver. He was great for us last year and made great plays.”
There’s another nephew of coach Flowers that will be on offense, and that is Zach Flowers. Last year on the roster he was listed at five-feet, six inches, but had a growth spurt during the off-season and is now six-feet tall. Nathan Walker, an IHSA Class 1A first team all-state center fielder, will be out to prove he can be a stud on the gridiron. He also enjoyed a bit of a growth spurt and is six-feet tall and added some muscle. Cameron Pennell played as a safety last season and will be another starting receiver.
Junior Byron Holmes was the backup to Jerrett Smith a season ago and is the starting running back for the Hawks. He carried the ball 28 times and rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns. He’ll get plenty more touches with the veteran linemen blocking for him and the other backs Flowers plans to use.
“We’ll be emptying out the backfield a lot and getting Byron out there with Bowker, Walker, and Zach. He is explosive,” Flowers said.
Brett Lehr, a junior will see some time on the field and has some explosiveness that Flowers wants to exploit.
“He’s a smaller kid, but can really move once he catches the ball. We’ll be running some screens with him.”
Senior Tyler Barnett has shown off his skills in JV but hasn’t broken into the starting eleven on offense yet. However, he’s another player that Flowers thinks can come off the bench, make a huge impact, and maybe steal somebody’s position.
“He was a JV all-star for a couple of years,” Flowers said. “He’s been a slow developer, and he’s a heck of a returner. If we can get him involved with our offense he’s a big time playmaker, so we’ll see what happens.”
Defensively the Hawks return the majority of their starters and all but one of their front seven who struggled at first but came around by the end of the season that included a shutout over Camp Point Central in the first round of the playoffs.
Newingham, Leonard, Shaw and Jacob Decker all return to the trenches on the defensive side. The quartet combined for 226 total tackles last year. Bowker and Holmes return at linebacker and Walker will join up with them, which will provide the Hawks athletes who will fly to the ball, especially against the several Carrollton opponents who run the wing-t offense.
The Hawks will start out on the road this season with a trip up north to Triopia to take on the Trojans. The teams have played four years in a row, and Carrollton has walked away winners every time by double-digit score lines. In fact, the last time Triopia beat Carrollton was in 2010, a 32-7 result at Triopia.
“We know going to Triopia in week one is going to be a handful and all about football, but we’re up for the challenge. I like our matchup,” Flowers said.
A week later Carrollton’s home opener will be against arguably the most loaded WIVC team in the Beardstown Tigers. Then Carrollton’s next two games come against their two biggest rivals, Calhoun and Greenfield-Northwestern, respectively. Both schools figure to reload and make the playoffs again, but Flowers couldn’t be happier to play all these tough schools early on.
“That’s two crossover games that are definitely going to prepare us for conference play. Our schedule is not going to be an easy one but that’s what I want,” Flowers said. “I want competition because it’s about preparing for the postseason. If you play a weak regular season, then you’re not gonna be ready for the postseason. I’ve always been a firm believer if you don’t win enough games in a tough conference then you don’t deserve to be a playoff team.”
It worked wonders for Carrollton in 2016.
They started out 0-3 with close losses to Brown County, who made it to the second round. Mendon-Unity went undefeated in the regular season, and to Greenfield-Northwestern who lost to Brown County in the first round. The Hawks ended up winning out the rest of their schedule and fell to No. 1 Tuscola in the second round, while they played to just about their full potential on offense.
Carrollton, as it has been for the last several seasons it seems, will be among favorites to win the WIVC South, but they don’t want to do any sharing like last season. At the same time, the Hawks will battle depth, and the inexperience factor could very well kick in early or later on.
“We graduated some talented kids, and it took a little bit to get back there again,” Flowers said. “I don’t wanna say that we’ll be in a similar situation, but we are going to have some growing pains. That’s football, so we’re up for the challenge. We wanna win the south conference and don’t want to share it. That’s our expectations, that’s how these kids are practicing, and that’s how we’re gonna play.”
