Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
CARROLLTON - If there were one word that can describe the Carrollton Hawks, it could be fast, rapid, or expeditious. Any one would do really, which is why Carrollton head coach Nick Flowers is excited about his football team. “We have a lot of speed and athletes,” Flowers said.
Last year was the greatest season in Hawks history: 13-1 and a state runner-up. The 15 seniors who graduated are undisputedly the best class of players to ever come through Carrollton, having won 32 games in three years, but that era is over now.
Flowers is entering his 12th season as head coach of the Carrollton Hawks and has two difficult challenges. The first one is how does he build his team back up from losing 15 seniors and most of his starters? The second one is that the Hawks will have a target on their back by being state runners up and the three-time WIVC South champions. “I’ve been saying for a long time that it’s good to play freshman games, it’s good to play J.V. games. So what we’ve been able to do is replace some of these graduating seniors with boys with experience,” Flowers said. “Our saying this year is tradition doesn’t graduate and it’s building what we have today.”
Monday was the first day that football teams in Illinois started practice. Flowers was delighted on how his players have prepared in the summer. “I’m very pleased in the way that our kids have come in here in shape. It’s unbelievable. We have a lot of determined boys out here,” Flowers said.
Carrollton will still have the pregame advantage on opponents this season. That advantage is that teams cannot mimic the Hawks' game speed. Speed is what Carrollton will utilize all season and more than ever. “It’s one thing to prepare for a teams size or team strength, but there is absolutely no substitute for team speed. We’re no huddle and fairly up-tempo, but we’re going to be faster yet. We’re going to go as fast as officials will let us as far as them getting the ball set,” Flowers said.
Jacob Smith was the Hawks' starting quarterback for three seasons and holds the records for most passing yards and touchdowns. His successor will be junior Wade Prough who Flowers has “very high hopes” for. “He’s had a great summer throwing, he knows our offense, he knows our concepts, and he’s put in the offseason,” Flowers said.
Flowers isn’t worried about finding a bunch of new names to fill in for the empty position, in fact he believes his team has more overall team speed, which is what the Hawks are known to have. “We’re replacing them with just as much speed, if not faster,” Flowers said.
Cole Brannan and Jerrett Smith return as wide receivers and defensive backs and are the lone starters that returned from last season on offense. Brannan had 404 receiving yards, while Smith collected 272. Both are expected to have big years. Brody Howard, Tyler Fry, Nate Shanks, and Tyler Barnett will be names to look out for as well.
Sophomore Alex Bowker will be the man replacing the legendary Luke Palan at running back, however Bowker isn’t your average ball carrier. He has great upside. Naturally, Flowers is excited about him. “I know he’s been physically working at it hard and he’s a great athlete in general, he’s well-built and a well put together kid,” Flowers said. “We had big hopes out of him right out of the gate… There’s definitely nobody that’s going to outwork him.”
The area where the Hawks will be heavily tested will be in the trenches: the offensive and defensive lines. There will be a new starter for each position and Flowers knows it won’t be easy, especially in the WIVC where virtually every team stresses on their ground attack. “It is won up front on both sides of the ball. We’re going to be challenged right out of the gate playing Brown County,” Flowers said. However being undersized is nothing new for the Hawks. “We will be ready and we’re used to that. Maybe in one or two games last year we were the bigger team up front," Flowers said.
As far as goals are concerned Carrollton wants to be WIVC South champs again, which means they will have to go through the likes of Calhoun and West Central, who are expected to have breakout years themselves. And don’t forget about Greenfield and North Greene, who always give the Hawks their best.
“This group wants to be known as the first group that’s won it (WIVC South) four straight years. I definitely think that these players will make a name for themselves right out of the gate.” Flowers said. We’ve been hanging our hats on having some great ball clubs and we’re going to keep working at it.”
