The Lafayette County Cougars have made significant changes this offseason, including a switch to 8-man football and a new head coach, Chuck Flanery.
Conference Changes
The Arkansas Activities Association announced updates to the conferences across the state, and Lafayette County was moved down to 8-man football for the foreseeable future. The Cougars will be competing in Conference 8 Man-South.
Coaches predicted Lafayette County to finish third in the conference after participating in the Hooten’s coaches poll, predicting them to finish behind Strong and Woodlawn and ahead of Dermott, Hermitage, Blevins, and Friendship Aspire.
Team Goals and Expectations
A playoff berth for a Cougar program that has struggled with numbers for at least the past few years would put an end to the playoff drought. With the talent set to come back, the Cougars just might compete for a playoff spot.
Flanery says his team will bring plenty of speed to the table this season and that the Cougars will play with a fast pace and discipline across the field. He hopes to change the culture at Lafayette County.
“Change the culture at LC and to play in the state championship game,” Flanery said when asked what the team’s goals are.
Key Players
The team will have talent on the field and will try to use the move down to eight-man to its advantage as it tries to spread things out against opposing defenses.
The Cougars are expecting big things from Jaz Radford at the quarterback position. Radford recorded more than 1,000 combined yards passing and rushing two seasons ago as a sophomore. Flanery is excited about what he can do as a senior.
Michael Webb will be another threat on the offense as a player the Cougars can either hand the ball off to in the run game or target in the passing game. Jayden Sterling will be another problem opposing defenses must find a way to stop as well.
Eli Simpson and Jeremiah Strickland are two players who will help out on the line.
The Cougars will be led by Zakarian Lawson as a two-way player, but especially on defense. Lawson enters his senior season having racked up multiple all-state honors during his career at linebacker.
Schedule
Lafayette County’s schedule features eight games at the time this story was written.
The Cougars have a road game against Tensas Academy (Sept. 4) and a home game against Prairie View (Sept. 11) on the schedule before their first conference game, a home game against Friendship Aspire on Sept. 25. The Cougars will also host Hermitage (Oct. 9) and Woodlawn (Oct. 23). They will be at Blevins (Oct. 2), Dermott (Oct. 30), and Strong (Nov. 6).
Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.
