War Eagles Work on Stamina in July with Lower Numbers

One thing that new coach Adam Dowland is dealing with in his first year at West Carroll is a case of declining numbers.

Numbers are down across the school, so it isn’t just a football problem.

West Carroll has between 20-25 on roster, and that is where it is expected to stay this season.

“We have a lot of kids learning multiple positions because of our depth issues, kinda a musical chairs problem,” Dowland said. “We have offensive skill players playing literally three or four spots. So they are having to learn everything. I have been impressed with our kids retaining our scheme on offense and defense. We have guys changing positions on defense to fit needs, and our mental approach has been pretty good.”

So Dowland is working to make sure his guys are ready to play on both sides of the ball the entire game in August.

Dowland said that the work started in June with time in the weight room.

July has gone better than June as players are focused on the 2024 season ahead.

“I think that we have had a better July than June, and I think the dead period came at a really good time for us,” Dowland said. “We needed it. I think July has gone by really quickly. We are full pads (this week). Helmets to shells to pads has gone smoothly. Last week, shells went well as we tried to do as much as we could to be physical. That has always been a staple of West Carroll football is that they can run it at you, and they are going to hit you. We don’t want to get away from that.”

Dowland does have more lineman available than most teams this size, as he has some depth on the offensive line and defensive line.

But as pads went on Monday, Dowland is happy with where his team is and ready to get physical in practice.

“We want to continue to evolve with our offense with guys playing different spots,” Dowland said. “We have to figure out what we will hang our hat on with a few things. I have an idea of what it will be, but it is still evolving as we have a lot of inexperience in spots. We have juniors that haven’t played a lot of snaps. I think when the pads are on, we will have physical practices and I think our kids are itching for physical practices.”

West Carroll will have a scrimmage each of the next two Friday nights to get ready for the season before traveling to Henry County for a jamboree on August 16. The season begins at home on August 23 against Gibson County.

“Practice is good, but we need scrimmages,” Dowland said. “We need six scrimmages. We need to go play someone else. It is easier for us to play someone else than scrimmage ourselves because of numbers.”