Some of the last names on De Soto’s football team are familiar.
Just not enough of them.
Graduation has hollowed out the Dragons’ starting lineup, which last season produced five first-team players on the all-Mississippi Area Football Conference Red Division team. Only a few players remain who’ve performed under the harsh glare of the Friday night lights. Hardest hit is De Soto’s offensive line, which must rebuild from the ground up with untested players.
De Soto has played just under .500 the past three seasons, going 4-6 in 2017, 5-5 in 2018 and 4-6 last fall. A year ago, the Dragons were 4-2 overall and 3-0 in the MAFC Red before losing their grip on the conference title with a loss to Hillsboro, starting a four-game losing streak to end the season.
“We went to Hillsboro to lock it up and came up short,” De Soto head coach Chris Johnson said. “We got a lot of guys on the all-conference team. We had a good shot at beating Hillsboro at their homecoming and had a couple of breaks not go our way.
“With Derek (Williams) back for Windsor, they’re going to be in the (MAFC Red) mix. North County always rolls out talent. Hillsboro and Festus use their feeder programs to boost their experience and numbers. We don’t have that and we always seem to be playing catch-up with them.”
Like every other football coach, Johnson wasn’t sure if there would be a 2020 season because of the coronavirus. Adapting to the new normal of wearing masks and social distancing has taken over every aspect of preparing for a season that could end at any time.
“The hardest thing was losing those valuable months from March through June because we do so much with the guys in the offseason,” he said. “We hammer a lot of things like accountability and that’s where the leaders rise up. You can’t recoup that, but once they allowed us to come back on July 1, we got our conditioning in.
“At the end of the day, we’re just following the guidelines set by the (county Health Department) and that’s the most important part so we can get the 2020 season in.”
Last season there were three Fischers on the Dragon roster. With Briar having graduated, now there are two: Levi, a senior, and Brody, a junior. Along with seniors Ethan Reissing, Dominic Punjani and Will Rector, they represent the only varsity experience on the roster.
Briar was the conference’s top quarterback, throwing for 1,780 yards and 15 scores. Reissing caught 28 of Fischer’s passes last season, five of them for touchdowns. He returns as a starting safety and also will start at QB even though he hasn’t played the position since he was a freshman.
“We had good stability with Briar the last couple of years,” Johnson said. “Ethan’s a good athlete. We don’t have that next quarterback in line and because Ethan’s played it he was OK with taking the reins. He brings a different skill set to the table than Briar.”
Levi Fischer caught 24 passes for 303 yards and three TDs a year ago. Rector caught one pass last year, but that number looks to grow. Brody Fischer also will split out wide, as will juniors Caleb Coleman and Cody Petty. The tight end is junior Jacob Coleman.
“Brody’s showing signs he can impact the game and can be as good as Levi,” Johnson said.
Punjani led the Dragons with 302 yards rushing last season, and he’ll have to make more of his own room behind a raw offensive line. Johnson said he thinks Punjani is ready.
“He showed signs of being an elite running back at this level and he has all-world speed,” Johnson said. “He’s put on some weight and looks like he’s more confident. Last year was his first year of varsity football and he wasn’t sure what his role was, and he needs to be a workhorse.”
Juniors Allen Cavins and Bradley Hunt will try to take some of the ground-game load off Punjani. Hunt is a former soccer player who landed the kicker’s job in 2019. Johnson knows how good Hunt is kicking the ball; now he can’t wait to see how his speed and size translate into running it.
“(Hunt) developed a strong relationship with the football players,” Johnson said.
Replacing three-year offensive line starters Landon Porter, Mitchell Appleton and Trystan Hendrix in one season is impossible. Johnson said the O-line might not be set until a month into the season. Tim Harmon, Isaac Feller, Stephen Woelich, Richard Gilchrest, Jessie Deaton, Drew Hewitt and Luke Scott are all candidates for the starting jobs. Deaton is the son of former De Soto activities director and current assistant principal Matt Deaton.
“We might end up with three or four sophomores there,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be a learning process for all of us.”
The defensive line is in the same shape as the offense. Many of the starters up front on defense will play both sides of the line.
It will be up to Rector to lead the defense at linebacker. He had 106 tackles, five sacks and a fumble recovery playing safety last season. Hunt, junior Ethan Brooks and assorted freshman also could start at linebacker.
“By midseason things started to slow down (for Rector) and by the end of the year he was playing at a high level,” Johnson said. “But he had those big bodies in front of him. This year he doesn’t have that luxury and has to step up his game. He can be disruptive and get to the ball. Our linebacking corps has depth and is the most solid part of our defense.”
In the secondary are the Fischers, Reissing, Coleman, Petty and senior Grant Hearst. Reissing led the team with three interceptions last season, but Johnson wants to limit his snaps on that side of the ball.
The Dragons, a Class 4 school last year, kick off their season at Seckman (Class 5) in Imperial on Friday night. The stands won’t exactly be packed. Under COVID restrictions, school districts are limiting who can attend games. As of the Leader deadline, only two passes were to be issued to each player, for his immediate family. Students cannot attend games unless they’re related to the players.
“We didn’t even know if we were going to play football,” Johnson said. “That should be the emphasis. We didn’t know if we did get to play if there would be fans. I understand they’d like to bring their whole families. But playing the season is more important, especially for the seniors.”