The Piggott Mohawks will begin their third season under Head Coach Dave Hendrix this Friday night as they host the Valley View Blazers at Parker Field. Kickoff Friday is set for 7:30 p.m. (Times photo/Tim Blair) [Click to enlarge]

Friday night the Piggott Mohawks will host the Valley View Blazers in their season-opener at Parker Field. Kickoff for the non-conference game is set for 7:30 p.m.

The Tribe begins season three under Coach Dave Hendrix with a good deal of returning talent on both sides of the football, and playoff experience to boot. The senior squad also inherits a load of athletic sophomores from last year's 8-1 junior high team. On the other hand, the Mohawk face conference re-alignment this season which will welcome some quality opponents, including Rivercrest, Earle and Cave City in addition to old foes Corning, Hoxie, Harrisburg and Manila. The non-conference schedule was also re-vamped with the additions of Valley View, a 4A program still in its infancy; the Caruthersville Tigers and the Clarendon Lions.

This week we scout the Valley View Blazers, members of 4A-3, and picked to finish sixth behind Newport, Osceola, Pocahontas, Highland and Trumann and ahead of Gosnell and Westside.

Last year the Blazers, in only their second year of varsity ball, went 7-4 and made it to the first round of the playoffs where they lost at Pine Bluff Dollarway 13-62. They return six starters on offense, and seven on the defensive side of the football. Their coach, Shannon Sherman, is in his first season at the school after Jonesboro High School hired-away their old head coach.

The Blazers will feature the spread offense, and unlike last year's pass-oriented game plan are expected to turn to the run more. During a recent scrimmage against Harrisburg and Greene County Tech they were led by Ron Hubbard ( 5-9, 205) fullback Bryan Neal and Jonathan Cole (6-1, 170) out of the backfield, although Cole was moved in from wideout. Two players have competed for the quarterback spot, sophomore Taylor Lindley and senior Aaron Moore..but Moore sat out several recent scrimmages due to a baseball injury.

The Blazers defense will feature the 3-4, and has good speed in the backfield. They'll also return some good size and quickness along the line. All-in-all the Blazers have some excellent athletes, but lack game experience at the skilled positions. Hubbard was All-District at cornerback last year, and the team was led in tackles by linebacker Grant Cox (6-0, 195) with 114.

One other item of note is the fact that sophomore Mo Patton (5-5, 150) has been sharing the place-kicking chores with junior John Gay (5-9, 135). Patton is referred to as a "female kicking specialist" and excels at soccer. It will undoubtedly be the only girl player the Mohawks will face this year.

Friday night's game will mark the start of the 31st season on the new Parker Field, as the facility opened in 1978. For the record, the first touchdown scored on the current field was by Steven Wright of the Piggott Junior Mohawks against the Gosnell Junior Pirates on Aug. 30, 1978.

Steven, owner of Double-Play Card Shop in Piggott and father of sophomore Kyle Wright, confirmed that he was informed of the feat when it occurred. The senior Mohawks played their first game on the road at Luxora, and played their home opener the following week against Greene County Tech. More on that game next week as we scout the Cauthersville Tigers of the SEMO Central conference.

Let's fill the bleachers Friday night and show our support for the 2008 edition of the Piggott Mohawks.