ELDON, Mo. - Eldon had an up-and-down season in 2015. After getting off to a rough 1-3 start, the Mustangs went on an absolute tear for the rest of the regular season. Eldon won six straight games, four of which by at least 10 points. The Mustangs ended the season on a sour note with a rough loss to Blair Oaks, but they are geared up for 2016.
Last year, they were led by running back Levi Shinn, who has since graduated. Another high priority player who graduated last year is one of the guys who opened holes for Shinn, Graham Baucom. In Eldon's run-first system, replacing those two players are crucial.
"We started replacing (seniors) after our loss to Blair Oaks," head coach Shannon Jolley said. "We've got some guys in Isaiah Merida and J.C. Brandt and some other guys that were behind those two guys and they started working a couple hundred days ago. So we feel like it's going pretty well. We're going to get guys into the position they need to."
One of the players who should be able to help Merida in the backfield is senior Trenton Kidwell. Kidwell is the primary power back for the Mustangs and provided a great one-two punch with Shinn last season. While Kidwell is the more experienced back, don't expect him to get the lion's share of the carries just because he's more accustomed to Friday nights under the lights.
"(Kidwell's carries) depend on what we get defensively," Jolley said. "We've got a young man in Isaiah Merida that I think even Levi would tell you he's more than capable of filling Levi's shoes. I think even by the end of the season he might even exceed where Levi was at as a running back."
Losing Shinn doesn't just mean losing a great running back. He was also an exceptional kicker who had a long range on field goals. Replacing him in the kicking game is going to be the more difficult task for Jolley.
"We're working on it," Jolley said. "I don't know that we'll get someone that can kick the ball as deep as Levi, but we've got a couple of kids who have been working on it."
Defensively, not only are the Mustangs losing Shinn, but his step-brother, Owen Tamm, also graduated. Jolley is confident they have the pieces to fill in those gaps. Like Shinn did last season, Merida will also see some time in the defensive secondary, as will Dawson Brandt and the team's quarterback, Austin Kempker.
"I think we're actually overall, as a team, faster than last year," Jolley said. "When you lose somebody, one specific player, that was a large percentage of what you try to do, you try to break that percentage up and you advance it with the other players. That's what our kids have understood."
Spreading the load Shinn carried last season applies to both sides of the football. While Merida and Kidwell will be the primary running backs, look for Kempker to have some opportunities to shine at quarterback, a position that can be overlooked by defenses facing the run-heavy attack of the Mustangs.
"Austin's had a great summer and good preparation for his senior season," Jolley said. "We look for Austin to step up in a lot of different ways."
With all of the talent the Mustangs are looking at in the backfield with Kempker, Merida and Kidwell, one can't overlook the guys who open things up for them. The Mustangs will have a lot of fresh faces on the offensive line, but Jolley sees an improvement mentally in his new offensive line.
"We lost Graham and Dale (Folsom) and we lost some talented guys on the offensive line," Jolley said. "But these guys are working really hard. This is a tremendously focused group. Even though we're a little bit undersized from where we were last year, I think our football IQ and some of our preparation will allow us to fill that void again."
The Mustangs will start their season tonight against Boonville. Week 1 is always tough, especially on coaches, because it's hard to gauge what a team will do from season to season. Boonville has a slight advantage in that regard because of the consistency of Eldon's offense. Jolley and the Eldon coaching staff will need to make constant adjustments throughout the game as they get a feel for Boonville.
"At this time of the year, you'll take a jamboree film and we trade it in and we traded one game film from last year. Some programs stay pretty consistent from year to year, but some do have some changes so it's really up in the air," Jolley said. "Week 1 is a pretty unique game because some teams have the luxury of knowing about teams and Boonville's just not one that we know much about."
While Eldon fell short in districts last season, Jolley continues to have high hopes for this team, even without some of last year's big-name talent.
Eldon expects to win every year and this year will be no different.
"We want to win a district championship, period," Jolley said. "We wanna win a district championship and put ourselves in the playoff hunt and then go from there. I think that's a fair statement. A lot of guys say that, but that's exactly what we want to do."
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