FOOTBALL PREVIEW: Carl Junction ready to compete in 2022 behind several returning starters

While the 3-7 record from a year ago might not show it, Carl Junction had a very competitive season a year ago with plenty of experience coming back to make an impact for the 2022 campaign.

“We faced a lot of adversity throughout the entire year and that is one of the most important things young people can experience,” Carl Junction coach Doug Buckmaster said. “Being able to learn from an and push through adversity, and I think we learned a lot of lessons a year ago. I think that will carry over into this season. It’s game week, but we’ve already had to deal with adversity this year with a key player going down. So, we will find out how we rise to the occasion, keep fighting and keep competing and preparing. Fortunately for this year, we have a little more depth, so hopefully we can overcome that key loss. I am pleased with how the kids have handled themselves the entire summer and it’s just about game time.”

The Bulldogs return seven starters on the offensive side of the ball: junior quarterback Dexter Merrell, senior RB/DB Chance Benford, sophomore RB Tony Stewart, senior wide receivers Ayden Bard and Nathan Planchon, junior wide receiver Kyler Stewart and senior offensive lineman Rose Craig. 

“We have Dexter Merrell back there at quarterback and we have a few key wide receivers back on the offense as well,” Buckmaster said. “Where we have inexperience is up front on the offensive line. We do have a returning starter there in Ross Craig who is a tremendous football player for us. He was our center last year, but he is going to move out and play left tackle. 

“With the type of kids at the skill position that we have this year, we feel like we have an opportunity to be a little bit more explosive than we were a year ago. We have really focused on improving our running game. We don’t want to line up and throw it 40 times a game. We want to be more balanced, or even more top heavy running the football. … We have three or four kids who can rotate at running back, and they also play defense, so we are trying to get better at platooning than we have been the last couple of years. 

Newcomers to the offense who are expected to make an impact on the varsity level include junior RT/DE Aidan Beachner, senior OG Josh McDermott and junior OG Pason Winder and junior C Dylan Robbins.

The focus for the offensive side of the ball for the Bulldogs, who base in multiple spread, will be taking care of the football. With Carl Junction playing several opponents tough last season, particularly in the first half of games, making sure to limit the game-altering mistakes on offense will be crucial to take the next step.

“The last three weeks of the football season, I have never had a team turn the football over as much as we did a year ago,” Buckmaster said. “It was unbelievable in the number of ways we turned it over the last three weeks. We talked about dealing with adversity, that is just another thing we are going to have to overcome. We have to value the football, and that’s been an emphasis. If you can’t take care of the football, you can’t play. … Hopefully, all of that is past us. We have focused on doing all of the little things right.”

Carl Junction is also returning eight starters to the defensive side of the ball, with Bard, Kyler Stewart and Tony Stewart all coming back in the defensive backfield. Benfield and senior Arlen Wakefield return at outside linebacker, while juniors Johnny Starts and Bentley Rowden are back at linebacker. On the defensive line, senior ends Braxton Dodds and Cayden Bolinger also return. Both will see time at TE on offense as well.

“We expect a lot of good things out of our defense because we return as many starters as we do,” Buckmaster. “The young man who we will leave nameless right now that was injured in the jamboree also started on the defensive side of the ball, so he will be tough to replace. Fortunately we have the depth we didn’t have a year ago, so hopefully someone will step up to do a good job to fill his shoes.”

Some new faces looking to contribute on varsity this year are senior DT Donnie Keith and senior DE/NT Wyatt Ausborn.

The Bulldogs open their season with a road matchup against Ozark on Aug. 26.

“Young men everywhere who are playing high school football in the state of Missouri are excited this week,” Buckmaster said ahead of Week 1. “These kids do a great job for you through the school year with strength and condition, during the summer when they get done what you need done and, now, here we are to this point. It’s payday.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: We are aware of the injury to the Carl Junction player in the jamboree. We decided not to mention/focus on the injury out of respect for the player and Coach Buckmaster.