HSFT Stop #19: Mantachie Mustangs
MANTACHIE, Miss. (WCBI) — With Mantachie football, you know what you are going to get. An old school, hard-nosed team that does not shy away from contact.
“It’s just really a part of who we are,” head coach Ken Adams said. “It has to be from day one. They know exactly who we are. We aren’t going to go out and throw the ball 15, 20 times a game. This is who we are, we play on a 10-yard field.”
Some might see the Mustang’s offense as old-fashioned but the guys up front wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We love it man, you just drive them off the ball and watch them run,” junior center Jackson Allen said. “That’s the best part of the game knocking them down. We love watching the pancakes you sit in class watch the highlights and show them around. It’s the best part after a win.”
Each player has bought into what Adams preaches which sets the team up to surprise some people this year.
“We’re just going to play really hard and run straight at you,” junior quarterback Caleb Jones said. “We are just going to be tough. We are not the biggest team or the fastest but we are just going to execute our plays.”
The team knows what it is capable of, and can’t wait to show it at the start of the season.
“I expect a good year, everyone thinks we won’t be as good this year because we lost a lot of talent but we still have a lot of good athletes that can play positions we lost,” junior running back Kyle West said.
What the team lacks in experience, they make up for with vigor. Finally getting a chance to suit up for the team that they’ve been watching for as long they can remember.
“Growing up as a kid coming to these games it always meant something to me,” junior tight end Colten Baxter said. “Now I’m out here and other people are coming to watch me play. It just means a lot to me.”
The legacy and tradition that Mantachie football holds in the heart of the community is what makes it such a special place.
“I grew up in Itawamba County and this is the one place that I always wanted to come back to,” Adams said. “Everybody that comes to these games looks out and sees a number, it may have been their number and it matters.”
This young core group of players entered the offseason with a lot to prove and so far they’ve lived up to expectations, showing tons of promise for the new season.
“In the spring they were really aggressive and flew around to the ball and were not scared to make contact and hit,” assistant coach Scott Booth said. “It was really an exciting time in the spring to see how these young people were developing and we hope that will carry over to this fall.”
The new look Mantachie team will hit the field on August 25th against Holly Springs.
