#HSFT21 Stop #35 — Amory Panthers

  https://cdn.field59.com/WCBI/1627930806-8fecd24be4b989f6bd29674fc6a4fefb9aa9e54c_fl9-720p.mp4 AMORY, Miss. (WCBI) — There’s a whole lot of new for the Amory football team this season. The freshest addition? That’s first-year head coach Brooks Dampeer. “When I think about Amory, there’s been great tradition here,” Dampeer said. “It was an opportunity to lead a really good traditional program.” “The work ethic that he brings and this whole team feeds off the energy,” senior RT/NG Jalyn Nathan said. “We amped it up a little this year.” The Panthers proved especially good in the 2020 season. Amory was a team chock full of senior leadership that finished with a 9-2 record while going perfect in league play. That team’s season ended following a 45-35 overtime thriller. The Panthers came up short against the Winona Tigers in the third round of the 3A playoffs. “They had a great year last year, and we want to continue on that success. We did lose a lot of our offensive production. We have a lot back on defense. We’ll have a first-year starter at quarterback, and then you really got about four skill guys that are going to contribute that didn’t contribute a lot last year,” Dampeer said. “I want to see good competition coming strong through all four quarters and just being physical,” junior QB Jatarian Ware said. “Really compete,” Nathan said. “We’ve always been a team that can really come in and do a lot of things. We have athletes. I think we have everybody to do it this year.” While this Panther squad might be younger and not as experienced as the Amory team seen just last season, Dampeer says his team’s style will bring the heat. “We want to be physical. We want to be able to run the football downhill. We want to take what the defense gives us. That means we need to be able to execute on the routine play. We want to stay ahead of the change, take our shots when we get the chance, and play really fast and physical defense,” Dampeer said. With the lack of experience on offense, the Panthers are counting on the team’s defense to perform big this season. However, don’t count out Amory’s offense just yet. “I think we can really run on defense. I think we do have some experience back defensively. Then I think offensively, one thing we’ll hang our hat is being able to spread the ball around. We look forward to guys making plays no matter if they’re at tight end or receiver or whatever it may be. Everybody will get their chance to make plays,” Dampeer said. Amory kicks the season off with a home game against Itawamba AHS on August 27th. “That they’ll turn it loose, playing with a lot of emotion, passion, and doing their job,” Dampeer said.