#HSFT18 Stop No. 19 – North Pontotoc

*District games

ECRU, Miss. (WCBI) — The scoring machine led by Clark Mills in North Pontotoc is a thing of the past.

Mills and the Vikings fielded one of the top offenses in Mississippi a year ago, as first-year head coach Andy Crotwell led the V-men to yet another division title while reaching the third-round of the 3A playoffs.

Replacing one of the winningest senior classes in program history will be difficult, but Crotwell said that challenge comes with each different season.

“It’s a team game, it always is. There are certain aspects of your team that you rely on one year that you maybe don’t rely on and have another portion pick up the slack,” Crotwell said, “our goal is to be the most complete football team we can be by the time we hit region play.”

“You go from 300-pounders to me being the biggest, so I mean we have to fill some places,” senior right tackle Luke Tutor said.

“We’ve got to be quick, and we got to try to be as good as last year.”

The Vikings return nine starters on the defensive side, switching gears from a team known for putting up points in bunches, to a slugfest squad that’ll hit you in the mouth.

North Pontotoc will need to bring its best to contain the likes of Booneville and Kossuth in Region 1-3A

“It’ll be difficult,” Crotwell said of the conference outlook.

“It took everything we had to beat Kossuth last year, and I’d imagine they’ll be just as good this year and Booneville will be a very good football team this year. They’ve got a lot of guys back from injury and a lot of guys that got a ton of experience due to injury last year. It’s going to be very competitive and it will be a difficult region, no doubt about it.”

“This division is great, but so are we,” senior linebacker Corley Hooper said.

“Booneville and Kossuth are tough, but we’re going to be tough too and bring it every Friday.”

Every team sets the expectations to winning division titles, making playoff appearances, going deep into the postseason.

The Vikings are no different, but Crotwell knows it’s about what you do when no one is watching in order to reach those goals.

“They’re irrelevant if you don’t come to work every day,” Crotwell said.

“Those are my expectations, that we work every day, every snap, every time a ball is put down or a rep is demanded. Those are my expectations, that we work hard.”

The Vikings open the season at home against Saltillo on August 17th.