By Chris Parker
Ava football finished 6-4 in Casey Merrifield’s first season as head coach after serving as an assistant in the program for many years.
The biggest changes for Merrifield stepping up to the head job came outside the lines.
“The biggest difference that I noticed was what happened outside of football activities,” Merrifield said. “I have a great group of assistant coaches, so the football side wasn’t much different. Dealing with media (with) weekly interviews and ordering football equipment and gear was the biggest change.”
He returns a more experienced roster this season after injuries forced many different players into action last year.
“We have so many kids with varsity experience,” Merrifield said. “With all the injuries to skill positions last year, we have four running backs that saw significant time last year or the year before. We hope this will allow us to spread the ball out to a lot of different guys.”
One of those key injuries hit in the first game. Sophomore Hunter Adams suffered a season-ending injury in the season-opening win over Buffalo. Adams rushed for 1,174 yards and 25 touchdowns as a freshman while adding 20 tackles on defense.
The rehabilitation process was tough, but he made it back in time to compete the last half of the track season.
“He (Adams) took a mentally of attacking rehab,” Merrifield said. “He returned in the middle of track to compete in a few meets and played a little basketball this summer. He is moving like he did prior to the injury and currently trying to build back his lower body strength.”
His presence in the backfield will provide a big boost for the Bears.
“Offensively playing fullback for us makes him the centerpiece of our offense,” Merrifield said. “He is a rare player for us that can grind out the tough yards each play and is still capable of hitting the home run each time he touches the ball. We hope to play him part time on defense early in the year, but he will still be a leader for us on the field. He is a great teammate and all kids respond to him.”
CLICK HERE FOR LINKS TO ALL OF OUR FALL SPORTS PREVIEWS
Senior Rylin Dickson will join Adams in the backfield after he took 60 carries for 814 yards and 13 touchdowns averaging 13.6 yards per carry last season. He also caught nine passes for 175 yards and three touchdowns averaging 19.4 yards per catch.
“Rylin has track speed and an extremely strong lower body. Rylin did a great job of outrunning the first wave of defenders before making one guy miss. When he gets loose, we do not expect him to get caught,” Merrfield said. “Rylin still has great speed, and we expect him to continue to put up huge numbers rushing, but we also expect him to have a lot of explosive plays as a receiving option for us.”
Tyson Tidwell, Thomas Merritt and Leroy Horinek will also see carries out of the backfield. Tidwell led that group with 76 carries for 339 yards last year.
Sophomore quarterback Aiden Lane returns after playing in eight games as a freshman. He threw for 524 yards with six touchdowns against just one interception. He also ran for 213 yards and two touchdowns.
“Aiden played to his strengths,” Merrifield said. “He is a great decision maker. We love a quarterback that makes good decisions. A sack is not always a bad outcome, and as a freshman he did not make a lot of bad decisions. We hope he can build on that performance.”
Lane has put on good size in the offseason going from 129 pounds at the end of last season to 150 pounds now.
Brayden Thorburn and Frank Pesce will be two receivers to watch for Ava.
Ava predicates its entire offense on running the ball. Senior Matthew Lakey returns to lead that unit after earning second-team all-conference honors as a junior.
“Matthew leads by example and younger kids follow him. He had a great year last year as a full-time starter and has had a great offseason. We expect him to be much better than last year,” Merrifield said. “The thing that makes Matthew so good for us is he never takes a play off and plays all the way to the whistle. He is a max effort guy in everything that he does.”
Brandt Snelson is the only other returning starter on the offensive line. Ryder Johnson, Derric Kemp, Logan Churchill, Thomas Brown and Ryan Corrigan are competing for the other three positions.
Defensively, four Week 1 starters return with three more who started at some point last season. The graduated starters were a productive group featuring five All-SCA selections and the top six tacklers from 2022’s six-win team.
Finding the right players for the right spots will be key to replacing the production.
“We have to get guys into positions that help us the most,” Merrifield said. “We are still searching for the lineup that makes us the best. We have about 15 guys that we feel are good enough to be varsity starters. We are mixing up positions on them to figure out how to make them the most valuable to the team. We have to have multiple guys step up to feel the shoes of the group that graduated.”
Tidwell returns to the defensive line after earning honorable mention all-SCA honors last season. He broke his femur in Week 7 and missed the rest of the 2022 season.
“He (Tidwell) is a tough kid,” Merrifield said. “He was a great player last year and the year before for us. He is as tough as they come and is afraid of nothing.”
Tidwell will see time all over the defense at defensive end, linebacker and safety.
Matthew Riley and Thorburn will also see time on the defensive line.
The linebacking corps will feature returning players Andy Albritton, Leroy Horinek and Tidwell along with newcomers Kaden Davis and Noah Cook.
The secondary returns Merritt, Lane, Pesce and Dickson who all started games last year. Jordan Hutchinson will also be on the field a lot.
Hutchinson and Davis are two players Merrifield thinks could be poised for breakouts this season.
“Jordan Hutchinson will be a weapon for us. He is a really strong kid with breakaway speed. He will find ways to contribute to the team and has a knack for making big plays,” Merrifield said. “Kaden Davis could be our leading tackler after not playing last year. His nose for the ball will make him hard to not notice.”
Ava will travel to Hollister on Aug. 18 for a jamboree with the host Tigers, Springfield Catholic and Clever before opening the season on Aug. 25 at home against Buffalo.
