Suiting up: Williams Vikings get back to the gridiron

Despite graduating seven seniors from a squad that reached the finals in 8-man football, Williams High School head football coach Jeff Brownlee believes his Vikings have the talent to be as good, if not better, than they were a year ago.

The key, however, to Williams’ success, according to Brownlee, will be the ability of the upper classmen to deliver the same caliber of leadership last year’s graduating class provided.

“So far I’m impressed with the leadership of our senior class this year,” Brownlee said. “We are a tight-knit football team and our seniors have been helping the younger kids out a lot.”

Williams graduated four starters from last year’s team and lost their quarterback to a transfer.

“But that’s a void coaches have to fill every year,” Brownlee said. “We have a depth chart and our younger players are stepping up.”

Brownlee said he has two players vying for the quarterback slot, and feels confident that either can run the offense well.

“We’re moving forward without Martin (Soria),” Brownlee said. “And we have two very athletic quarterbacks battling for the spot — Diego Pedraza and Kolby Payne. With Diego being a senior, he understands the system better and will be our starter. I think he will perform very well.”

Brownlee said the team lost several of their bigger players to graduation, but has seen a lot of growth with the new seniors.

“Michael Bolin, Emmanuel Florez and Joaquin Gutierrez will be handling the front line,” he said. “We also have sophomore David Lozano at tight end. He can block on the line, get in the pass routes and be aggressive.”

Last year’s starting running back, Tyler Smith, graduated and Chance Pearson, Dorian Ayala, Daniel Lopez and Kolby Payne are expected to step in to the position this year.

“We are still really strong at running back,” Brownlee said. “Our running game is not going to miss a beat. At times I think it’s going to be better than last year.”

Brownlee said he expects the Vikings passing game to keep the defense on their heels. He said the first several weeks of practice have been spent running passing plays.

“The summer passing league really helped us to prepare for the season,” he said.

Brownlee said the junior varsity team has seven new freshman this year, bringing the total Viking players to 30.

“I think having seven is exciting,” he said. “With each class you’d like to get 10 kids, but 30 is pretty awesome right now.”

The Vikings put the team to the test with a scrimmage against Ft. Thomas in Ray, Arizona, Aug. 18.

“It will be nice and hot, which is good for us. We need to play in those kinds of temperatures,” he said.

The Vikings have their first official game at home against Hayden Aug. 25 at 7 p.m., and the following week face Bagdad at home.

“This will be the first time in three years that we will have two home games back to back,” he said.

Brownlee expects Bagdad, Mayer, Joseph City, Mogollon and Superior to be the toughest competition for the Vikings this year.

The Vikings faced Bagdad in the 8-man State Championship Finals in 2016 — the Vikings lost 60-6.