The Nation Ford Falcons football team is looking to improve on last year’s record with a lot of returning players to help lead them.
The Falcons finished last season with a 4-7 record overall falling in the first round of the playoffs on the road at Spartanburg.
Nation Ford has a new quarterback in Kaden Barnett with the graduation of Carson Black, but also has a lot of help up front in five returning offensive linemen.
“We have a lot of returners,” said Falcons head coach Michael Allen. “We have experience. It is one of our strong points. Our overall speed is better than average.”
Barnett is a junior and stands roughly 6’4” tall. Allen said he throws a strong ball and speaks highly of the new Falcons quarterback.
“He has a really good understanding of the offense,” Allen said. “Coach (Dave) Johnson (offensive coordinator) will put him in a good position to be successful. He has a really strong arm and he is quite mobile.”
Allen said he feels good about where Nation Ford is at heading into the season. Barnett will have offensive weapons to throw to such as Ben Wakefield and Mitchell Ladamus.
“We have pretty decent A players,” he said. “If we can stay injury free, we can compete. If we get the injury plague, most teams would struggle. But it is our job to coach those B guys up to be B plus.”
Allen said the offense and defense are close to equal and balanced at this point. Nation Ford will carry probably around 40 people on their roster.
Defensively Nation Ford are looking to replace players like Clayton Rygol who graduated this past year. The defense should still have players such as Zay Neely in the backfield and Savyion Drayton on the line to help them as well.
Nation Ford had an incredibly hard non-region schedule kicking things off at Indian Land Aug. 18. They will then host York Aug. 25 and Catawba Ridge Sept. 1, before heading to Northwestern Sept. 8. The Falcons have a bye Sept. 15 and then finish their non-region schedule at Richland Northeast Sept. 22.
Nation Ford opens its Region 3-5A schedule hosting Clover Sept. 29 and then travels to Blythewood Oct. 6 and Rock Hill Oct. 13. The Falcons will host Spring Valley Oct. 20 and then finish their regular season at Fort Mill Oct. 27.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
