NEW HOPE — It took New Hope High School football coach Seth Stillman over a minute to count up the number of seniors on his roster.
For the Trojans in 2022, that could be a very good thing.
Last year’s New Hope team had 13 seniors. This season’s squad features 25.
So the stage is set for a big year for Stillman’s team — if his crop of seniors can make it happen.
“I think we have a chance to be as good as our seniors are,” Stillman said. “We have a lot of senior leadership this year.”
Chief among those senior leaders are linebacker Alex McCarter, defensive back Alex Dawkins, running back Ladarius Tate, linebacker Qua Sherrod and defensive end Zach Dismuke.
Four out of those five play defense, part of a New Hope team returning nine defensive starters, including rising sophomore linebacker Jeremiah Harkins. The Trojans posted three shutout wins last season, and their defense this year could be even better.
“Defense, you can get momentum from that,” Dawkins said. “You can change games because if they can’t score, they can’t win.”
On the flip side, though, New Hope was itself shut out three times and averaged only 18.4 points per game. The Trojans graduated quarterback Ty Crowell, wide receiver Richard Guy and three starting offensive linemen, including Ty Jackson and Jeremiah Jefferson.
New Hope has just four returning offensive starters — Tate, two linemen (both of whom started as freshmen) and pass-catcher Grant Fleming.
“Once we start to jell at offensive line, I think we can be dangerous and play well,” Stillman said. “We have a chance to be probably as good as our offensive line is.”
The Trojans already made a jump in their first season under Stillman, who was promoted from defensive coordinator after coach Wade Tackett resigned. New Hope went 6-28 in three seasons under Tackett but posted a respectable 5-5 campaign in 2021 despite missing the playoffs.
“Most of the years, we haven’t been getting that many wins, but last year we were a little bit better,” McCarter said.
New Hope’s 2021 season was slated to start off with a county rivalry game against Caledonia, but the contest was canceled because of COVID-19 concerns with the Cavaliers.
This time around, the two teams will meet in the Aug. 26 season opener in New Hope before the Trojans play non-district games against Itawamba Agricultural and Shannon.
“It means a ton, especially with it being Week 1 for both teams,” Stillman said. “I think that kind of jump-starts us into the year. If you can pick that one up, it really makes believers out of your team, and then you can move on to the rest of your nonconference and then hopefully build on that in your district games. I think it’s imperative that you win that game to really get the season moving.”
McCarter took a different tack in describing the importance of games against Caledonia and MHSAA Region 1-5A rival Columbus.
“I’m very excited to play them because they talk a lot of trash,” he said.
New Hope chipped in its own bit of trash talk about the Cavaliers and Falcons, though.
“We think we can beat them — we know we can beat them,” Dawkins said. “We’ve just got to execute when it’s time. Everybody’s got to be on the same page and click.”
It’s a pretty good way to sum up every game on the Trojans’ schedule. If New Hope’s multitude of seniors can live up to their billing, it could be the breakout year the Trojans have waited for.
If not…
“If they continue to work hard and continue to lead the way, the sky’s the limit,” Stillman said. “But if they don’t, then we’re going to continue to sit at that average mark until they continue to push us there. I think we’ve got a chance to be pretty good.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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