Published: August 07, 2008 12:39 am            

Getting started

Bees looking to follow up best season with repeat performance

FAIRMONT — It shouldn’t be a surprise that East Fairmont is boasting the county’s highest number of football players out for the first week of high school practice.

The Bees are coming off their best season in school history — 10 wins and narrowly missing a berth in the Class AAA championship game by a few yards.

But gone are most of the players who made the Bee offense go, and head coach Bill Haddox is looking for players to step into those roles early in camp.

“We’ve got a lot of kids, and that’s good because we’ve got a lot of positions up for grabs,” Haddox said. “Right now we’re just mixing the kids, using guys we’ve seen play last year some.”

What East does have coming back is a strong defensive nucleus led by middle linebacker James Mascaro.

“He’s our captain on defense, and having him back makes a big difference,” Haddox said.

The defense also includes three state wrestling champions in the secondary.

“You can’t ask for much more than that,” Haddox said. “We’ve got three state champs back there, our middle linebacker back and some size up front.”

It appears early that Nick Bonnett will take over the reins of the offense at quarterback — replacing Carter DeVault.

Bonnett saw limited time under center last year, but Haddox noted Bonnett could still be used as a wide receiver.

“Nick’s played some quarterback and looks good,” Haddox said. “But he still likes receiver, so we could be using him out there as well. We’ve got a couple young guys behind him that are doing a good job as well.”

East, one of the smaller teams last year size-wise, seem to have some players to jump into a offensive line that was decimated by graduation.

“We’ve got a couple big boys,” Haddox said. “But just because they’re big doesn’t make them good linemen. There’s a lot of work to be done still.”

The Bees will open the season at Elkins on Aug. 29.

“It’s early. We’ll start to really see something once we get pads on next week,” Haddox said. “But they’re ready for anything. That’s what made last year’s team so successful. They don’t mind doing what they need to do to win.”

E-mail Mike Bowen at mbowen@timeswv.com.

        

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