CHERRY VALLEY — The Cross County Thunderbirds will begin defense of their Class 2A state championship tonight with an entirely new coaching staff.
First-year head coach Ty Mimbs talks about the new coaches at Cross County.
“Our defensive coordinator is Tre Holmes. Tre is from Wynne. He played Division II football at Missouri Western. He graduated with his master’s,” Mimbs said. “He had an internship with a strength and conditioning program at a collegiate level, so he’s been able to take on our strength and conditioning program. He’s very smart, very intelligent and understands the schematics of the defense. We’ve been working hard all summer trying to figure out what scheme best fits our kids. He’s done a great job not only with the kids, but with the other guys on the staff to get them caught up on what we want to do.
“Our offensive line and defensive line coach is Dawson Ingle. Dawson graduated and played at Riverview in Searcy and then he coached at Conway Christian for the last couple years. He was on the staff at Conway Christian when they won a state championship,” Mimbs added. “He has a really good offensive line background. That gives us a lot of input into the defense because he understands what offensive linemen are looking like, what the blocking schemes are going to be. What are the kinks in it, and where can we have success?
“Our tight ends and defensive backs coach is Cody Campbell. Cody Campbell played at Harding Academy, graduated from Harding University. He has spent the last couple years at Augusta. We hired him this summer,” Mimbs continued. “He’s done a really good job in building relationships with those kids. Same as Dawson, he’s very knowledgeable about defensive backs. He’s a visual and lead by example kind of guy. He shows those guys exactly what we’re looking for on the board, on film and during drills. So when we get into group sessions or team sessions, they have clarity in what we’re asking for.
“I’m excited and blessed to have all three of those guys on staff. They make our programs better and they make me better as a head coach as well.”
Harrisburg
The T-Birds will take on rival Harrisburg tonight in Cherry Valley in varsity play. The Junior T-Birds fell Thursday at Harrisburg, 24-0, with the JV team losing 14-8.
The Hornets are picked by Hooten’s Arkansas Football to finish fifth in the 3A-3. Harrisburg went 3-8 last season, falling to Glen Rose in the first round of the Class 3A state playoffs. Harrisburg coach Austin Jarrett said the team has a lot of experience coming back from last year’s team and they will be looking to build on that success this year.
The Hornets are led by senior quarterback Bryar Jones with All-State running back Jayvin Thompson and All-Conference running back Grayson Harkey returning for the offense. Thompson and Harkey combined for over 1,800 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns last season.
“They’ve got a really good quarterback, some really good skilled pieces. Offensive line, they play extremely hard. They will give you different looks without changing personnel so we have to be really good with our eye discipline and getting the calls from the sideline and lining up and executing the call,” Mimbs said. “Then, on defense, they’re going to play hard. They’re going to get off blocks. They’re going to try to reset the line of scrimmage, and they’re going to be disciplined on the back end. We’ve got to find ways to continue drives and find ways to put some points on the board.”
The Cross County-Harrisburg game kicks off at 7 p.m. tonight at Thunderbird Stadium. The broadcast will begin at about 6:50 on 107.3 BOB FM and the EAB Media Group app.
