2012 Macon Tigers: New season, new looks

After back-to-back seasons of being in the top tier of Missouri High School football, the Macon Tigers will have to regroup in order to contend in 2012.

A year after a record-tying performance in 2010, Macon would cruise threw its first nine games, before being tripped up once again by powerhouse Centralia.

The Tigers would catch a break in the playoffs, scoring a rematch with Monroe City, who knocked off Centralia in the regional round. Macon would hold off Clark County in Regionals, then blow out Monroe City in the sectionals, before being outgunned by Blair Oaks in the quarters.

For 2012, the landscape is dramatically different. The Tigers will have a new starting quarterback, new runners, new just about everything.

Macon graduated a powerful class of seniors in 2011, including seven signing with high-profile college teams.

"We will need to replace the bulk of our starters on both sides of the ball, as we only return one starter on offense and two on defense," Tiger head coach Pete Claas said.

"We will be very inexperienced and unproven at the varsity level, but we expect our seniors to step up where the last two classes left off."

The double-edged sword of running backs Henry Walker and Taquan Kelly will no longer be a threat to CCC opponents. The duo racked up most of the 3,710 rushing yards for Macon in 2011, so the new legs will have to pick it up from there.

The Tigers will have the speed of senior Levi Walker at running back and split end, as well as the size of Tyrone Walker at running back, and the size of Gabe Gravitt and Jacobey Preston in the same spots.

On the line, Macon still has some big bruisers left in the arsenal. The Kothe brothers, Kendall and Trey, along with Lukas Still will each be a force on the front line for Macon. Cody and Jordan Lolli also return to the line, and tackling machine Aaron DeWeese will be around to knock the offense back on its heels.

"Although there will be a lot of new names on the field this season, we are extremely excited about the potential of our team," said Claas.

"Depth will be a concern in 2012; we hope to stay away from the injury bug this season, which will be a key. This will be especially important, as we are moving up to Class 3 this year."

That is very important, because a higher class means tougher opponents. There is also a new playoff system in place for Missouri football teams. It will play out similar to a District basketball tournament. A points system throughout the season will translate to seeds in the tournament, which will be played over the course of 10 days at the end of the season. The winners of the District tourneys go straight to the Quarterfinal round.

"We hope to be a team that improves each and every week and by District time; we hope to be playing our best football of the season," Claas said.

Macon will play a nine-game schedule, as the tenth game will be the first round of District play.

The Tigers will open the 2012 campaign with back-to-back road games; at Palmyra and South Shelby, respectively.

Macon opens its home schedule on September 7 against Monroe City, before playing another road game at Clark County. The Tigers will host Highland on September 14, then travel to Louisiana on the 21st.

Macon will play Mark Twain for Homecoming on October 5th, then hit the road once more for a showdown with rival Brookfield. Senior night is on October 19th against super-foe Centralia, who is also a potential opponent in District play.