2021 Fall Preview: Nevada Football

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By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)

When Nevada’s football team opened last fall with a 12-point win at Logan-Rogersville, it wasn’t just a good start to the season.

That win was the team’s first since September 2018, and when the Tigers went on to finish 7-4 last year it marked the team’s first winning season since 2012.

“Give a lot of credit to last year’s juniors and seniors,” head coach Wes Beachler said. “They took their lumps when they were younger, some of them started as freshmen. One year in there we only had six seniors so that forced us to start a lot of younger kids and they took a beating. That was a tough year but they grew through that and last year came out and wanted to prove it wasn’t a waste of time. They did a good job of that.”

And the Tigers were almost an 8-3 team last year; they lost by a point at Seneca after the Indians scored with 20 seconds left. In another loss Nevada had a lead entering the fourth quarter.

“So we were really close to a 9-2 season,” Beachler said. “I’m really proud of the turnaround we made in one year’s time.”

Three times last year the Tigers allowed seven points or fewer in a game, and they scored at least 28 points in seven contests. Nevada does lose some key pieces from that team, like linebacker Jace Lee, the defensive player of the year in the Big 8 West and a third team All-State pick. Defensive back Ethan Forkner was a second team Big 8 player. On offense the Tigers lose players like Riley Trotter, a first team Big 8 tight end, and Kaden Denny, a second team All-Conference running back.

Nevada returns all but one starter on the offensive line in 2021. That group includes senior Lukas Higgins, who’s moving to left guard, senior Jackson Dryer at center, junior Skylur Mashek at right guard and senior Logan Smith at right tackle. Mashek was a second team All-Conference pick. Senior Kartman Highley also returns at tight end, with junior Drew Beachler vying for time there as well.

There will be a new quarterback this year with juniors Case Sanderson and Cade Beshore competing for the starting job. Sanderson also played some at tailback and was a first team Big 8 West honoree. He’ll be joined in the backfield by returning starter Eli Cheaney, a senior who was a second team Big 8 player. He rushed for 1,152 yards and 13 touchdowns while averaging 7.1 yards per carry.

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Senior JD Downing, junior Avious Steadman and sophomore Brice Budd are all competing for a wingback spot. At fullback the team has junior Zade Lee, sophomore Henry Campbell and senior Anthony Vance.

“The problem is going to be depth,” Beachler said. “We don’t have very much. Last year none of our offensive linemen missed a game and we’ve got to have that kind of luck again. Our freshman line is looking pretty good but won’t be ready for varsity ball. We have to have sophomores and juniors step up. In the backfield two of our three most productive backs return plus Avious Steadman moved in from Fort Scott, Kansas and he’s pretty quick. Quarterback wise I think we’ll be solid with either of those young men. Both are capable of running the show for us. We averaged almost 350 yards of offense a game, most of that rushing, and we expect to be in the same kind of area offensively.”

The Tigers return even more experience defensively and Beachler expects that unit to be really good this fall. Junior Kenneth Johnson and Mashek return at defensive tackles, senior Logan Marquardt returns after playing inside and outside linebacker, outside linebacker Sanderson is moving to defensive end, Beshore and Beachler return at corners and Cheaney returns at outside linebacker. Steadman could earn playing time in the secondary, junior Blake Cox could play at safety and junior Gage Miller could play inside linebacker along with Marquardt. Sophomore Tucker Duncan could also play defensively.

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“What we have at inside linebacker with those two is two very smart football players,” Beachler said. “They take practice seriously, they watch game film on their own.”

Nevada will participate in a jamboree at Carthage with Carl Junction and Monett. That’ll give the Tigers a chance to see some speed they won’t encounter every week.

“We have some great athletes in the Big 8 but after coaching four years at Republic I know how fast those COC teams are and that will be good for our smaller school kids to see how we match up against that,” Beachler said.

Nevada opens the regular season at home against Logan-Rogersville.

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