Over the last few years the Laurel football team has been able to fill shoes of strong players who have graduated. The Bulldogs, who went 6-4 last season and fell to Woodbridge in the state tournament, are looking to do that again this year.
“We’ve got a really fun group of kids,” said Laurel head coach Joey Jones. He added that his players are locked in on learning in the pre-season.
Laurel varsity players line up on the first series of the Red-White football game on Friday. Photo by Hunter Nusz
The team held its annual Red-White inter squad scrimmage last week. “It was a good showing. The kids competed hard,” Jones said.
That scrimmage prepared the team for its scrimmage at Dover on Thursday. Jones is hoping the Dover game will help get his team ready to face Sussex Central in the home and season opener next Thursday.
Jones is looking for his returning players to provide experience and lead the younger players. Many of the players return from a year ago.
This year’s seniors include: Koby Shockley (QB), Connor Smith, Elijah Niblett, Jeremiah Ross, Zion Bryant, Asante Lofland, Jayden Cannon-Thompson, Kalib Rickards, Joe Smith, Donnell Savage, Alex Bailey, Nayva Singh, Colin Brandner, Tate Walls, and Cordai Rodriguez.
The young players have some good size and some of the younger players may get a chance to place with the varsity squad. As always, Jones expects tough competition in the conference.
“It’s going to be competitive, as always. We all play a similar style of game. There’s going to be a lot of challenges,” he said.
The non-conference games should help the Bulldogs going into conference play. They also face Caesar Rodney, Caravel, Brandywine, and Seaford in non-conference games.
