LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — There’s some new décor inside the fieldhouse at Little Rock Parkview.
Alongside a new banner, comes some new emotions.
“They know what success feels like from last year,” said offensive line coach Blake Pitts.
It took the Patriots a long time to capture that feeling, last season breaking a drought that started 44 years ago. The aim now is to not wait nearly as long to recapture it.
“It’s a state championship season for us, that’s our expectation every play, every practice,” said Pitts. “I wouldn’t call it a challenge, we’re hungry and we’re looking forward to the fight.”
The players agree, players like senior RJ “Tank” Davis.
“We’ve been getting coached a lot header, mentality been a lot harder, just putting in work,” said Davis.
That mentality is shared among other student athletes as well.
“We just gotta stay focused, avoid any distractions,” said fellow senior Ramsey Cummings.
“Trying to maintain that. That’s where the difficulty comes in,” said head coach Brad Bolding. “We’ve got a lot of talented players coming back, you gotta raise that bar.”
That experience is key, as the rest of the 5A certainly remembers the big returning names, like quarterback Eric McGhee and his backfield mate, Cameron Settles. But the biggest returners might be on the offensive line.
“Four returning starters, just dogs, just physical, just nasty in the trenches," said Pitts.
Last year’s smothering defense loses some key pieces, but that’s what the summer is for.
“Couple corners going on to play college ball, but overall we’re ahead of where we were last year defensively. Just gotta stay healthy, have a little luck, and see what happens in December,” said Bolding.
Parkview went undefeated in their first year in the 5A. In year two, they definitely won’t be sneaking up on anyone, but Davis said that they relish the attention.
“Just makes us want to work harder. Everybody in the state wants a piece of us. On Twitter, they say we want to play y’all, they text saying they want to play, so we just work harder,” said Davis.
The Patriots kick off the season August 25th on the road at Springdale Har-Ber.