Strong River Bend High Starts Season Strong
The Strong River Bend (SRB) faithful didn’t have high expectations coming into the 2023 season. Despite that, they’ve gotten off to a hot start. They’re 4-0, and none of the games have been close. They’ve outscored their first 4 opponents by a margin of 202 to 20.
SRB’s coach, Jackie Mullen, implemented what he calls the Bulldozer offense. Mullen said, “Well you know, it’s an old school offense. It’s like watching football from the 70s or 80s. We don’t throw the ball. We simply run the ball down your throat, and we may you like it. I could tell this summer during three-a-days we had a chance to be pretty good.” I asked Coach Mullen if they will throw the ball any this year. He said, “Three things can happen when you throw the ball, and only one of them is good. No, we won’t throw it any. Load the box, we don’t care. We gonna run it. Mess with a bull, and you get the horns!”
In order to run an offense like the Bulldozer, you need good running backs, and SRB has two good ones. Herschel Campbell is the power back, and Barry Dickerson is the speed back. Quarterback, Wayne Wyatt has a pretty easy job; hand the ball to these 2 great backs. Both backs have ran for over 150 yards in each of the first 4 games, and they’ve combined to score 23 touchdowns thus far.
The Bulldozer offense is complemented by a great defense too. Defensive coordinator, Joe Lee Grantham, calls his defense the Maroon Blitzkrieg. Coach Grantham is super aggressive, and he blitzes at least one defender every play. Coach Grantham said, “We coming baby! We’re gonna blitz and hit you in the mouth, so you better be ready.”
I asked Coach Mullen if he thinks they can continue this pace. He said, “Well you know, I think we can. We got that dog in us. We have a way of demoralizing teams and just ripping their heart out. We’re going to continue to be relentless.” We’ll see if they can continue this torrid pace; SRB is going to be a tough out for any team this season.