By Mike Morrison

For The Times Leader

NEW MATAMORAS – A fast start would do wonders for the Frontier Cougars as they try to post their first winning record since 2014.

Veteran head coach Russ Morris is back for the second season of his second stint and his14th season overall at the helm of Frontier football and he sees plenty of reason for optimism as the Cougars prepare to open the 2019 campaign.

“I felt that when we got to the end of the season last year that we were playing pretty good football,” said Morris, who has 21 kids on his roster. “It has kind of carried over into the off season and our kids have worked really hard and consistently in the weight room and we have seen a lot of strides in strength and improving ourselves as athletes.”

The Cougars may well look to the defensive side of the ball as their strength after allowing their opponents just 47 points over the final three games last season.

Senior linebacker Logan Brookover returns after leading the Cougars in tackles a season ago and the three-sport start will be joined by junior Noah Barnhart and seniors Joel Lewis and Lane Snyder to make up a very experienced and talented linebacking crew.

Sophomore J.D Schmidt and freshman Liam Benson will also see time at linebacker while Morris and his staff hope to be able to use a rotation on the defensive line.

“We hope to have four guys rotating at tackle and three guys rotating at end and of course with just 21 kids out, every kid on our roster is likely to play a lot,” said Morris. “We may not have quantity but we have got quality and we’ve got a lot of football players which is a good thing.”

Among those expected to contribute at the tackle position are senior Jaycob Seevers and juniors Andrew Shapley, Tanner Smith and Wyatt Oliver while senior Jansen Stewart and juniors Gaige Bowersock and Braden McLeish figure to make up the rotation at defensive end.

Senior Kaylb McQueary, junior Breckin Hoff and sophomore Tanner Bills highlight a Frontier secondary that also features juniors Owen Panozzo, Kevin Ross and freshman Lucas Cox.

Offensively the Cougars might look to open things up a bit with Schmidt taking over the quarterbacking duties after he gained bit of experience last year as a freshman.

Lewis returns as the Cougars featured back after leading the team in rushing a season ago while Barnhart and McQueary will likely fill the roles of fullback and wingback respectively.

Brookover will hope to repeat a solid junior campaign that saw him lead the Cougars in receiving from his tight end position while Hoff and Bills figure to be the starting split ends.