Blitz on 6 Preseason Previews: Iowa Park Hawks

IOWA PARK, Texas (KAUZ) - It was an easy transition for Michael Swenson to move from defensive coordinator to head coach at Iowa Park; he knows the playbook and where his players are at their best.

He doesn’t just want to see that success against opponents, and he’s got some competition going on on his own field.

“We have a lot of sophomores that are pushing for some playing time,” Coach Swenson said, “there’s some position groups that have some major competition, including the quarterback which I guess will be the biggest one.”

Coach Swenson’s got his eye on more than just one guy for that quarterback spot: juniors Kolten Sadberry and Evan Dietrichson; senior receiver Ty Cunningham; even sophomore linebacker Parker Allen is getting his skills tested out.

“We’re going to let them all have a shot,” he said, “and whoever wins it the other ones will play somewhere on our field too.”

While there remain questions at that leadership position, there’s one leader the entire Iowa Park team is putting their faith in and looking to this season.

“Jaydon is undoubtedly our team leader so we’ll go where he goes,” Coach Swenson said.

Senior running back Jaydon Southard has amassed a career 22 touchdowns and rushed for over 1,400 yards, and is now looking to take his experience with the Hawks and pass it down to the next generation.

“I’m looking forward to some of the younger kids getting some experience and stepping up,” he said.

“He’s been preparing since he was a freshman for this role and our kids look up to him,” Coach Swenson added.

Coach Swenson said he doesn’t want to make any changes to the playbook for this season. He’s seen how well it can work for the Hawks and will spend non-district games making sure schemes and routes are solid.

“So we are able to focus on the smallest of details and get really good at the fundamentals, the technique, all those little things that coaches talk about year in and year out that are really the difference in winning and losing ball games,” he explained.

Iowa Park opens its season at home against the Holliday Eagles for the Battle of the Birds.

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