Scouting the Cave City Cavemen

The Piggott Mohawks travel to Cave City this week to begin 3A-3 conference play against the Cavemen, in what could be the final meeting of the two schools. Next year Cave City will move to 4A and will be replaced on the Mohawk schedule by Bald Knob, a team that beat Valley View last week.

Coming off a 45-34 win over the Clarendon Lions the Mohawks are beginning to hit on all cylinders, but the loss of end Tanner Murray and running back Zac Trammell to injury will impact Coach Dave Hendrix's game plan.

For the Cavemen, in just their fourth year of football, they've seen impressive improvement from last years 3-7 record in which they lost at Piggott 18-22 in week four.

A big part of that improvement is the addition of Thamail Morgan, who was an all-state linebacker at Newport last year. Morgan, (5-10, 200) is expected to also line-up in the backfield for the Cavemen, and is one of the top college prospects in the state. For the Greyhounds last year he recorded 172 tackles, 22 quarterback sacks and forced six fumbles..two of which he recovered and ran for touchdowns.

Morgan will be joined in the backfield by quarterback Dalton Carpenter, and last year's leading rusher Taylor Engleman.

On defense Alan Wright (6-5, 265) led the team with tackles last year with 65 and Garrett McSpadded made a big impact at inside linebacker.

The Cavemen returned nine starters on offense, and 10 on the defensive side of the football. They'll primarily run the double wing formation in the backfield, and feature a variety of defensive sets.

The Cavemen, who have a record of 10-21 over the course of the first three years of the program, are 3-0 this season. They traveled to Walnut Ridge and beat the Bobcats 35-6 in week one; shut out Batesville Southside on the road 36-0 in week two and hosted Yellville-Summit last Friday night as they posted a 34-16 win.

Expect a good game from the Mohawks, despite the key injuries, and if they can contain Morgan the contest should come down to close affair.