•August 22, 2018•

By Jason Brown
NP Sports Editor

In his first year as Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond head football coach, Ryan Jefferson believes the 2018 squad can take the next step from last season’s 3-6 record into making the playoffs this fall.
In 2017, the Knights lost two games by a combined nine points, and with the experience and returning letter winners, Jefferson believes his team can win those games and potentially be playoff eligible at 5-4 or better.
“I believe we have a playoff-caliber team because of the combination of talent, experience, and leadership going for us,” he said, “but I also realize that we are in a challenging conference with a lot of other teams who bring back experienced and talented kids who are going to give their best effort on Friday nights.”
The Knights return six seniors and 13 letter winners, including the entire interior offensive and defensive line.
“We return a lot of speed,” Jefferson said, “and overall the team will have a lot of experience from the upperclassmen since most of them have started on varsity since they were freshmen.”
In practice, he has been working on HEART, which is what he defines as the team’s focus and effort.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.