st. joseph — The Tensas Academy football team is gearing up for their season opener against Northeast Baptist School, and head coach Joe Coats said his team would be steadily improving as the season continues.

With two seniors and two juniors, Coats said his young team has a lot to learn.

“As we get experience, we’ll get better,” Coats said. “A lot of them never played. We’ll try to continue our execution.”

And against teams like Northeast, they will have to play to their advantage.

“We won’t have the big play capability,” he said. “We’re going to have to grind it out and keep the ball away from them.”

In last week’s jamboree against Franklin Academy, Coats said he saw where his team stood and what they must work on to improve.

“We did some good things offensively,” he said. “We’re a little slow-footed on defense but I was expecting that so early in the season.”

The Chiefs’ style of play is different than bigger schools, and Coats said he has to prepare the players differently as well.

“We play 8-man football, it’s no different than 11-man football except with eight people, it creates a lot more space,” he said. “We do it because of limited players. We got a lot of teams on our schedule that’s in the same position as us and we all use eight players.”

Because of a limited number of players, being in shape is a big part of Coats’ system.

“You have to be better conditioned because it’s a race-and-chase type of game,” Coats said. “Size is not a big advantage, you have to be able to run in good condition and play in the spaces.”

Coats said he looks upon his starting quarterback and running back to lead the offense this season.

“Duncan Matthews is returning at quarterback, he’s just a freshman but he started as an eighth grader last season and he played well for us,” he said. “Walker Gregory will get a lot of carries for us this year.”

Defensively, Coats said he counts on his two seniors Same Kirby and Chase Pearson to be the leaders.

As Tensas and its community gets ready for the season, Coats said the pain from the Tensas Bank shooting is still heavy in the town’s heart.

“The homeland security canceled our practice that Tuesday,” Coats said. “Of course all of our kids and staff knew both people that were murdered. It’s a tragic thing.

“It’s kind of devastated everything in the city, it’ll be a slow healing process.”