ST. GEORGE — The Dixie High Flyers will be leaning on the experience of their coach and their quarterback when the football season kicks off Friday night.
Head coach Blaine Monkres is a veteran of 34 seasons on the sideline in Utah high school football. At Dixie High School on Monday night, Monkres had more energy than some of his players as he guided the Flyers through the intricacies of his spread offense.
“Yeah, I’ve been around a long time,” Monkres told St. George News after practice. “I like it. I enjoy the kids. It’s just fun. I have fun being around the kids and I enjoy the game and hopefully I got a lot of years left.”
Monkres will have the luxury of having maybe the best quarterback in Region 10 as senior Bronson Barben returns to lead the huddle after throwing for over 2,600 yards and 18 touchdowns last year.
He said that experience has him much more prepared going into this season.
“Yeah, it’s made a big difference,” Barben said. “Coach Monkres has been a big help with my game, just reading defenses and being able to change calls at the line. So that’s something I’m really excited for this year.”
Monkres previewed this year’s version of the Dixie offense.
“Bronson has a year of varsity football under his belt, so we’re looking for good things out of him,” he said. “We’ve got Shea Anderson back in the slot, and Derek Kesterson got a lot of playing time last year. So yeah, we’ll have four receivers that got a little bit of time last year.”
The Flyers passing attack with multiple receivers presents a tough challenge for opposing defenses.
“We definitely want to go high tempo and just run it up,” Barben said. “Looking forward to throwing the ball.”
Defensively the Flyers will have a different look this year after longtime coordinator Rick Berry went across town to become the head coach at Desert Hills.
“We got a scheme that’s a little bit different than what Coach Berry played,” Monkres said. “We’ve got a lot of guys back from last year and they’re picking the defense up really fast. I think we’ve got as good corners as there are down here, in Mamao Tofi and Jahkeo Mitchell.”
Dixie was ranked No. 4 in 4A, according to the Deseret News preseason coaches rankings. The Flyers will face some familiar foes in the first year of Region 10 football.
“It’s going to be a tough region. Week to week it’s going to be really tough,” Monkres said. “Pine View is obviously the team to beat, they’ve got a lot of good kids coming back. After that, you know, I think it could fall in any order after Pine View at the top.”
Dixie will get a chance to find out where they’re at in Friday’s opening game, a non-region contest on the road at Springville.
“We’re going to have to make sure we execute on offense, we can’t go three-and-out,” Monkres said. “Last year they had a running back go for 260 yards against us, so they’re going to get the ball and try to take a lot of time off the clock.
“Hopefully we can score early and get them kind of behind the 8-ball where they got to do something besides just run the clock and pound the ball,” he added.
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