Miners fight through adversity in practices
MARTIN COUCH Sports Editor

LISTEN UP Bauxite head coach Jon Watson speaks to his Miners during practices at Bauxite. BOB MCADORY PHOTO

The Bauxite Miners are starting to face the adversity that comes with preparing for a new season.

Injuries to key position players for the Miners have slowed practices according to head coach Jon Watson.

"We've got the injury bug," Watson said. "It seems like we get somebody hurt every day, but it's nothing major enough to keep them out three or four weeks. We're at a critical time in practice right now in the fact that a couple of our skilled people are hurt. Both deep returners are hurt, our kicker is hurt and it just kills your special teams. We're already short on numbers, so we're way behind on our special teams."

The Miners have been working to find a replacement at quar- terback since junior starter Blake Childress went down with a broken collar bone on the first day of full contact.

"We've had to try to come up with a replacement for Blake Childress at quarterback," Watson said. "We've been working Ty Hughes and Hayden Anderson there, but it's been pretty slow. Meanwhile, our offensive line needs to keep getting better and better, but we are limited in what we can do with these guys."

STRETCHING BOB MCADORY PHOTO Bauxite Miner running back Steven Brooks stretches during warm ups before practices starts. The Miners will be playing in the 5AAA Conference this season and will open at Harding University on Sept. 4.

Needless to say, the last week of practice for the Miners has been difficult.

"It's been a pretty miserable week," Watson said. "The one thing this group has always had - they don't have a lot speed, size or talent - but they've shown us they would work. As long as they don't quit trying to work through this, we're going to be respectable. We've got a lot of catching up to do and a short time to get there."

The Miners scrimmage Murfreesboro at The Pit on Aug. 28.

WORKING OUT BOB MCADORY PHOTOS The Bauxite Miners, above, do pushups during practice as a warm up to live-game plays. Below, two Miners tangle in the secondary as the coaches watch from a distance. Bauxite plays Bald Knob on Sept.4.