Since moving from Class 2A to Class 3A in 2006, Rison head coach Clay Totty has had one goal in mind; win a Class 3A State Championship. With Rison moving back to Class 2A next year, he only has one season left to accomplish that goal.

He may have the team to be able to do just that this year.

"It would mean a lot (to win a state championship as Class 3A's smallest member)," Totty said. "You sit there and look at the games we've won since we've been in 3A, and people say the numbers aren't a factor because we've won some. Well, we have won a lot of games, but in Rison it's all about winning it all."

Totty is already working to make his kids believe the goal can be accomplished.

"We've talked to our kids about that. There's not many times at Rison where you can say you made history, and they could be the only team to ever win it in 3A football. That's something that we hope lights a fire in them."

Rison has one thing this year that they have not had in the past, depth.

"Our numbers are up. We've got 37 right now, which is the highest we've ever had in my time here." Totty said. "I don't know if we'll keep them all, but there are some there to pick from if they'll just step up. We saw some in the spring. We'd like for some of these young guys to step up in the secondary and be able to rest some guys there. We've got some with the ability to do it, but we'd like some to step up."

Out of that depth, Rison has a group of quality players to include 3-Star defensive back Marquis Walker, and linebacker Quanterio Heath. Both have multiple Division One offers.

Totty is most impressed with the ability and stamina of Heath.

"A lot of our kids, like Quanterio, never came off the field last year," said Totty. "He played every snap on special teams, every snap on defense and every snap on offense. That's tough to do. Kody Leopard is another one that never came off the field. We would like to avoid that if we could, but we're not going to do that unless we think that kid can go in there and perform and not back down. That's our biggest concern - depth. Depth and injuries, because we don't have a lot of quality depth."

All of the players mentioned play on Special Teams, and that is something Totty thinks will help set Rison apart.

"We think they're pretty solid," said Totty. "Of course you know we'll play our starters on special teams. Quanterio's back and he's kicked a 37-yard field goal. We've got our snapper back, got Levi Wilson back. Juan Jones has punted for us and Quanterio's our kickoff guy, so we feel pretty good there."

Totty stated that he feels good about his offense this year.

"Really all we have to replace is the right side of our offensive line, and we feel good about those two kids. Everybody else has been to battle, and of course that means a lot. They've made plays in big ballgames." Totty said.

Defensively, Totty will be looking for some of his younger guys to step up in some areas.

"We lost some good defensive linemen, but we've got some experience," said Totty. "Our linebackers are all back. In the secondary we've got some experience, but there are some young kids, too. They're going to have to step up there at a couple of positions in the secondary."

According to Totty, some of those younger players may be thrown to the fire in the Wildcats non-conference match-ups. The first four games will be tough for Rison not only because of the caliber of opponents on the schedule, but also due to them all being on the road.

"The competition is great and there's nothing to test you like playing on the road against good competition," said Totty. "I like that early, especially with Junction and Star City, because you'll find out what a kid's got inside of him. I'd like to play some of those kids I've been talking about in that type of atmosphere to see if I can squeeze some more plays out of them, and get that depth so that when we get in the playoffs, maybe we can play 18 kids instead of 13 kids. I know I can leave my 11 out there and just let them go, but I'm trying to look at the big picture. That may hurt me, but in the long run I hope it helps me."

Despite being the smallest school in Class 3A, and not having the numbers that some of the bigger schools have, Totty believes his team can overcome the odds.

"You can overcome (the numbers) and still win some ballgames, but a 15-week season is tough," said Totty. "It's tough because of attrition. It's a physical game and you get people banged up. That's where that depth comes in and affects your chances of winning it all. We've still won a lot of games, but it would mean a lot and we'd love to win (a state championship) in 3A."

* Notates Conference Game