ADDISON, Ala. –2018 was another great season for the Addison Bulldogs. After advancing to the quarterfinals of last year’s AHSAA Football Playoffs and finishing with two players on the Alabama Sports Writers Association (ASWA) 2A All-State First Team, expectations are high in Addison. Those two players, Zayne Guthrie and Hayden Ray graduated in May and left some pretty big shoes to fill for the Bulldogs. That’s going to be one of the biggest challenges for Addison this season, but head coach David Smothers is excited to face it with head on.
“It’s an exciting challenge. The kids know how important those guys were to us and they know someone is going to have to step into those roles and we’re excited to see how that develops. We’re going to miss all four of those seniors,” Smothers said. “They all four played critical roles from leadership, to scoring points, to defending plays but we’ve got kids that can step up into those roles.”
Smothers has been pleased with how the offseason has progressed for his team and is looking forward to putting on pads for fall camp. All of the Bulldogs’ summer programs have gone well in preparation for the upcoming season.
“Our focus has totally been on just conditioning and working out and we’ll start focusing on the football side of it soon,” Smothers said. “We’ve improved in our passing camps this summer and everything’s going good, just like we’d want it to.”
With a new man under center, Smothers and his staff are preparing to make a few adjustments on the offensive side of the ball. Last year’s offense was tailored to the strengths of All-State Athlete Zayne Guthrie and now the Bulldogs will lean into the strengths of their new signal caller.
“We’ll be somewhat different just due to the personnel that’s available and having a younger, experienced quarterback will make us a little different probably,” Smothers said. “But, it won’t’ be so drastic that people will probably even notice it. We’ll call plays a little differently on offense.”
The Bulldogs have advanced to at least the quarterfinals of the AHSAA State Football Playoffs for three consecutive seasons and as a result, the expectation has become postseason or bust in Addison. Only four seniors are gone from last year’s roster and a lot of guys with playoff experience will be back on the field, but Coach Smothers knows that none of last year’s accomplishments will help them in 2019.
“The kids at Addison do a good job of just liking to go out there and compete at their best. We talk about last year where we made it to the quarterfinals and we only lost four players but that doesn’t mean anything this year,” Smothers said. “We’ve got to make sure we don’t think ‘Hey we’ve basically got the same team’. We can’t rely on that so we’re just trying to keep them focused in that aspect. We’re not going to have anything given to us, we’ll have to earn it every game.”
Most of the roster is back from last season and nearly everyone on it has picked up some postseason experience at this point so the Bulldogs look to be in good shape for another successful season. The challenge for Addison will be taking things one week at a time and not looking ahead to potential playoff seeding as they work their way through this year’s schedule.
Addison (Class 2A, Region 7)
2018 record: 10-3 (5-1)
2018 opponents record: 81-67
Averaged 35 points per game, allowed 16.4 points per game.
4-1 record on the road, 6-2 record at home. Lost to Aliceville in third round of AHSAA Playoffs at home.
David Smothers entering 8th season as head coach.
Departing seniors: Zayne Guthrie (2018 All-State 1st Team), Gage Gilliland, Hayden Ray (2018 All-State 1st Team), Trace Thompson.
2019 Schedule
Aug. 23rd – vs. Curry
Aug. 30th – @ Piedmont
Sep. 6th – vs. Winston County
Sep. 13th – @ Red Bay *
Sep. 20th – vs. Sheffield *
Sep. 27th – @ Vinemont
Oct. 4th – vs. Colbert County *
Oct. 11th – @ Tanner *
Oct. 17th – vs. Tharptown *
Oct. 25th – @ Hatton *
2019 Addison Varsity Cheerleaders: Savannah Lynn, Alley Ergle, Jasmine Daniel, Hannah Phillips, Emma Ridgeway, Ivy Hale, Rheagan Holland, Lexi Anders, Chloe Brockwell, Candace Barley, Heather Bryson, Emily McCain, Mattie Ward, Lyndsey Denson, Annsley Nuss, Haley Marlin, Bonnie Alvis and Callie Gilliland.
2019 Addison Football Roster
No. Name Grade
1 Logan Wilkins 11
2 Cannon Hiller 11
3 Christian Roberts 10
5 Xavier Bailey 11
6 Sage Smothers 9
7 Brett Smith 12
8 Luke Chambers 12
10 Ty Tuggle 11
12 Justin Mather 10
13 Eli Melvin 10
14 Eli Howse 10
15 Quentin Barley 11
17 Brody Dollar 10
18 Grant Rice 12
20 Matthew Harris 12
21 Briley Hayes 9
22 Nelson Hernandez 11
23 Briley Holt 9
24 Dillan Norman 12
25 Malaki Blakley 9
26 Caleb Crider 12
28 Will Tuggle 10
30 Dave Tuggle 9
32 Nelson Martin 11
34 Jack Wilson 10
36 Jacob Hardin 9
40 Jason Riggs 11
43 Weston Smith 11
44 Peyton Holland 9
45 Hunter Black 9
50 Austin Bryson 10
51 McKinley Cagle 10
52 Luke Waldrep 12
54 Mark Williams 10
55 Dawson Lemley 10
56 Hunter Gent 9
57 Noah Jeffreys 10
58 Jake Wilson 12
60 Ross Steele 10
65 Jacob Trussell 10
70 Jeb Robinson 12
72 Tim Trussell 12
76 Lucus Crow 9
77 Ethan Woodard 9
78 Bailey Wilson 11
88 Ethan Barley 9
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