The Warriors should have plenty of potential flashy fireworks from its veer offense in District 4-2A this season.

The key will be the grunt work in the trenches for the Warriors, who finished 7-2 last season before falling to Haynesville in the second round of the Class 2A playoffs.

“Quality depth up front will likely be our biggest challenge,” fifth-year head coach Destin Dieterich said.

Among the keys are jack-of-all-trades athlete Deekota Johnson and running backs Derrick Green, who ran for 239 yards last season, and Ruffin George, who’s looking to play a bigger role running the ball this season. Wide receiver Elijah Anderson had 100 yards and two touchdowns on five catches last year.

That’s the good news. But somehow Oakdale will have to replace Cedric Allison’s 1,875 yards rushing, not to mention his 21 touchdowns.

“We only lost seven seniors but they made up a large part of our production,” Dieterich said. “We do have quite a few returning skill players who will need to make some plays for us until our very youthful linemen can gain some experience.”

The latter is the question mark for the Warriors, who’ll have to replace to the bulk of the up-front guys.

Wyatt Johnson, all 330 pounds of him, and Aidan Valle are the returning mainstays up front and will be a big key in keeping that veer offensive attack humming.

Both could play both sides of the ball.

Defensive standouts include linebackers Conner Vinson and Charles Shird, with Green, George and Johnson also seeing action there.