Tate Woodard is in his first season as a head coach, but he is not taking it easy on the DeQuincy Tigers.

“I do want to complement our kids,” Woodard said. “When I took over in the spring we made the offseason harder.

“We made the summer workouts harder with a lot more conditioning stuff going into it. They took it in stride with the amount of physical exertion that we put on these guys to get their bodies in shape. We don’t have a whole lot of kids and we are not real deep, so we try to get these kids where they can play iron man football. A bunch of them are going to play a lot of football. We are a 2A school, and it comes with the territory. These guys have to be in shape. They really took that in stride this year. It is impressive the way they have taken to that.”

The end goal is to bounce back from a 2-8 2022 season and Woodard sees better physical shape as a key to that.

“We are not going to be the biggest or fastest team, but I hope that we have instilled in them enough to go out and compete no matter what the score is,” Woodard said. “We have a real tough schedule.

“There are a lot of teams on that schedule that are better than us, but I am hoping that our guys can be in well enough shape early in the year that if we do the right things that we can have a chance in the fourth quarter. There were a lot of games that we weren’t even in the second half last year that we can be in if we are in better shape and take care of the football in the first half and finish.”

Woodard will place a lot of trust in his defense this year that returns eight starters, including a pair of first-team all-district performers in linebacker Shiloh Cotlong and defensive tackle Dacorius Griffin.

“Our defense, I believe, will hopefully be the strength early in the year,” Woodard said. “We have eight guys back on that side of the ball.

“We only had two all-district guys last year and they were both on that side of the ball, a defensive lineman and a linebacker. Hopefully that can carry us early. Our schedule is really tough. We play some teams that are really good. We are going to have to not turn the football over and play good defense to be in those games.”

Other returners include defensive ends Hayz Hext and M.J. Clark, linebacker Wyatt Lavergne, cornerbacks Lindsey Joyce and Kheidren Leday and safety Quentin Pharris, a three-year starters who returns from an injury shortened 2022 season.

The big question mark for the Tigers will be on the offensive side where they have to replace quarterback Reese Ashworth and the entire offensive line. Junior Carson Rainwater will start under center after going 1-1 in place of Ashworth while he was in concussion protocol. The Tigers return their top receiver in sophomore Kolby Pool (15 rec., 201 yards), Griffin at tight end and two backs that shared time in Cotlong and Lavergne, the Tigers’ top rusher last year.

“It is not just him (Ashworth),” Woodard said. “We lost the entire offensive line.

“On offense, we have Cotlong and Wyatt Lavergne who rotated in at running back last year. Kolby Pool is also back at receiver, and Decorius Griffin at tight end. But outside of that everyone of these guys is brand new.

“Not having Reese is a huge blow. He was a four-year starter, maybe not at quarterback but he was a four-year starter on the football team. Losing that leadership is a blow, but not having any offensive linemen with any sort of Friday night experience is going to be tough, especially breaking in a new quarterback.”

Woodard sees a pair of juniors in Hayes at guard and left tackle Grayson Henderson as the key to the Tigers’ all-underclassmen offensive line that will also include junior Carter Buxton and sophomores Carter Kellogg and Gunnar Grove.

Junior Kohen Cormier returns at kicker after making 17 of 18 PATs last year.