A tough district gets a little tougher this season for the Greenwood football team.

Already facing perennial Class 5A powers Bowling Green and South Warren, the Gators now have another traditional power, Christian County, added to the mix.

It’s a daunting task, but one that second-year coach William Howard thinks his players are ready to tackle.

“I think we have a good group of returning players,” Howard said. “Hopefully we can get some young guys mixed in there and then stay healthy and be a competitive ball team.”

Offensively, the Gators return seven starters.

Senior running back Reed Slone led the team in rushing last season, rushing for 694 yards with five scores. Junior wideout David Odom will be looked upon to have a bigger role after seeing limited action last season, while senior Yuji Ogawa fully has recovered from a broken collarbone suffered last season.

Junior John Morrison is back at quarterback, giving the Gators a young but experienced signal-caller. Morrison played in nine games last season, throwing for 696 yards with five touchdowns.

“John is a fairly accurate thrower,” Howard said. “He continues to get better.”

Defensively, senior linebacker Luke Rhoton will provide veteran leadership while junior Jonathan Gornik will be looked upon to anchor the defensive line.

Howard said a lot of young guys are in the mix as well, as the defense looks to bounce back after allowing 401 points last season.

Health will also be a key for the Gators, who had to shuffle the roster on the fly after a slew of early injuries last season.

“I definitely think last year’s misfortunes will hopefully be this year’s good fortunes,” Howard said. “John stepped in at the quarterback (position) because we had two key injuries at running back and had to move our quarterback to running back. Hopefully that will be a positive for us as much as it was a negative for us last year.”

To prepare for the district slate, Greenwood will have a nondistrict schedule that includes Franklin-Simpson, Logan County, Allen County-Scottsville and John Hardin in the regular-season finale.

“Even our nondistrict schedule, there are no cakewalks, either,” Howard said. “We’ve got some storied programs we are playing like John Hardin and 4A state champion Franklin-Simpson. Allen County has always been competitive. It’s going to be tough, top to bottom.”

Howard is hopeful that success in the nondistrict slate can lead to success against three opponents that have traditionally been a rough go for the Gators. Greenwood enters the season 1-38 against its three district foes.

With the playoff format now confined to playing district opponents in the first two rounds, Howard said it makes success against Bowling Green, South Warren and Christian County more critical than ever.

“I think (the new format) takes a little bit of the luster of the playoff away,” Howard said. “You want to go into the playoffs thinking your opponent is someone that you haven’t seen. It’s usually someone that you know a little about – like an Owensboro or Graves County – but they are teams you don’t have on your schedule in the regular season.

“It is what it is. They didn’t call and ask me my opinion on it, so I guess they didn’t really want to know.”

Greenwood 2019 Schedule

Aug. 23 – at Franklin-Simpson

Aug. 30 – vs. Warren Central

Sept. 6 – Allen County-Scottsville

Sept. 13 – Warren East

Sept. 20 – at Logan County

Sept. 27 – Barren County

Oct. 4 – at Christian County

Oct. 18 – South Warren

Oct. 25 – Bowling Green

Nov. 1 – at John Hardin{&end}