Head Coach Derek Sewell begins his second campaign as Ragland’s head coach telling the Purple Devils’ faithful they can expect a wrinkle in this year’s offense that steers away from the high-octane spread offense that has been a staple of Ragland football and toward an offense that highlights the roster’s strengths.

“(Our offense) will be very similar (to years past) – we’ll be coming out of more of a ‘gun’ look and try to move the ball downfield running the ball, and if we have to pass it we will. I feel like we are very good up front (offensive line); we are returning seven people on the offensive side of the ball, and some of the newcomers are explosive young guys in the backfield. We’re going to run downhill this year – we are going to pound the rock and see what happens”

Sewell has spent a lot of time recruiting in Ragland’s hallways in order to fill his 1A roster with as many athletes as he can. “You kind of have to at our level. We are always going to average anywhere from 25 – 33 players, so we must rely on our older guys and captains to be part of the leadership council to reach out to these younger kids. I rely on the whole team to go out and reach out to friends or guys they played with when they were younger who could be and should be helping our team. So it’s a full-time, all-out effort to recruit and retain players for our team.”

Sewell is well aware of how tough Region 5 is to navigate. “The team to beat this year would have to be last year’s champion Spring Garden. We went down to the last second with them last year and was a tipped pass away from beating them.

“Week in and week out in our region, every team is the team to beat. There’s not an off night – you have to grind every week.”

Some of the talented offensive players on the Ragland roster are quarterback Elijah Ball, wide receiver Nathaniel Kelly, and a stable of four running backs that will be able to wear our defenses if they stay healthy this year.

#53 Matt Turbville Senior DL talks about what it takes to play both offense and defense through the entire game. “Our coaches put us through a great conditioning program – they put us through 40’s, 60’s, a couple 100’s (‘gasser’ windsprints). They do that just to get us in shape to be ready and take on all that we need to.”

2019 Football Schedule

Ragland Purple Devils

8/23 @ Ashville

8/30 vs. Westbrook Christian

9/6 vs. Donoho *

9/13 vs. Talladega County Cen *

9/20 @ Victory Christian *

9/27 vs. West End Walnut Grov

10/4 @ Appalachian *

10/11 @ Valley Head

10/18 vs. Winterboro *

10/25 @ Spring Garden *

11/1 OPEN

* Regional Game

Source: ahsfhs.org

RAGLAND ROSTER

No.	Name	Grade	Position
#1 –	Jordan Turner	10.	WR/DB
#2 –	Montana Campbell	12	WR/DB
#3 –	Matt Trammell	11
#4 –	Nate Kelley	12
#5 –	Jacob Kohler	10
#6 –	Owen Schall	10
#7 –	Josh Phillips	11
#8 –	David Sanders	12
#9 –	Josh Wilson	10
#10 –	Brody Bice	12
#11 –	Bailey Goodwin	12
#12 –	Elijah Ball	12
#13 –	Jaiden Cox	10
#19 –	Kaeden Cotton	12
#21 –	Javaris Turner	10
#23 –	LaDarious Spikes	12
#24 –	Bailey Wyatt	11
#50 –	Jaxon Cox	11
#53 –	Matt Turbville	12
#54 –	Andrew Bice	10
#55 –	Ryan Bearden	11
#57 –	Jakolbe Brewster	11
#58 –	Kasey Walker	12
#59 –	Hunter Evans	12
#71 –	Chase Warren	11
#74 –	Grant Echols	12
#75 –	Josh Kay	10
#76 –	Kaden Bice	12