Football is just around the corner, and we at BigCountryPreps.com are committed to bringing you the information you need to prepare for your favorite team’s season.
We’ll be releasing our Big Country Preps Preseason Football Preview, the most comprehensive look at the upcoming Big Country football season anywhere, on Wednesday, Aug. 16. But you won’t have to wait until then to sate your gridiron appetite.
Leading up to the first day of fall football practice on July 31, we’ll be spotlighting each 11-man team in the area and posing some of the key questions they’ll face in 2023 as part of our annual “Countdown to Two-a-Days” series.
We continue in Class 3A Division II with the Merkel Badgers. On Wednesday we will take a look at the Breckenridge Buckaroos, followed by the Clyde Bulldogs on Thursday.
MERKEL BADGERS
LAST YEAR’S RECORD
- 3-8 overall, 2-3 District 5-3A Division II
ONE KEY STAT
- Merkel’s playoff appearance last fall was the Badgers’ first since 2018, but MHS hasn’t had a winning season since going 7-6 in 2017.
TWO NAMES TO KNOW
- Senior QB/WR/DB Maddox O’Malley (Received for 296 yards and had 2 interceptions in 2022)
- Senior OL/DL Dalton Duncan (Graded out at 88 percent with 24 pancakes in 2022)
THREE BURNING QUESTIONS
- Can a Merkel team that is heavy on seniors and experience take a big step forward in 2023?
- Can the Badgers make progress on the defensive side of the ball, where they allowed 30.9 points per game a year ago?
- With Maddox O’Malley likely to take over at quarterback, who emerge as receiving targets for MHS?
DON’T MISS BIG COUNTRY PREPS PRESEASON FOOTBALL PREVIEW ON AUG. 16!