Menu
Doniphan football rebuilds under new leadership, eyes future varsity return
DONIPHAN — The Doniphan football team will aim to rebuild for the upcoming season with a newly-named coach stepping onto the field for the Dons.
With many years on the gridiron as an assistant at Portageville High School, head coach Nathan Hampton will get his first shot at running his own program. The Dons will open their season against Saxony Lutheran on Sept. 3, and this year it will be junior varsity only.
As a result of the recent shift, Hampton said the numbers for the Dons were strong throughout the summer. He also stated that the aim for this season is to encourage his players to buy into his system whenever they step onto the field.
“We’ve had a pretty good summer, and practice has also been good,” Hampton said. “We have a good group of kids who are really working hard to get better every day. I’m just excited for the year to start. This will be my first chance to lead my own team, and I’m really looking forward to it.”
The Dons haven’t had a winning season since the 2017 relaunch of Doniphan’s football program.
Last spring, the Doniphan school board voted to start from scratch and only have a junior varsity team for their next campaign. Hampton said the recent change was due to the lack of numbers and the injuries some players encountered last season.
“It was a rough year for Doniphan football, and they were not sure how many players would come back,” Hampton said. “Luckily, our numbers are actually pretty good right now. We’re close to 30 players right now.”
Hampton hopes the Dons will be able to go varsity at some point, but until then, he putting all his focus on what they can do now and helping his players gain confidence along the way.
“We’ve been preaching to the kids every day about changing their mindset,” Hampton said. “I need them to know that we can compete with anybody on any given night and that’s been our biggest push during practice.”
Even though Hampton will step into his role with a junior varsity team, he welcomes the chance to start fresh and apply his football philosophy. Since his arrival, Hampton said the team has worked hard at practice, and he has to change the culture and mindset of the team to have a winning season.
Hampton said this season is about showing the team the importance of buying into the message and having a different view on how football can be played.
“Stepping into this role is definitely a challenge, but that’s with any new coaching job,” he said. “As a person who’s been close to Doniphan, I always felt that this area had a lot of good potential to be successful in football. In Portageville, we had (a) really good groups of kids, and I can see the same aspect of that in Doniphan. Having the chance to run my own program was a big deal for me, and I’m excited to get started.”