   
Youth football starting to heat up
By MICHAEL ALLEN
LOG CABIN STAFF WRITER
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 The first week of practices are now underway in the Conway Optimist youth football program.
All of the returning players have been going full speed since Monday. The 12 teams in the league will be able to draft the new coming players from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday at Curtis Walker Park.
"We're finding out who has been in the house all summer and who has been out in the summer heat," Jets coach David Bowser said. "Our numbers are down right now hopefully we can fill some of those spots in this draft."
Bowser, along with the 11 other coaches in the league, will be evaluating talent possibly trying to find the next Peyton Hillis, who played for the Cowboys in Conway's Optimist program and for the University of Arkansas before getting drafted by the Denver Broncos in the seventh round of last spring's National Football League draft.
"We need a running back because we lost all three of ours," Bowser said. "We also lost our starting quarterback, so we need one of them too. We're going to be looking for some of the kids that have just moved to Conway that have played football before."
According to Bowser, Terrance Hill, Derrell McCoy, Sam Cloud, Terrance Minor and Blaine Booher are the Jets' top returning starters from a team that played in last year's Conway Optimist Super Bowl.
The Jets dropped the contest to Ron Hill's Steelers in a close one. Hill is also looking to reload this year, while he is taking a different offensive approach.
"We are going to air it out," Hill said. "We have two capable quarterbacks that are going to be back there this year and we're going to throw it. (Former Russellville High School) quarterback Landon Leach is coming to help them work on some mechanics, so it'll be fun."
The Steelers will be having their annual preseason cookout in front of Conway High on Tuesday,. The cookout will follow a short scrimmage. University of Central Arkansas athletic director Brad Teague will give a short address to the team and parents. Hill said league commissioner Jay Bernard may also give a short talk.
"We're planning on having a good time," Hill said. "We're going to cook about 300 hamburgers and 300 hot dogs and go at it."
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