Millers strong in two key areas

There are two things that virtually every football coach wants his team to be able to do to guarantee the opportunity for success: play tough defense and run the ball.

This year’s Yukon Millers can do both, and that could be what gets them over the hump and into the playoffs for the first time since 1998.

Last Thursday, Yukon went up against a team with a lot of offensive weapons and more speed than the Millers ‘D’ and they held their own. Only a couple teams in District 6A-4 will have the combination of talent and quickness that Carl Albert showed the Millers in the scrimmage last week, so the 14 points allowed to the Titans bodes fairly well for Yukon.

“We feel like we’ve got a chance to have a strong unit,” Yukon defensive coordinator Steve Chard said. “Our kids are flying around and the great thing about Yukon is that these guys play as hard as they can all the time.

“Defensively, we’re gonna be better (than last year). We’ve got two new linebackers that are getting better, and they’ve progressed. We feel alright, and we have the big Mustang game, so we’re getting right to work.”

And the running back trio of Terry Jones, Brandon Banta and Hunter Bohannan has proven it can run behind a solid offensive line. Jones and Bohannan have the speed to find the creases and Banta is a bulldozer. The 5-foot-9, 240-pound senior will knock a few guys silly this year with his powerful running style.