High School Football Tour: Amory

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AMORY, Miss. (WCBI Sports) – Amory’s head man last year, Trent Hammond, left for to become Tupelo’s new head coach. Falkner’s Ben Ashley takes the reigns at Amory.

“I understand the whole Amory thing. I get it and I’m into it. I’m into it 100%” Ashley said.

Ashley has been around the program. He was an assistant at Amory in 2005 and 2006.

“Anytime you’ve got your quarterback back it’s a good thing. We have three starters back on offense. They graduated eight starters and they were very explosive last year,” Ashley said.

Quarterback Jon David Poss will be just a junior, after passing for over 2,000 yards last season.

“Knowing what’s coming, the game slowing down, is really going to help me help them get better throughout the year,” Poss said.

And he’ll need to help out some of the newer guys. The Panthers return three starters on offense, four on defense, but there are 16 seniors.

Amory lost in the first round of the playoffs to Houston. Ashley says he’s still going to throw the football a lot but there will be some changes in how the program operates.

“Him being here really helps him understand he tradition, and he really influences us to live a good life off the field,” Poss said of Ashley.

Ashley says the culture at Amory is one of success, and that should continue.

“They’re used to winning and they expect to win. Our guys have done a good job of continuing that mentality and trying to win football games at Amory,” Ashley said.