NEW MANCHESTER — The Oak Glen football team is looking to bounce back this season.

Oak Glen dealt with some injuries last season as the team ended the season with a record of 1-9.

“Our quarterback got hurt in the second game of the season,” Oak Glen head coach Doug Taylor said. “That put our football team in a tough spot. We had to move Logan Murray over, and he stepped up for us. He had control of the huddle. He had control of the plays.”

“Our problem was we just could not pass the ball. Our focus has been working on the passing game. Our offense is built on our run game, but we need to be able to pass the ball.

“We played Roane County — a one-loss team — in the last game of the season. We could have won that game. We were leading at halftime. They scored twice in the second half, and we only scored once. It was a six-point game. It was a good game against a good team. It showed we were capable of playing with teams.

“I have told them that we are capable of doing things, but it is all in their heads. We just have to play every play like the ball is going to go to you. We have to play like every down is going to be a touchdown. We just accept losing. If you do, you are going to go 2-8 or 1-9. We have to turn things around. That’s what I preach to them all the time.”

Coach Doug Taylor discusses the upcoming season

Murray is expected to miss time at the beginning of this season.

“Logan, unfortunately, had an auto accident, and he was injured,” Taylor said. “He is not cleared to play yet. He is OK now, but they want to make sure he is completely healed up.”

Oak Glen lost some key contributors to graduation, but there is still talent on the 34-player roster.

“Things are going pretty good,” Taylor said. “We had 24 or 25 at summer workouts. We would have some kids there and some would go on vacation. We had 34 today. That is a good number for us. I was hoping we would have 37 or 38, but that is not the case. Hopefully, we can keep all 34 guys we had today. If we can, I will be happy with that.

“Last year, we did not have a lot of depth. This year, we have guys competing for positions. That certainly helps. Competition is a great word in football. It makes everyone better.”

Oak Glen has a good amount of youth on the roster heading into the 2024 campaign.

“We have six seniors, and we have 14 freshmen,” Taylor said. “Then, we have 15 in the sophomore and junior group. We have a big freshmen class. I like that.

“Numbers are down at schools. Some kids don’t get a chance to play a lot of JV games. Our freshmen are going to be able to play in JV games this season. That is going to help them. Playing JV makes you better.”

The majority of the players on the roster have played football before, but a few have not.

“We have three first-time players,” Taylor said. “We have 31 who have played before.”

The Golden Bears struggled to score on offense and were held to eight or fewer points in half of their games last season.

“Our offense is based on our running game,” Taylor said. “We rely on our running game, but we are going to have to run the ball to set up the pass. We want to be a play-action team. A lot of high school teams run RPOs — run-pass options. We want to run RPO. Our RPO is run people over.

“We want to run the football, but we also have to be able to throw it. We need to do that in order to keep the secondary out of our run game.”

To score, Oak Glen is going to have to rely on its offensive line to do the job up front, and the Golden Bears have a number of guys capable of accomplishing that. The line is expected to be the strength of the team this season.

“No doubt, we return two three-year players and two two-year players up there,” Taylor said. “We have our tight end back, so we have five or six players returning. We are going to rely on the guys up front. That is a bonus for us this year.?

“We have experience up front. I have told those guys that we are going to go as far as they can take us.

“We have guys who have played a lot of varsity football. Most of the guys have played 20 varsity games. Some of the guys have played 10 varsity games, but they have also played JV games. We have a good group of guys up front.”

The guys up front will play both ways.

“We have guys who are going to be able to spell the other guys,” Taylor said. “We have three guys who are going to play both ways, and we have two guys who are going to be able to give them breaks. It is a deal where they may come out for two or three plays on a drive, and then they are going to get right back in there. We have juniors and seniors in that group.”

The Golden Bears also return some talent on the defensive side of the ball.

“We return our defensive ends and one of our defensive tackles,” Taylor said. “We also have two of our inside linebackers back. Our strength is going to be between the tackles.”

Players are still battling for starting spots at some positions.

“We have Cam Carter at cornerback, but the other cornerback spot is still open,” Taylor said. “We are going to have to have some other guys step up.”

Oak Glen focuses a lot of time on its special teams unit, and the Golden Bears have some holes to fill in that aspect of the game.

“We lost our kicker, so we have to find a kicker,” Taylor said. “We have kids who are in their second and third year of playing, and they have played a lot on special teams. We hope our special teams do the job.

“Ray Pernell is our special teams coach. He does a great job with our special teams. The guys keep getting better. We lost our return guys, so special teams is an area we are going to have to work on.

“We work a lot on special teams. We spend at least two hours a week working on special teams. We work on field goals, extra points, punting, punt returns, kick returns, etc. We are going to rely on our special teams for field position. We want our guys to put us in good field position, and we want to take away field position from our opponents.”

The Golden Bears are focusing on themselves as compared to their opponents.

“We want to do what we do,” Taylor said. “When we do that, we are at our best. We want to win more plays than our opponents. If we are able to do those things, we are going to win some games this season.”

This year’s schedule will have a different look.

“We have made some changes to it,” Taylor said. “We have gotten away from the long trips. We don’t play Robert C. Byrd. This season, we have picked up Madonna, Tyler Consolidated and Morgantown Trinity. Madonna is our last game.”

Oak Glen is scheduled to open the season at home against Weir on Aug. 29.

“I think the kids are excited, but we just have to stay focused,” Taylor said. “We have to be focused on getting better every day. We know we open with the Backyard Brawl. The kids are excited. The coaches are excited. We just have to stay focused on the task at hand. We want to get better at each practice. A week before the game, we are going to cut loose.

West Virginia has gone to four classes for football, but the Golden Bears remain in Class AA.

“It is going to be interesting,” Taylor said. “It is going to help some schools. We are still in Class AA along with Bluefield and schools like Williamstown and Wheeling Central that have moved up from Class A. They were very good Class A schools. Class AA is still going to be a tough classification.”