LAVACA, Ark. — When quarterback Maddox Noel and the current group of Lavaca seniors were sophomores in 2020, they won just one game that season.
Skip ahead two years later, and that same group has led the Golden Arrows to a 5-0 start.
“It’s a great change of pace, and we’ve been working for it, so it is nice," Noel said.
The 5-0 record represents the Golden Arrows best start to a season since 2005, a long shout from where the program was just two seasons ago.
“The adversity those guys have battled through and then getting to where they’re at right now… A lot of teams shut it down after a season like they had sophomore year,” Lavaca head coach Mark Headley said. “These guys knew and their mentality is right, and they’re continuing to work hard. It’s paying off for them this year.”
That includes Noel, who’s been a touchdown machine for the Golden Arrows this season.
The senior has racked up 19 total touchdowns in five games: 11 scores through the air, nine on the ground.
“Every Friday night, we know Maddox is going to bring it,” Headley said. “He’s going to show up every Friday night.”
Four of Noel’s touchdowns came in Lavaca’s 35-6 win over Hackett in Friday’s Battle of Sebastian County, with a trophy on the line for the first time.
“Especially the first year to do it, we knew we had to go out there and win it,” Noel said. “That was our goal for the week. Trophy or not, it’s always our goal to win, but the trophy is an extra incentive in having that.”
It’s also one of his goals to improve every single week.
“Week 1 to now, he’s very good at critiquing himself,” Headley said. “He’s not watching his successes. He goes to the ones he didn’t do right and he does a good job of adjusting what was wrong and trying to fix it.”
It’s all in an effort to make sure this historic start, leads to a historic season.
“We can’t get too complacent with it,” Noel said. “We have to keep our heads down and finish so we can be one of the best teams to do it here at Lavaca.”
Noel and these Golden Arrows are on their way to doing just that.