Jevin Smith of Winthrop/Monmouth puts pressure on Spruce Mountain’s Brett Frey during in 2017. Smith, a senior, will be a key player on both sides of the ball this season. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-dale has a greater sense of urgency this year with a large, talented senior class that showed it could compete with the best teams in the conference last year. But a 1-3 road record forced the Ramblers to play on the road during the playoffs.

Quarterback Keegan Choate, who is in his third year as starter, compiled over 2,000 yards passing and rushing last year. Leading receiver Ryan Baird is back, as is Jevin Smith, an all-conference all-purpose player who the Ramblers will move around to take advantage of his size and speed.

Beau Schmelzer and Jake Sousa flashed their speed on special teams last year and figure to bring that element to the offense and, along with Gavin Perkins, give Choate even more options in the passing game. Logan Baird will bolster the running game.

The Ramblers have thrived on using their depth up front to wear down teams at the line of scrimmage and should be stout again this year. The defensive line will have to be because the linebacker corps has had very few varsity reps.

The schedule is tough, with home games against the past two Class C champions, Nokomis and MCI, but if they can take care of business at home and improve their road performance, the Ramblers could be playing at home deep into the playoffs.