By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The numbers are climbing a little more each day for Rich Trail's Junior Mustang football team.
The Junior Mustangs have right at 50 on roster and as the countdown to the first day of school continues, that number will continue to rise.
The Junior Mustangs completed their fifth day of summer drills Thursday and Trail said he is "pleased" with the progress being made on the practice field.
"We have a great group of kids and they are working hard," Trail said.
That means Trail is seeing improvement in all areas.
"We got some big bodies out there," Trail said. "Things are looking up. Obviously we don't have all of the puzzle pieces just yet but the kids are improving and they are working hard and we have had very few problems so far. That's all we ask."
The Junior Mustangs have only two players back -- Xavier Jones and Cameron Norris -- who as eighth-graders a year ago, logged time with the ninth-grade squad.
"That was in the final two games of the season," Trail said.
Trail said the practice sessions this year have not really reached the point where individual players are beginning to standing above the rest.
"Right now we are still learning as a team," Trail said. "And we are using the extra practice time as a refresher course for what the kids learned last year."
Trail said the addition of three assistant coaches -- Chris Houser, Chris McManners and Chris Kennon -- have given the team the option to break down into smaller groups.
"That makes it easier for the coaches," Trail said. "We are able to spend a little more one-on-one time with the kids."
Houser's time with the Junior Mustangs will end when school begins as the first-year Forrest City coach will begin his duties as the new junior boys' basketball coach.
McManners, from Hoxie, will be the new junior girls' basketball coach and Kennon, who coached last year at Palestine-Wheatley, will be his assistant.
The Junior Mustangs football team will remain in the afternoon mode until the season opener on Thursday, Sept. 2.
Forrest City will host Marianna at Sam Smith Stadium.
The Junior Mustangs put together a 6-2-1 season a year ago and finished 5-1 in the AAAAA-East, earning the team the outright conference championship.
*The Forrest City seventh-grade football program will begin when school starts on Thursday, Aug. 19.
John Burgess and Lewis Etheridge will once again head the program and will be joined by newly-hired coach Robbie Mossman.
The seventh-grade Mustangs will open the season on Tuesday, Sept. 7, when they host West Memphis East.
The team will play a seven-game schedule with only one away game.
The registration process for the Forrest City Recreation Department's fall league softball, youth soccer and youth flag football leagues is now underway and will continue through Aug. 31.
Youth fees for the youth soccer program, ages 4-16, are $15 for those players living inside the Forrest City city limits and $25 for youths living outside the city limits.
The city's youth soccer program has continued to grow each fall and organizers expect that trend to continue this year as well.
Individual fees for the boys' flag football league, ages 6-11, are $20 for in-town players and $25 for out-of-town players.
The team fee for the adult men and co-ed fall softball leagues is $250 with an additional $10 charge for each roster player living outside Forrest City.
The same team entry fee applies to the 14-under girls' fast-pitch softball fall league, which is being formed for the second straight year.
There is also the possibility of a youth fall baseball league if the interest is there, according to Recreation Director Kenneth Taylor.
"We will try to have a youth fall league if there is enough interest to do so and we have enough people who are willing to help," Taylor said.