Head Coach: Chris Akers- 1st yr at Fort Chiswell – ( Overall record 21-33) Last Season – 5-6 ( lost in the first round to Radford )

Asst. Coaches: Josh Wingate, Cory Mabry, Danny Dunford, Chucky Brown, Bill “Pops” Akers, Wade Wisman, Anthony Wisman

Returning offensive starters: 3 Returning defensive starters: 3

Players to watch: QB/ DB Dylan Bailey -Jr., OL/DL Jon Gregory- Sr., DB/ WR Levi Morris- Sr., RB/DB Isaac “Bevo” Dunford- Jr., OL/DL Matt Lowe – Soph., RB/LB JP Poole- Jr., OL/DL Donovan Stroupe- Soph., RB/WR Ezra Varney-Soph., WR/DB Tyler Crigger – Soph., DB/WR Eli Jones – Sr.

2018 summary: Lost in the first round of playoffs to Radford 22-0. Lost their head coach one week before the start of the regular season. Josh Wingate was named interim head coach and lead them to playoffs. Lost 12 seniors from last season.

2019 Outlook: Coach Akers is the fifth head coach in eight years. He comes from being the head coach at Gate City and also was head man at Rural Retreat. Coach Akers said,” We have a tough schedule. We are young, inexperienced and need to build depth at a lot of positions. Can’t afford injuries as we are building this program.” The coach then remarked,” We are trying to find out what we do best on both sides of the ball. Offensively we may run some spread and some veer. Defensively we may go with 34 front nd miss things up.” The Pioneers face Geo. Wythe, Radford, Galax, Graham and Grayson Co. to name a few of the tough teams. They open their season Aug. 30th at Rural Retreat.