Describing a given player as doing whatever it takes to help his team succeed is, truthfully, kind of cliché. But, then again sometimes it is true.
Take Booneville junior Dakota Mattson for example. Mattson added punting duties to his workload this year.
“The week of Ozark I told Coach Crowley, I’m your punter,” said Mattson. “I punted it and he said I was hired.”
“Yeah, he just came up to me in practice and said he wanted to be the punter. I watched him punt it once and said, you’re hired,” Crowley concurred.
After averaging under 30 yards per punt in the first two games – though one was put inside the 20 – Mattson averaged 32 per kick at Harding Academy, including hitting one for 39 and another for 38.
He was not needed last Friday against Hackett.
It can be somewhat of a thankless job in the sense that the offense has to be stymied to create the need for Mattson, but that is okay. As a receiver in a run dominant offense, he understands that.
“Dakota is the kind of kid you think about when you mention a Bearcat football player,” said Crowley. “He works so hard and is willing to do whatever you ask him to do without hesitation.”
That may be because he is a man of few words.
Accepting a new role, or adjusting to one is nothing new for Mattson.
He started last season on the halfback depth chart and got a couple carries at Dollarway and even through the targets are few and sometimes far between, the need was greater at receiver, so Mattson shifted back to the position he had played most of his life.
He caught a pair of touchdown passes in a scrimmage against Dardanelle in August but Mattson did not have a reception until Friday night – he has only been targeted twice. He did catch a touchdown pass as a sophomore.
Defensively, Mattson is a cornerback. His 13 solo tackles are the second most on the team.
He moved to cornerback after playing safety in junior high.
“I like corner better,” he said adding there is more reacting than thinking."
“He’s super athletic and kind of our utility knife. He does a little bit of everything for us. Plus he’s just a great young man, the kind of kid that represents what our program is all about,” said Crowley.
Besides football Mattson also plays basketball and is a track athlete. He was in and out of the starting lineup as a sophomore for the hoop Bearcats last year, and was a district champion sprinter in the spring.
Mattson has a full class load including anatomy and physiology, physics, English, Spanish, and guitar.
The latter is another adjustment for Mattson.
“I like to work out with (brother) Casey. I started playing guitar this year too,” said Mattson.
“He’s in the gym at five a.m. most mornings. He lives in the weight room,” Crowley said. “He has grown so much from last year to this year. His physicality was the one thing he needed to improve and he has done exactly that.”
Mattson is carrying on a family tradition of sorts in moving around. Prior to his senior year Casey Mattson was a fullback. His senior year the need was on the line. He changed to number 52 and had an all state season.
As for the guitar Mattson says he acquired an instrument from his other brother, Andrew.
'WHATEVER IT TAKES' NOT JUST A CLICHÉ WITH MATTSON
