Members of the 2016 Dupo High School football team are pictured, not in order, MacKay Ham, Dawson Kemp, Taylor Stanek, Zane Chism, Drew Kelling, Victor Licklider, Nick Meagher, Chase Putnam, Robbie Smith, Tyee Tankersley, Dalton Ticer, Bryce Chadduck, Kaleb Chism, Gage Hartsell, Cody Heusohn, Nik Houston, Tyler Kyle, Andrew McAllister, Devin Similey, Malik Calhoun, Zeke Chism, Trenton Keys, Christian Licklider, Tristan Long, Jacob McAllister, Tyler O’Guinn, John O’Harrow, Chico Sellers and Mason Tinker. The head coach is Brad Weier. (Kermit Constantine photo)

The Dupo High School football team is hoping to leave the Cahokia Conference with a roar this season.

The Tigers will join the smaller Prairie State Conference in 2017 for football only.

With an enrollment of just above 300 students, Dupo is the smallest school in the Cahokia Conference, making it tough to compete. The Tigers went 1-8 last season.

Current members of the Prairie State Conference are Wood River, Metro East Lutheran, Marquette, Pawnee, Mt. Olive, Nokomis, South Fork and Bunker Hill.

This year’s Dupo football team is extremely young, according to third-year head coach Brad Weier.

“I only have three seniors,” he said. “We will try to get back to the basics — break things down and keep it simple on offense and defense.”

On offense, Weier said there is a battle at starting quarterback between senior Taylor Stanek and sophomore Tyler Kyle.

“Whoever does not win the quarterback job will be my No. 1 receiver,” Weier said.

Stanek scored four touchdowns last year with 249 yards receiving.

Kemp will also see plenty of touches on offense at running back. He rushed for 349 yards with another 120 receiving yards in 2015.

Other returning offensive starters include linemen Ham, Putnam and Chism.

Weier added that he is expecting big things from sophomore Bryce Chadduck, who will start on the offensive line as well as at outside linebacker on defense.

Weier said that if his team can shake the injury bug, which is always a major concern for a small program such as Dupo, the Tigers can surprise some teams in the Cahokia Conference.

“If we can stay healthy, we feel like we can compete with anyone in the conference,” Weier said.

The goal in 2016, like it is every year, is to make the playoffs, Weier said.

“With so much youth and not a lot of returning starters, I would say our biggest weakness is handling adversity, but they have worked hard all off-season and we’ve had a good first week of practice,” he said.

The Tigers open their season at Wood River this Friday night. On Sept. 2, Dupo hosts Breese Central. On Sept. 9, the Tigers will host rival Columbia.