Moffat County School District names Lance Scranton new football coach
Craig Press
Craig Press file
CRAIG — A familiar face will be back on the sidelines to guide the Moffat County High School football program this fall.
Lance Scranton, a former assistant coach in football and a current assistant coach in track and field, was officially named the new head coach for the Bulldogs’ football team on Friday. Scranton takes over for Jamie Nelson, who resigned from the position shortly after leading the Bulldogs to the state playoffs in 2019.
In a press release to the Craig Press Friday afternoon, Moffat County High School principal Sarah Hepworth announced that Scranton will be the new coach.
Scranton has served on and off as an assistant football coach at Moffat County for 17 years and was last a head football coach in Arizona where he led a program for five seasons.
This is his first head coaching job in Colorado.
“It feels great,” Scranton said following the announcement of his hiring as the new head coach. “I’m looking forward to doing a lot of things we’ve done in the past, and maintaining some traditions that have made Bulldog football strong. I’m looking forward to continue working with these athletes and gearing up for the fall.”
Scranton takes over a Moffat County program that went 5-5 last season under Nelson and reached the Class 2A state playoffs for the first time since 2015. In the playoffs, Moffat County was bounced by Sterling, 56-14, in the first round.
Gone are 2019 standout seniors Dagan White and Dario Alexander, but fortunately for Scranton he inherits a strong group for 2020, led by guys like Ryan Peck, Joseph Campagna, Ethan Hafey, Corey Scranton, Taran Teeter, Logan Hafey, Daniel Cruz, and more.
White played under Scranton for a number of years and says he’s the right man for the job.
“He knows a lot about football and how to make you better at football,” White said. “He likes to hit the weight room, so I think those guys will keep getting bigger … I’m excited for the team and look forward to getting to watch them. … He helped me through a bunch of stuff during my career, so I really appreciate him as a coach and a mentor.”
That experience returning for 2020 should help Scranton’s first year at the helm be a smooth transition thanks to familiarity in the locker room and on both sides of the ball, in terms of play style.
“We’re still really dedicated to running a spread offense,” Scranton said. “That allows us to pick and choose points of attack against a defense. Defensively, we’ll continue to run some form of a 4-2-5, which allows us to do some different things and attack opposing offenses in certain areas.
“Overall, we will look similar, but we’ll have a few new wrinkles added.”
For now, Scranton continues to oversee offseason conditioning workouts. At this time it is unclear when – or if – the Colorado High School Activities Association will allow full team workouts to be conducted leading up to the start of the official fall season.
Craig Press reporter David Pressgrove contributed to this report.
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