FOLEY, Alabama — In the wild, lions are powerful, ruthless hunters who can quickly track down and kill just about anything they want to eat.

In Foley, this year’s Lion football team has some of those same characteristics.

Head coach Todd Watson’s Lions have the power, size and speed to hunt down any other team in Baldwin County. Foley returns three of five offensive line starters, including 6-foot-6, 340-pound tackle R.J. Hulse along with Ethan England and Michael Valdez.

The Lion offensive line is built to be a tough, relentless group that wears on a defense through four quarters of play.

“Our guys are big but they move very well,” Watson said. “We worked on strength and conditioning for our offensive line guys in the offseason. We want them to wear on people, wear them down.”

The Lions return senior quarterback Maison Taylor, a second-year signal caller, and tall receivers in Alontai Adams (6-2) and junior Demarcus Bingham (6-3). Three players will likely see time at running back, with Cedrix Reed, Isaiah Lewis and Javian Davis vying for time in the Lion backfield.

“There’s always some holes to fill each year and we are asking some guys to step up and fill those holes,” Watson said. “Any time you have your quarterback returning it’s always good, and we have key returnees on the offensive and defensive lines. The game is still won in the trenches so we are excited.”

Defensively, Foley returns six starters from last season including defensive end Chantz Blackmon and safeties Corey Christensen and B.T. Sanders.

Blackmon said the stiff competition that he and the Lion defense face every day in practice will help them during the season.

“Going against (R.J.) Hulse every day is an advantage. I know no one I go up against during the season is going to be as big as he is.”

The transfer of Pensacola’s Darius Paige, a 6-3, 275-pound Alabama commitment at defensive end, could give Foley a boost on an already solid defensive line.

The Lions finished 7-4 in Class 6A, Region 2 last season and reached the first round of the AHSAA state playoffs. Foley has reached the playoffs in seven consecutive seasons, all under Watson’s leadership.

“Our community expects it, our administration expects it and we as coaches and our kids expect to win when they go out,” Watson said of the playoff streak. “It is a mentality that we strive to achieve. We don’t just want to be competitive, we want to be successful in what we do.”

Foley’s players echo Watson’s sentiment about the winning tradition.

“We are shooting for state every day,” Blackmon said. “We are trying to get faster and stronger mentally and physically. We want to try not to let the people in our town down.”

“We strive for perfection,” Christensen said. “We can be as good as we work ourselves to be.”

Foley’s schedule is not ideal for a team that hopes to run the table in region play. The AHSAA region realignment after the 2011-12 season sent wiregrass area teams Dothan, Northview and Enterprise into 6A Region 2 with Foley, Daphne, Robertsdale, BCHS and Fairhope and threw everyone’s schedules off balance. Foley’s schedule was hardest hit.

Foley will host Gulf Shores in a preseason jamboree on Aug. 24 and opens the season with home games against Alma Bryant (Aug. 31) and Robertsdale (Sept. 7). The Lions then hit the road for games at Daphne (Sept. 14), Enterprise (Sept. 21), defending 4A champion, now in 5A Jackson (Sept. 28), Baldwin County (Oct. 5) and at Fairhope (Oct. 12).

“That stretch of games is going to tell us a lot about our team,” Watson said. “That’s just the way it fell with the realignment. We have five new teams on the schedule that we haven’t played and ended up with five straight road games.”

Foley finishes the season with home games against Northview (Oct. 19), Dothan (Oct. 26) and Theodore (Nov. 2).