With only a week left to prepare for the start of the football season, coach Tommy Johnson couldn’t afford to let a downpour cost the Pioneers a day of work.
Instead of sending his team home for a long weekend, coach Johnson started Friday’s practice in Charlie Dalton Gym working on special teams before the sun came out and gave Warren County just enough time to hold a second intersquad scrimmage of the preseason.
Friday didn’t provide the perfect conditions for football, but the Pioneers weren’t worried about things being perfect when they went to work with one week remaining before the team kicks off its season against the DeKalb County Tigers.
When lightning forced the Pioneers inside, coach Johnson and his staff decided special teams needed some extra attention. After spending an hour going over kicking, the sun finally emerged and the Pioneers got a surprise when the team took the field.
Coach Johnson held a sequel of last Saturday’s “Blue and White” scrimmage as he split the Pioneers into two teams for a short intersquad scrimmage.
The results didn’t change much as the White team won 7-3 Friday, getting a touchdown catch from freshman Ethan Fliss to win.
The Blue team was forced to settle for a field goal on its only possession, which started after Christian Taylor recovered a fumble on the White team’s first drive.
Junior Johnny Smith connected on a 25-yard field goal after the Blue team drove the length of the field behind the running of Cameron Lusk and arm of freshman Christian Wilkinson. Wilkinson completed two passes on the drive, connecting with senior Kendall Rutledge and freshman Josh Clark.
The White team rebounded from its early miscue to win again. Hunter Mullican led the White team to the win as the junior QB tossed a touchdown on a fade route in the red zone to Fliss.
Closing out another week of practice with a successful scrimmage was exactly what coach Johnson wanted as his team shifts its full focus to the Tigers.
“I feel pretty good about where we’re at,” said Johnson. “We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish. We’re stronger than we were a year ago, we’ve installed an offense that can control the clock and our defense should be improved.”
The Pioneers will take the practice field tomorrow with only four more days to prepare for DeKalb County, which turned heads last season by finishing the regular season 8-2 and advancing to the state playoffs.
The Tigers started last season with a 26-7 victory over Warren County at Nunley Stadium, snapping a two-game losing streak in the series that has been played every year since 2005.
The Pioneers will be looking for pay back when the lights come on this Friday in DeKalb County and coach Johnson feels like his team is completely different from the one that took the field last year.
“I feel like we have a good thing going on right now,” said Johnson. “For the first time since I’ve been here, we’ll have a senior class full of contributors who have grown up in our system.
“It all comes down to us not making mistakes. We still can’t afford to beat ourselves with mistakes.”
The Pioneers have a busy week planned before the season starts Friday in Smithville. Along with a week of practices after school,  the Warren County High School junior varsity team will play tomorrow night at 6 p.m. against Coffee County at Nunley Stadium.
On Thursday, the whole team will get involved as Walmart has planned a  pep rally for the Pioneers. More details of Thursday’s kickoff party will be available in Wednesday’s Southern Standard.
Friday’s game at DeKalb County will begin at 7 p.m.