A high school football player drove his car over to the back of the locker room after practice on Wednesday. The junior had a flat tire, and he caught head coach Matt Turner walking up to the building from the practice field.
Coach Turner looked at the flat tire, and began working to repair it. Turner took the tire off the car and beat out a dent in the wheel with a hammer that stopped the leak. The player got back in his car and drove off with air in his tire for a safe drive home.
The tire repair could serve as a metaphor for what Matt Turner and the coaching staff have achieved with the team in practice this week. The players were flat in Monday’s first practice back from a 10-day COVID shutdown. By Wednesday, the players had responded to the challenge to play with more intensity and quickness. The coaches and players were much more confident and content as the week progressed.
The Pioneers will get to test all their hard work Friday night against the No. 2 ranked Mt. Juliet Golden Bears at Nunley Stadium. Mt. Juliet has moved down to the 5A classification this season as a result of a new school, Green Hill High School, taking some of its students.
THE OPPONENT
Oddly, it is the fourth week of the season and Warren County will be playing its first game of the season against the last team the Pioneers faced in a football game. Last season ended for the Pioneers in a heartbreaking 17-13 playoff loss at Mt. Juliet on Nov. 6.
Mt. Juliet comes to McMinnville with a 3-0 record that includes lopsided victories against Gallatin, Maplewood and Hunters Lane.
Mt. Juliet will not be running the same offense the Pioneers saw last year. The Golden Bears have changed to a spread offense from the Wing-T. Head coach Tyler Perry said, “We are not running the wing-T that we ran last year because I think our personnel is better suited for the spread. Our offensive line is a good pass-blocking unit. We ran the ball a lot against Gallatin and Maplewood, but Hunters Lane stacked the box and we threw it more.”
Warren County can expect to see Mt. Juliet run a change-of-pace offense with a quarterback under center in a formation that looks like the Wing-T. The Golden Bears have two quarterbacks in active rotation. Coach Perry explained, “The only decision we made about them in preseason was to keep them both on the field at the same time. If one of them is playing quarterback, the other is playing receiver.”
The quarterbacks are No. 2 Griffin Thorneberry, a junior who could mistakenly be perceived as more of a runner than a passer. The other quarterback, No. 4 Stephen Swoner could easily be mistaken as more of a passer. Coach Perry says they have both worked on their weaknesses this summer, and each quarterback is solid at both passing and running the ball.
THE PIONEERS
The inexperienced Pioneers will have to grow up fast Friday night. Coach Matt Turner is confident his team can win this game if they keep it close until the fourth quarter.
Turner said, “Monday I told the team that they could not win with the effort they showed in practice. Today, I am pleased with how they have responded, and I believe we can win Friday night.”
PLAYER COMMENTS
Junior center Chander McCormick is back from the break and illness, and he is ready to play. McCormick said, “I feel pretty good. We did better today (Wednesday) in practice. We made less mistakes and we are running our plays better. Those days we took off left us behind a little, but we have to brush it off and keep going. I think I am 100% today and yesterday I was about 80% back. I have felt better this week. I am getting a lot of homework.”
Senior tackle Ethan Bernhardt said, “We could have done a lot better earlier in the week. Today I feel as though we did a lot better. We are motivated and closer to being ready for Friday. Practice was better today. I feel as though we were all here. I hope we are ready Friday night.”
Junior receiver Wesley Sherrill said, “I am looking forward to this first game and I am working hard to be a starter. I am on kickoff, return, and punt teams. It is probably more of my hands than my speed that is my strength as a receiver. It is stressful being back in school because they have put a lot of work on us.”
WHAT TO EXPECT
The Pioneers are at a disadvantage by not playing their three games. Mt. Juliet has had a lot of players out because of COVID and injuries. The Golden Bears were missing 34 players from the varsity roster against Maplewood two weeks ago, and are expected to have about 8-10 players out for the game against the Pioneers. The Pioneers appear to have a full roster, barring any last-minute scratches due to the pandemic.
Both teams will be focusing on running their offenses and defenses without a lot of game planning. Mt. Juliet has not had any game film on Warren County to study. The Pioneers have not had a lot of time to game plan because they have been in the process of resetting and focusing on their plays and assignments.
Mt. Juliet has playmakers on offense. They have two platoons on the line for offense and defense. The Golden Bears will rotate in players at the skill positions on both offense and defense. No one is expected to play both ways for more than 5-6 consecutive plays for Mt. Juliet. Mt. Juliet has had no shutdowns for football, although their school was shut down for 10 days because of COVID.
On paper, Mt. Juliet has advantages in terms of experience, the number of players, and time of conditioning. Warren County should be rusty and have to overcome some early potential mistakes. The execution and speed of Mt. Juliet will probably be the best of any team the Pioneers will face this season.
Pioneer players to watch at the skill positions are quarterback Nate Elrod, tailback Eli Cantrell, and wingbacks Braylon Grayson and Keldrick Cox. Grayson will need to be very active on defense as well at his linebacker position. Beckham Scott will be a new face at kicker, and hopefully he will be kicking a few extra points.
If Warren County can prevent big plays, and control the clock with drives, they can stay in the game. Mt. Juliet has averaged scoring 40 points in its first three games. The Golden Bears have held their opponents to an average of 9 points per game. That is a differential of 31 points.
WCHS defensive coordinator Camron Bond and the Pioneer defense will have their work cut out for them. This will be a great test for the Pioneers before they began region play next week at Cookeville.
