The WCHS football team kicked off its regular season Friday night in DeKalb County against the Tigers and it’s a night the Pioneers will want to soon forget.
The Pioneers got down early, seemed to have life at the start of the third quarter, but then the wheels fell off and the Tigers scored 10 unanswered points to win the game, 27-7.
The Pioneers made several mistakes on offense, including losing the turnover battle with the Tigers as they lost two fumbles and threw two interceptions.
The Tigers committed only one turnover, but it was a big one, a fumble at the 1-yard line as they were going in for a TD.
Despite the loss, Pioneer RB Raleigh Woods had a monster game as he tallied 25 carries for 151 yards and a touchdown.
The Tigers were led by their senior quarterback, Stephen Jennings, who went 17-for-31 for 338 yards and two TDs. Jennings also had 39 yards rushing.
Pioneer head coach Tom Moore said, “We fell behind early because we made a lot of mistakes, dumb penalties, turnovers, which was a recipe for disaster for us. We handled and ran the ball better in the second half but we put our defense in some bad situations.”
Moore added, “I was proud of our defense for playing hard but we have to be better on both sides of the ball to win against good teams because DeKalb is a very good team.”
The Pioneers were looking to pressure Jennings to rattle the hard-throwing QB, but the Tiger offensive line had other ideas. DeKalb County didn’t allow a sack and Jennings was rarely under any pressure.
 “Our whole offensive line is returning starters and most of them have been starting together for three years so there’s something to be said for experience,” said DeKalb County head coach Steve Trapp. “They know what to do up front, know how to play as a group, and they made the right calls on who to pick up. I only counted one time where they had a mental breakdown and did the wrong thing. When you have 10 returning starters on offense, that helps.”
The bright spot for the Pioneers was a rushing attack that gained over 300 yards, but it wasn’t enough as Warren County fell behind 17-0 at the half.
“They have a big running back and a big offensive line so we were certainly concerned about their running game,” said Trapp. “It was just two years ago on this field they put up something like 400 yards rushing on us. Most of these guys were on that team and remember that game so it was a motivating factor.”
The Tigers got the ball to start the game and wasted no time driving the length of the field.
Jennings dropped back on the first play from scrimmage and launched a 56-yard pass down the middle to Riley Sexton to set the Tigers up in good field position inside the Pioneer 30.
Jennings found Poss again a couple of plays later, this time in the endzone, to give the Tigers the early lead at home, 7-0, after Poss’ successful extra point.
The Pioneers got the ball for their first drive and tried some trickery but it didn’t work as Isaiah Grayson pitched the ball back to Trevor Collins, who was stopped for a loss of two.
The Pioneer drive went nowhere as they were forced to punt after a three-and-out.
After both teams exchanged unsuccessful drives on their next possessions, the Tigers extended their lead late in the first quarter when Poss kicked a 25-yard FG to put the Tigers up by double digits, 10-0.
The second quarter started with the Pioneers starting their third possession on their own 36, but had a TD and another long pass play called back due to penalties.
After the Tigers went three-and-out on their next possession, the Pioneers had another chance on their next possession to put some points on the board but penalties continued to be a thorn and the drive stalled after 11 plays.
The Tigers took a 17-point lead on their next possession as once again Jennings found Poss in the endzone for a 15-yard touchdown.
The extra point by Poss was good and the Tigers led 17-0 with two minutes remaining until halftime.
After a Pioneers block in the back on the ensuing kickoff, marching them back five yards to their own 9-yard line, Grayson threw a ball into coverage and it was intercepted by a DeKalb County defender, to set them up inside the Pioneer 10.
The Pioneers caught a break as the Tigers fumbled the ball two plays later, keeping the score the same at the half.
The Pioneers found new life at the start of the second half as they drove the field behind Grayson and Woods.
Woods on third-and-seven took the handoff on the Tigers 12 and ran the ball in for a touchdown, cutting the lead to 10, after the extra-point by Jacob Morin was good, 17-7, midway through the third quarter.
A 23-yard touchdown run by Tyler Bundy built a sizeable lead for DeKalb County. The extra point by Poss was good and the Tigers had a comfortable lead, 24-7 with 11 minutes left.
The Pioneers failed to get anything going in the rest of the quarter and the Tigers added three more points to their lead thanks to a 43-yard field goal by Poss with six minutes remaining, 27-7.
The final horn sounded with a kneel-down by the Tigers and the Pioneers fell to 0-1 on the season, while the Tigers improved to 1-0.
The Pioneers will be back in action Friday when they take on the Lebanon Blue Devils at Nunley Stadium.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Scoring Summary

First Quarter
DCHS - Poss 4-yard pass from Jennings (PAT good) 7-0 Tigers
DCHS - Poss 25-yard FG 10-0 Tigers
Second Quarter
DCHS - Poss 15-yard pass from Jennings (PAT good) 17-0 Tigers
Third Quarter
WCHS - Wood 12-yard run (PAT good) 17-7 Tigers
Fourth Quarter
DCHS - Bundy 23-yard run (PAT good) 24-7 Tigers
DCHS - Poss 43-yard FG 27-7 Tigers

Individual Stats

WCHS PASSING
Isaiah Grayson 3/11, 35 yards, TD, 2 INTs

WCHS RUSHING
Raleigh Woods 25/151 yards, TD
Noah Campbell 6/39 yards
Isaiah Grayson 9/98 yards
McCall Turner 1/10 yards
Trevor Collins 2/7 yards
WCHS RECEIVING
McCall Turner 2/27 yards
Brandon valazquez 1/8 yards

DCHS PASSING
Stephen Jennings 17/31, 338 yards, 2 TDs
DCHS RUSHING
Tyler Bundy 8/79 yards, td, fumble
Stephen jennings 4/39 yards
DCHS RECEIVING
Matthew Poss 7/159 yards, 2 TDs
Isaiah Jones 5/66 yards
Riley Sexton 4/75 yards
Bradley Miller 1/20 yards
Christian Pruit 1/18 yards