When Ben Matheney first took over the WCMS Pioneers, he had to suffer through a few years of tough losses. Now in his fifth year and with more kids pouring into the program every year, the Pioneers are starting to hand out their share of beatdowns.
Warren County was impressive in its season debut Tuesday, beating Grundy County 24-8 on its home turf. The Pioneers barely missed a shutout as the Yellow Jackets punched in a touchdown and 2-point conversion in the fourth quarter after Warren County had dominated throughout the contest.
Any thought of the Pioneers taking a step back offensively after losing bruising running back Lex Winfree and dynamic quarterback Kristopher Robledo from last year’s squad were immediately dashed in the opener. Warren County needed only four plays to march 81 yards for its opener score and got a pair of long TD runs from AJ Whitman to take control in the first half.
Matheney was impressed by his newest playmaker making a swift adjustment to a new position and loved the effort in the trenches too.
“It was great to have guys we expected to step up and make play do so,” said coach Matheney. “We knew we had some ability coming up based on some of the success we had with our JV team last year. AJ was a varsity player at wideout last year, so moving him to wing allowed us to utilize him more than in the past.
“What I was really proud of was our line. I told them last week they would win the game. They did a good job providing lanes for our backs and they typically don’t get the love they deserve.”
Whitman opened the game with a 24-yard run, then Daylen Savage broke away for a 49-yard blast to shock the Yellow Jackets. He broke through several tackles and weaved his way up the left sideline to gain a chunk of yards before crossing the field, juking through two defensive backs and getting all the way to inside the Grundy County 10.
Two plays later, the Pioneers tried Savage off the left side again and he went untouched seven yards for a score to make it 6-0.
Warren County barely missed points on its second drive, ultimately losing possession at the Grundy County 4. Starting QB Brookx Weeter, who later showed some wiggle of his own escaping out of the backfield, connected on a perfect slant pass to Marek Sadlon for 22 yards to pick up a key fourth down, but Sadlon was sandwiched between defenders and stripped of the ball just short of the goal line.
It turned out not to matter as the Pioneers scored four plays later. Warren County wouldn’t let Grundy County escape the shadow of its goal posts on three plays, forcing a punt from the endzone.
The Pioneer rush was overwhelming in the play, forcing the punter to rush a kick that hit the back of a Grundy County player and ricocheted back into the endzone.
Isaac Smith dove on the loose ball for six points, putting the Pioneers up 12-0 with 5:15 left in the first half.
Whitman took over from there, breaking a 57-yard TD run the next time Warren County touched the ball and ultimately beat the halftime buzzer on a 31-yard score to make it 24-0. Whitman escaped over the right edge both times, then tight-roped the sideline in front of the home bench as his teammates raced with him to celebrate the scores.
The only trouble the Pioneers had on offense were 2-point conversions, where they finished 0-for-4 (one conversion – a pass completion from Weeter – was wiped out due to penalty).
Defensively, the Pioneers were just as impressive for three quarters. Rance Stafford set the tone on the first drive, breaking up a potential touchdown pass to the endzone on fourth down. From there, the Yellow Jackets didn’t threaten to score again until the game was already determined.
“Our defense did what we expected them to do – just be gritty and fly around to the ball. We have some things to work on, but I feel our defensive play was the highlight of the night,” said Matheney.
Kain Carpenter was a wrecker in the middle of the Pioneer defense, while Whitman delivered some punishing hits as well. The Pioneer secondary was also elite in coverage, rarely allowing Grundy County – with a strong-armed QB – to hit on deep shots all night.
Warren County has already started working on its next challenge, beating CTC foe Coffee County Aug. 15. The Pioneers have one victory banked and are hoping to get plenty more, including one against the Red Raiders next week.
“It’s nice to win, but the goal is to win eight more games. We are taking it one game at a time because we still have a long way to go. We have things to clean up offensively - we had three or four illegal motions with our backs and some miscommunications with quarterback exchanges - and defensively, the goal is to build open what we did in the opener,” said Matheney.
Next week’s game will be at home and will kick off at 6:30 p.m.
