Warriors defeat Hunters Lane in region action 34-9

On Oct. 22, the White County High School Warriors traveled west to Davidson County to take on the Warriors from Hunters Lane High School in a regional football matchup.  Defense was the name of the game in the first half.  Both teams struggled to get the offense going due to good defensive play.  Hunters Lane would take the lead in the second quarter, with a 34-yard field goal.  The Warriors took the lead, with 15 seconds left to play in the first half as Tripp Pinion found DJ Paul in the endzone for a 13-yard touchdown pass.  Nate Mullins added the extra point, and, at the half, the White County Warriors led by a score of 7-3.

The Warriors of White County forced Hunters Lane to punt on their first possession of the second half, and it would get the offense going on their first possession.  With 3:44 on the clock, Jayvn Strode started right and then saw a seam in the middle of the defense and sprinted his way 42 yards to paydirt.  The Mullins kick was good and Sparta extended the lead to 14 - 3.

Two plays after the touchdown on offense, Strode intercepted the Hunters Lane pass to give the Warriors the ball back to the Sparta offense.  DJ Paul ran an out and up pattern which saw the Hunters Lane defensive back take the pump fake and Pinion hit Paul for a 33 yard touchdown pass.  Once again, Nate Mullins hit the extra point to move the score to 21-3 in favor of the Warriors, with 2:01 to play in the third quarter.  The Warriors would onside kick and recover it to go back on offense.  Malaki Dowell got into the scoring column when he rushed into the endzone from five yards out to extend the score to 27-3, with 50 seconds remaining in the third quarter.  Sparta would add another late score in the fourth quarter when Nate Mullins caught a Pinion pass from 12 yards out to score the final touchdown of the night,  Mullins added the extra point to give the Warriors a 34-3 lead.  Hunters Lane added a token touchdown, with 5:09 left to play in the game to make the final score 34-9 as the Warriors won the region matchup. 

The Warrior defense dominated the Hunters Lane offense by only allowing a total of 73-yard offense and minus three yards on the ground.  The Warriors managed 318 yards on the ground and 125 yards in the air for a total offensive output of 443 yards.  Dowell led the Warriors with 23 carries for 139 yards followed by Strode who ran 4 times for 40 yards.  Pinon was 9 of 14 for 125 yards in the air. 

The Warriors will celebrate senior night, on Oct. 28 at Warrior Stadium.  The kickoff time is set for 7 p.m.  They will play Sequatchie County in a non-region game.  Malaki Dowell  is on track to surpass the 2,000-yard mark in rushing yards.  Come out and support the Warriors for senior night on this rare Thursday night game.