Warriors defeat Macon 26-14

Last week, the White County Warriors came out on the better side of a 26-14 score as they hosted the defending State Champions, the Macon County Tigers. The Warriors didn’t always lead in the game, and, at times, the contest was closer than the final score would lead you to believe. But all that matters in the end, is what the scoreboard says when the clock hits 0:00 and the lights go out, and, for the fifth time this season, that scoreboard favored the Warriors.

White County had just 10 more offensive snaps than Macon County had and outgained the Tigers by just 40 yards. Quarterback Tucker Pinion out-threw his counterpart 29 yards to just 7, thanks in large part to a 24-yard catch by Eli Smith. Pinion added another 41 yards on the ground.

“Tucker had a great game. He was very much in control and managing our offense all game long,” White County head coach David Foster said, then pointed to a play in which the junior quarterback had to make a quick decision and did so with confidence.  “The RPO slant was a huge play under pressure. He’s kept his composure all season, and he is really showing the kind of player he is.”

While Pinion had 41 yards, once again, Cole Sims was the workhorse for the White County offense. Sims carried the ball 32 times for 166 yards. He was also the only Warrior to cross the goal line, which he did three times plus added a two-point conversion for good measure.

“He’s so unselfish. He’s willing to grind out those hard yards all night long,” Foster said of Sims, then talked about what makes him such a good ball carrier. “He has good lower body strength; no doubt he’s a very talented runner. But he has great vision while he’s out there, seeing what is unfolding in front of him. But his biggest strength is his will to do that hard, dirty work, not just make the flashy, long runs. It’s unique to be both willing AND able to lower your shoulder and go head-to-head with the big guys on the line.”

White County’s own big guys on the line had a long night. Macon County respected the ability of Hunter Broyles and Lex Winfree and spent the better part of 60 minutes double-teaming the duo.

“They are massive impact players, and yet they are so unselfish. It’s easy for a dominant player to get frustrated when they are getting all the blocking attention and aren’t able to get those big plays, but they didn’t. They just kept doing their job,” Foster said of Broyles and Winfree, who combined for just three tackles on the night, although one of Broyles’ takedowns was for a loss. “It’s our job as coaches to make sure that the other kids are in position to succeed and to scheme ways to get our big guys open when we need them. They trust us to do that.”

Schematics let another of White County’s behind-the-scenes players get some extra attention last week. Bryson Hogg, who had a heroic catch the week before, was all over the field – on both sides of the ball – as the Warriors took down the reigning state champions.

“He’s a heck of a player,” Foster said about Hogg. “he’s been blocking his tail off all year long to get our running backs open lanes. He fights relentlessly on defense. Sometimes it may not be obvious to those watching the game just how critical he is to our success, but this game the schematics highlighted him. Everyone got to see what we already know – he’s so important to our game.”

In the first quarter, down seven after the Tigers struck first, Cole Sims found the endzone and a 6 flashed up on the scoreboard. The Warriors rushed a jumble of players onto the field and went into a muddle-huddle. At the snap, they decided to go for the two-point conversion rather than let kicker Noah Skeith try to tie the game.

“It was nothing about trying to jump out front, it was nothing against Noah,” Foster explained. “We like that muddle-huddle and if you don’t go for the 2-point sometimes, they are never going to believe you. We thought we had a look from Macon County that we wanted. It just didn’t work out.”

While the Warriors trailed for a little while longer, Sims found the endzone again in the second quarter and then a two-point conversion, with no trickery from the start, erased the earlier miss.

After half, the Warriors were just up by a single score when their drive to put some distance between themselves and the Tigers stalled. Skeith, who has been on the mark all season, was sent in to attempt a field goal.

“That kick was huge,” Foster said that going up by two scores was important, but for just a second it almost didn’t happen. “The ball slipped off the tee, so if you watch, you will see the trajectory of that ball after Noah kicked it was really low. But it was a phenomenal, phenomenal kick. Him getting that off was just amazing. And it was so important, such a boost to our confidence.”

In the end, the kick was needed as the Tigers would come back and score another touchdown, making Skeith’s kick the difference. Of course, then the fourth quarter happened, and Skeith added another 3 points and Sims, on what was supposed to be an attempt to run out the clock, was not stopped on his way to a third touchdown run as the clock hit zero.

It was a dominant win, not just on the scoreboard but also on the clipboards and headsets and in between the hashmarks. The little games within the game. Staying true to the plan, trusting each other, and not getting discouraged when the work gets tough. Asked if the win over a team that hadn’t lost a game in 364 days would put the Warriors in a different mindset as they prepare for this week’s game, Foster said absolutely not.

“We feel like we are 0-0. We are going to prepare for the next team like we always do. We start from scratch every week and just try to focus on what we can control. We believe in block, tackle, win. All hats to the ball on defense,” Foster went through the checklist of the foundation for each week’s game plan. “The fortunate thing for me is that the kids believe it, they believe what we believe: that if we focus on one game at a time, and then within the game, one play at a time, we can compete with anybody. We aren’t afraid of losing or playing poorly. That’s where we get our success – just focus on controlling what we can control.”

The Warriors will travel south to Warren County Friday night where they will try to extend their winning streak to five and move to 6-1 on the season.