It might not had been a full four-quarter ball game for East Webster last week but the Wolverines got better against Nanih Waiya.
The Warriors are in their first year in Class 2A but have been a dominant force in Class 1A over the course of the last few years with three state championship appearances and back-to-back state titles in 2018 and 2019. They’ve moved up to 2A this season which makes for an even more interesting north state battle for teams.
Unfortunately for NWHS, they had to go virtual as a school for two weeks which meant that the football team had to forfeit the first two games of the season. The second of those games was against EWHS and the MHSAA allowed them to scrimmage for two quarters but the Wolverines would be awarded a win.
EWHS made sure they took care of business anyway in those two quarters coming out with a 13-6 victory. Kaleb Warnock had the first touchdown in the game with a 69-yard run. The Warriors tied it up in the second quarter but Zy Ford answered right back with a 46-yard run that made it 13-6 and that score would stick.
“I was grateful that we got two quarters in. We want to improve week by week and we got to play two quarters against a really good football week. Our challenge was to be better than we were the week before. We moved Kaleb Warnock to quarterback last week and he came out and really executed our offense and managed the game well. I feel like our offense took a step in the right direction,” coach Ron Price said.
“Our offensive line did much better this week. Defensively, coach (Jason) Smith was a little upset about our alignment. That’s very frustrating from a coaching aspect. They’re playing extremely hard, but we’ve got to get lined up correctly.”
Next up for the Wolverines is the Vardaman Rams, a team that hasn’t gotten a chance to play a full game to this point. The Rams will come to Cumberland on Friday night for a 7 p.m. showdown as EWHS tries to get to 3-0 in the early going this year.
“In the film that we have, they’re making plays and they’re moving the ball offensively. East Webster has to get lined up correctly or Vardaman is going to take advantage,” Price said. “I just hope that we can go out Friday night, play four quarters of football and take a step in the right direction as a program.”
