It was Homecoming week at East Webster last week, and it’s one of the most dreaded times of the year for a football coach.
It’s nothing against the Homecoming court or anyone involved with the weeklong festivities, but Ron Price and coaches all around the country must battle against the distractions. Fortunately for Price, his Wolverine team was pretty locked in with East Union coming to town.
The Wolverines had no trouble with the Urchines this time around as the defense dominated, and the offense had explosive plays. It all led to a blowout 49-0 victory to move the team to 4-1 on the year.
“The thing that made us proud is we had all of those activities with Homecoming and our team handled that really well,” Price said. “They came to practice all week focused on what we wanted to do and executed at a really high level.”
It was a relatively quick night for the Wolverines as the team had a 21-0 lead at halftime and put the game away for good by tacking on another 21 points in the third quarter to start a running clock.
Quarterback Kaleb Warnock helped get things started in the game as he had back-to-back touchdown runs to make it 14-0 in the first. He would throw his first touchdown in the second quarter when he got the ball in the hands of wide receiver Daygan Crowley, and the short pass turned into a 65-yard score making it 21-0.
It was Briceton Johnson’s turn to make a play to start the third quarter. He got a catch of his own and took off to the races to score on a 49-yard play. Dee Bingham came through just a couple of minutes later as he broke through would-be tacklers and scored to make it 35-0 and start a running clock.
After Bingham got a fumble recovery that he returned to make it 42-0 to end the third quarter, Crowley would score again to put the game on ice.
It couldn’t have been a more efficient night for Warnock at quarterback because he threw just two passes, completed both, and they each went for touchdowns. Warnock also ran five times and scored twice. Cade Morrow also got some action at quarterback with a 4-for-9 night and 50 yards with an interception.
On the ground, the Wolverines followed up Eupora’s huge night rushing against East Union a week ago by carrying it for 9.7 yards a rush and had 252 yards. Aldavion Hoskin broke off three runs for 74 yards, and Bingham had six carries for 70 yards and a score to lead the way. Crowley had three catches for 92 yards and a touchdown while also scoring a rushing touchdown, and Johnson had two catches for 58 and a score.
The EWHS defense was strong as well. Montavis Moore produced 3.0 of the 8.0 tackles for loss for the Wolverines and had six tackles in the win. Elijah O’Briant and Judd Azlin each had sacks.
“We talked to our kids a few weeks ago about being more balanced. Friday night, we had 250 yards rushing and passed for 166. We had some big plays on Friday night which we were proud of,” Price said. “On defense, coach (Jason) Smith, tells them we can bend but don’t break. East Union would move the ball on a series or two, but we would always come up with a play.”
The non-conference schedule is now complete, and the Wolverines came out with just one loss to North State contender Baldwyn. In wins so far, this young EWHS team has outscored the opponent 170-31 and had 31 or more points in every game.
Business is about to pick up for EWHS, however. Calhoun City is coming to town to start Class 2A, Region 2 play on Friday night, and the Wildcats are much better than their 2-3 record, Price said. He likes how his team has responded out of the gates, and hopefully they can make it two-straight wins over the district rivals.
“If somebody would have told me that you could be 4-1 going into division, I would have signed up and taken that. With such an experienced defense and a lot of questions on defense, to be 4-1 after the first five is good. Now, we’ve got to build on that. You’ve got to go play football each Friday night and take advantage of the opportunities you’ve been given.
“(Calhoun City is) very impressive on film. The biggest challenge that East Webster has had with Calhoun City is you can’t be beat when you step on the field just by who they are. We were able to make plays last year to win that game and that’s what we’ve got to do this year. We have to match them physically because they’re going to bring that to the equation. Hopefully, we come out and play our best game.”
