It’s no surprise to see what Ron Price and his staff is doing at East Webster for former head coach Doug Wilson. He lived it himself. Wilson was defensive coordinator for longtime coach James Carden and was a part of a team in 2010 that went 13-1 prior to him taking over the job as the head coach. In his first season, Wilson went 5-7 in 2011, but by year four the Wolverines had 12 wins and a year later were playing for the Class 2A state championship with three-straight seasons of 11 or more wins. As healthy as the program and the culture became under Wilson, they lost a lot of talent and leadership over his last two years. Enter Price, a former head coach at New Albany who turned that desperate program around before running the offense at Itawamba AHS. He knew the challenge ahead of him rebuilding, but also knew that the kids in Cumberland were going to fight for it too. “He’s done an outstanding job,” Wilson said of Price. “We had 16 seniors in 2015 and 11 or so in the 2016 class. When you lose big groups like that, you’re losing not only talent but leadership. He brought in creative incentives and a lot of things off the field that established leadership. It took a while, but he showed a lot of patience.” The last two years were a challenge for Price implementing his system and his expectations. They went 12-12 with two six-win seasons and a couple of playoff selections, but they weren’t in the hunt for the Region 2 title. 2019 felt different for the Wolverines. Price entered with some question marks along the offensive line, but he had a gritty, talented quarterback in junior Steven Betts and a dynamic tailback in Tyrik Pittman to work with a hard-nosed defense. The offensive line suddenly became a strength for the team behind Cohen Clark and Caleb Massey and they were off. “We just saw improvement week-by-week. We kind of flew under the radar at the beginning of the season and didn’t have any superstars,” Price said. “It was a complete team effort. Everything just started coming together. We had 11 seniors and every one of them contributed somehow and took part in the success.” It started for the Wolverines in week one when they went to Class 4A South Pontotoc and won convincingly 35-6. They were 3-0 when they met up with the most talented team they had faced to that point in Choctaw County and they sprung the giant upset in a 23-20 victory over the Chargers. CCHS would eventually win their Class 3A, Region 4 and that win looked even bigger as the year went on for the Wolverines. Then there was the 62 points they sprung on East Union and the victory the next week against Union to make them 6-0 heading into Region 2 play. Before they even made it to district play, the Wolverines had won as many games as they did in either of the previous seasons. They lost the first Region 2 game to Calhoun City, but they would go on another run and win the last five-games they played before finally falling to Northside in the third round of the playoffs. “I break the schedule down into three parts in non-division, division and playoffs. We never dreamed of being 6-0 in non-division,” Price said. “After the Calhoun City loss, our guys had their heads down because they wanted to beat Calhoun City and win the division. But they came back and played hard and we finished the rest of regular season undefeated. “Those guys took their role and bought in to what we wanted to do. It was so much fun going to the practice field every day because the kids bought into what we were doing. When practice is fun every day, it makes life a whole lot better. This group was so much fun to hang around.” Practice was also fun because of Price and his staff. The coach credits his assistants for most of his success as he lost two last season and they didn’t miss a beat. Brandon Haynes and Jason Smith have been with the Wolverines for several years and they fit into Price’s plans beautifully as the line and defensive coordinator respectively. Price also added Codie Silver to coach wide receivers and linebackers this year and he was a solid addition according to head man. Wilson has certainly noticed the camaraderie between the staff. As a former coach, it’s something that he’s found to be quite important for any team. “He puts in countless hours and he’s fortunate, like I was, to have a great group of assistants,” Wilson said of Price. “He brings a family atmosphere to the team with those kids. He’s done a great job stepping in and fulfilling the duties of the head coach and getting the most out of his team.” There’s another good group of seniors heading out the door of this successful 11-2 team but they’ve laid the foundation for the success of those to come. EWHS lost some talent from last year and returns major contributors as well like Steven Betts and Tyrik Pittman. Price believes at this point that they should have a next man up mentality. His players should be retaining the culture and they’re hopeful that the first state championship is on the way for the loyal Wolverine fans. “After three years, when we speak terminology, we’re on the same page as players and coaches. It’s easier now that we’re all speaking the same verbiage,” Price said of his team. “The biggest challenge moving forward is that I hope the kids stay hungry and have the desire to win and be successful. We accomplished a lot of things this year, but there’s so much more that we can accomplish. I want to bring this school a state championship in football. We want to change that and give that to them. It’s not easy. I hope our kids understand that we have to do so much more now.”
