East Webster football coach Ron Price wanted to play a quality opponent in his jamboree last week. He got just that in Nanih Waiya, the defending Class 1A state champions.
The Warriors flexed their muscle and took a 12-3 win over the Wolverines on Saturday at East Mississippi Community College.
Price said he saw plenty of things the Wolverines need to work on.
“With it being a jamboree, we treated it like a preseason game,” Price said. “We wanted to play a quality opponent and we got one in Nanih Waiya, who is the defending 1A state champion. They did the things that we expected them to do. They were very physical. We’ve got a new unit on the offensive line and they made some mistakes. They didn’t execute on some blocks like we wanted them to.”
There were a couple of things that Price said he was disappointed in.
“We missed some tackles and you expect that in the first game,” Price said. “Now I thought Nanih Waiya was way more physical than we were and when they got their hands on us, they got us down. The thing that I was really disappointed in is we dropped some passes that would have given us some first downs and extended some drives for us. The other things is we were misaligned on defense which helped them make some big plays. And we didn’t make the tackle when we need to.”
One of the big positives Price did see was out of quarterback Steven Betts.
“One of the things that we stressed in the offseason was Steven Betts improving and I thought that showed,” Price said. “He Ade the right decisions and was getting the ball out on time, we just didn’t catch them. We have to improve there. Steven is making the right reads, we just didn’t help him. And those were catches that would have moved the stick and you have to make those catches to win games.”
East Webster’s only points came on a 34-yard field goal by Parker Burleson.
“I thought Parker did a great job,” Price said. “He put both kickoffs in the end zone and that’s a huge deal. It makes the other team go 80 yards and really helps your defense out.”
The Wolverines will open the regular season with South Pontotoc, who beat Eupora 10-0 in their jamboree.
“Again, we have another quality opponent,” Price said. “They are a 4A team and we have to go to their place. We only have two quarters of film on them so we have to prepare to the best of our ability and get our kids lined up.”
Price said while they will prepare for the Cougars, the Wolverines will continue to work on themselves.
“This week, we have to work on ourselves and improve ourselves,” Price said. “We have got to do a better job of tackling. We have to get ourselves where we need to be. We want to fix and correct our mistakes. We want to play a much improved game.”
The Cougars went 7-5 last year and lost in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.
