Freshmen handed first loss
With one of their biggest offensive weapons seeing limited action, the Pioneer freshman football team fell short against a fully-loaded White County squad Thursday night, 20-8.
WCHS tailback Morgan Wilcher was held out of much of the game, nursing a high ankle sprain, and had just two carries in the first half. But on the other sideline, the Warriors’ Sam Gribble looked to be in fine shape, as he had his way with the Pioneer defense.
Gribble finished with a whopping 142 yards on 20 carries, providing all 20 of White County’s points thanks to two rushing TDs, a 2-point conversion and an 82-yard kickoff return which opened the second half.
White County’s first score came after they forced Warren County into a punting situation near midfield. The snap went over Pioneer punter Scott Murphy’s head, however, and he was brought down at the Warren County 13-yard line.
The Warriors needed just six plays — five of which were hand-offs to Gribble — to score their opening TD with just over five minutes to play in the first quarter.
Another Pioneer punt gave Sparta the ball at the 38-yard line, and Gribble needed just two more touches to go in from the 23 and make it a 12-0 Warrior lead. Taking the ball once again, he scored on a conversion run to help his team end the first quarter up by a 14-0 margin.
Midway through the second, the Warriors were backed up into a punt situation of their own, and a hustling Casey Dunn came close to making one big play, then came through with another.
Dunn missed blocking the Warriors’ kick by inches, flushing their punter out of the backfield in the process. The punter fumbled the ball away, and Dunn fell on it, giving the Pioneers possession at the Sparta 42-yard line.
Facing a fourth-and-11 decision with the final minute of the half winding down, Warren County elected to go to the air, and Dunn found a wide open Casey Myers for a 33-yard touchdown pass. Wilcher went in for the conversion, trimming the Pioneers’ deficit to 14-8 at the halftime break.
Gribble quickly made his presence known in the second half, however, scooping up a low kick at the 18-yard line and streaking through the Pioneers’ coverage unit as he ran 82 yards to the end zone.
Those would prove to be the final points of the game, as Warren County was forced to punt on its next drive, and the final two Pioneer possessions ended with Sawyer Fults being intercepted in the end zone and sacked as time ran out.
Defensively, the Warriors were led by Seth Lowery, who gave the Pioneer offensive line fits throughout the contest, finishing with two quarterback sacks and three tackles in the backfield.
Wilcher finished with a team-high 49 yards on eight carries, but re-aggravated his ankle injury on his final run and had to be helped from the field. Kyrie Harris posted 40 yards on 11 touches, and through the air Dunn and Fults combined to complete three of their 13 pass attempts for 60 yards.
The Pioneers, who fell to 2-1 with the loss, are scheduled to travel to Tullahoma on Thursday.