Tradition and fight, some will say, is the perfect combination to winning a state title. No. 8 Washington-Wilkes stunned everyone in the 2012 football season by finishing as region runner-up and making it to the state playoffs for the first time in six years. Robbie Robinson will be beginning his third season with the Tigers and is still working hard to merge his naturally talented athletes with his vision of tradition and the state title.
“We finished up 10-2 but there is a big gap between us and the top school,” Robinson said. “We only lost to Jefferson and Calhoun and those are the two teams that played each other in the championship and they both beat us pretty soundly. We just have a lot of work to do, still rebuilding the program and us closing the gap between the top-level teams and us.”
After defeating rival Lincoln County 21-6, and having a regular season record of 10-2, the Tigers are bringing back 17 starters and seven seniors. This may seem like a disadvantage to some coaches, but it is definitely a strength for the Tigers.
“Our definite strength is in the returning players,” Robinson said. “We have 17 returning starters off of last year’s team. We were extremely young last year. Well, we are still really young. We are going to be young in some spots but they still have some playing experience because we had to start a lot of our sophomores last season.”
Since Robinson’s start in 2011 he has implemented year-round weight training, and field and positional practice during the summer. His goal is to build a new tradition for the Tigers in hopes of molding a dynasty of unstoppable athletes.
“We are also going to various 7-on-7 camps this summer so we can get the opportunity to compete with some of the top schools in the state to hopefully use that as a confidence builder to hopefully show them that even though we still have a long way to go we can still get there,” Robinson said.
The Tigers also have three go-to players that will be very impactful to the team. OL Darryl Ware has been a leader for the team and will be returning as a senior this fall. He has visited Georgia State and Middle Tennessee State for possible scholarship offers. LB Tomarkus Young and LB Javoris Grant will also be returning, both with four years of starting experience.
The Tigers have a stacked schedule this fall, playing Jefferson County on Oct. 4 and No. 1 Lincoln County on Aug. 6.
“The state champion in our classification, who is also in our region, will come to us on August the 4th, Jefferson,” Robinson said. “That is going to be a huge game. They beat us soundly last year, 31-0, and we were regional runner-up so that will give us the opportunity to see how far we have closed that gap.”
The mindset of the team is also very important to the success of the Tigers.
“Morale has been great, everybody’s attitude is great. We have a lot of high expectations for this season,” said Robinson.
The Tigers will open up at Calhoun Falls (SC) on Sept. 30.
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