Coach Bill Ballard goes into his fourth season with the White County Warriors after a 7-4 winning season last year. After making it to the playoffs last year but losing to Blessed Trinity in the first round, the Warriors are hoping for another chance at the playoffs with a new quarterback this season.
“We’re a year older on defense,” said Ballard about this year’s squad. “We started off weaker on defense last year so we should be able to improve on that side of the ball. There is a good bit of guys back with a lot of experience on each side of the ball. We got a few of our skill guys back on offense. We should be strong there and our offensive line is going to be young, those guys will come along and hopefully get going by the time we get to region play.”
Many key players on the Warriors graduated last year, but there are prominent players who will stand out this season. Replacing Will Brock as quarterback is A.J. Vandiver who will be starting and also Will Sutton will have some playing time. There are three seniors that are vital to White County’s success this year: Dalton Whitfield, running back and line backer, Will Flowers, safety and receiver, and Coley Loudermilk, running back and safety are experienced players are leaders for the Warriors. Whitfield has had college interest coming into his senior year. According to Ballard, UNC Charlotte, UNC, Wofford and Furman are the schools that have given him looks.
Last season, White County lost back-to-back region games against Buford and North Hall. The Warriors also lost a hard fought battle to Blessed Trinity in the regular season, as well as, the playoffs.
“Prepared very well for the game last year, we just came up short,” said Ballard. “We lost a close ball game to them here and then we lost to them in the playoffs. Coach McFarlin does a wonderful job down there and they have a ton of athletes. It’s a little bit bigger school as far as the numbers of people that play ball there. We’re a small school and we’re doing the best we can.”
The White County offense is expected to run the triple option as Vandiver starts his first year as the Warriors’ quarterback. The offensive line is young this season, but the experience of cornerback, Maurice Sutton, and the other big three, the offense is deep and filled with experience. This year’s Warriors defense is one year older and will continue to run drop 50 in the upcoming season.
White County first game of the season will be played against 6A Habersham Central on Aug. 30. Region play will begin on Sept. 13 against Fannin County.
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