By CHARLIE HUST
For the third straight year, Webster County High School football team has opened its season against Hopkins County Central. And for the third consecutive season, the Trojans have won the contest clipping the Storm 40-28 on a very hot and humid Friday night in Dixon. The Webster victory kept the HCCHS losing active at 26 games.
It was also the first career win at WCHS for Mike Whitaker in his first season at the helm of the program. The veteran head coach took the reins only 40 days ago and he praised his young and inexperienced squad for its effort, but admitted, there’s still a long road ahead for the Trojans.
“I’m very proud of how hard our guys played, they gave everything they had,” Whitaker stated. “We were very fortunate they (Storm) turned the ball over several times and opened the door for us to score.”
Along with over 120 yards in penalties, Hopkins Central had three critical fumbles along with one interception in the season-opener for both squads.
“We really only stopped them defensively on one possession and made them punt,” Whitaker explained. “But we did some other good things that gave us a chance to win and certainly our passing game stepped up and gave us some big plays. But overall I’m very proud of the effort our kids gave, how hard they battled in the heat and for the most part, they didn’t give up even when Central came back on us. Overall it was just a very good team win.”
The Trojans were led by junior quarterback Dillon Baty who had a ‘career night’ offensively. He passed for 276 yards on 9-of-14 accuracy, along with a team-high 63 yards rushing on just seven carries boosting his stats to 339 total yards on the evening. Webster had 378 total yards, averaging 9.45 yards per snap.
“Obviously Dillon had a great game. He passed the ball really well and we took advantage of some things Central was giving us defensely which allowed us to run him a bit more. That proved very effective,” Whitaker added.
Webster drew first blood, finding the end zone on it’s first possession of the season. Facing a third-and-10 at his own 44, Baty fired a pass to Chad Rauch and he made an incredible one-handed ‘circus’ catch and sprinted all the way to Central 16-yard line. Five plays later, junior fullback Dylan Rich ‘punched it in’ from one-yard out to make it 6-0 with 5:50 left in the opening quarter.
DeAven Wilson, who led the Storm with four touchdowns on 207 yards in 25 attempts, completed a seven-play drive for Central’s first score of the game, making it 6-6 with just 3.5 seconds left in the first quarter.
Dylan Rich’s interception opened the door for another Webster touchdown midway through the second period. Taking over at Central’s 34, Baty fired a screen pass to Chance Cook and the senior split the Storm defense for a 24-yard touchdown. WC’s PAT was unsuccessful making it 12-6 with 7:14 left in the first half.
The Storm ‘shot itself in the foot’ again on the next possession, coughing-up a fumble inside Webster’s 30 yard line. But the Trojans returned the favor on the ensuing possession with it’s only turnover of the game.
Webster got the ball back one more time with less than a minute to play in the half and it seemed the Trojans would just run the clock out and settle for the six point lead at intermission. But Whitaker caught the Storm asleep with 10.4 ticks remaining, giving Baty the green light for a big play attempt. And the junior delivered, firing a perfect spiral to senior Jamon Warren on the ‘hitch-and-go’ route right in front of the Storm bench. The senior receiver sprinted untouched for the 63-yard TD. WC’s two-point attempt failed but the Trojans went to the field house with a 18-6 lead at halftime.
“We had a very balanced offensive attack tonight, five different guys caught passes and five different running back carried the ball,” Whitaker emphasized.
Central answered in the first possession of the second half, successfully marching down the field behind Wilson. He finalized a 10-play, 65-yard drive with his second touchdown of the game. Central converted on the two-point conversion to trim the lead to 18-14.
Chance Cook took the ensuing kickoff and blazed through the Central kickoff coverage for a 95-yard touchdown. But the score was negated on a illegal block penalty. That didn’t deter the Trojans as they marched 71 yards for another touchdown. Another spectacular Baty-to-Warren pass-and-catch, highlight-reel play covering 56 yards put the Trojans in the red zone at Central’s 5-yard line. Two plays later, freshman full Clayton Oliver bulled through the Storm line for a 5-yard TD.
The Baty-Warren combo hooked up one more time on the two-point conversion as Warren leaped over a HC defender and snagged the pass with one hand. Warren was then hit on the play and the ball came loose, but he regained possession while falling to the turf. That stretched Webster’s lead to 26-14 at the 5:32 mark of the third quarter.
Central again answered behind the powerful running of Wilson. He ripped a 44-yard gainer and then finished off another scoring drive with his third TD of the night, this time from four yards out to cut WC’s lead to 26-22 with :43 left in the third.
But WC’s Cook got another chance at a kickoff return and his Trojan teammates made sure every block was legal as the senior raced 89 yards to the end zone increasing the lead to 32-22 with :27.6 left in the third quarter.
Webster got another big play from its ‘big play guy’ Warren on its next possession. Lined-up in punt formation, the 135-pound senior faked the punt, eluded several would-be tacklers and sprinted 18 yards for a first down. Clayton Oliver finished off the scoring drive with his second career touchdown, extending the lead to 40-22.
Wilson added one more touchdown run late in the game to set the final score.
“That kid (Wilson) is a very good running back. I thought we played pretty good defense but we just missed a lot of tackles. Of course, you have to give him credit for some strong running. But I believe he got a bit tired towards the end of the game,” Whitaker stated. “Actually we played less people both ways (offensively and defensively) than they did and I think that really gave us an advantage in the fourth quarter.”
Webster had a very balanced passing attack led by Warren’s 119 yards. Cook added 76 yards on three catches while Rauch finished with two catches and 43 yards. Senior Wade McCulloch had one catch for 36 yards.
Senior lineman Levi Tapp led the Trojan defense with nine solo tackles and two assists. Dylan Rich added seven solos and two assists while Cook finished with six solo tackles. Dillon Baty added four tackles and four assists. Clayton Oliver, Grant Carter and Jonte Lindle added four tackles apiece while Jamon Warren add three tackles and three fumble recoveries.
The level of play increases a great deal for the Trojans this week as they travel to Greenville to battle Muhlenberg County. The Mustangs outlasted a very strong Ohio County squad 14-13 last Friday in both team’s opener.
“They looked very good,” Whitaker said of Muhlenberg. “They’ve got a very good offense and they’re defense is big and strong and really attacks the football. We’ll have our hands full.”