WHITMIRE — The Whitmire High School Wolverines will face off tonight against an opponent they have not played against since 2007: the Lions (3-0) from Lewisville High School.
During that 2007 game, the Wolverines (1-2) defeated the Lions 20-19 and before that game, the two teams had not played each other since 1998, when the Wolverines lost 34-14.
Head Coach Charlie Jenkins said this game will be no easy task for the Wolverines.
“Lewisville has 365 students and was on the cut line for moving up to Class AA,” he said “They were the last team not to move up, so they are the biggest Class A school. We have 159 students. There is only one school in the state that fields a football team that is smaller than us — Calhoun Falls Charter School.
“Lewisville is a traditional power in Class A. They have won the state four times and they were state runner up another seven times,” he added. “They have Division One recruit Josh Belk at defensive tackle, and a 6 foot 3 All State baseball player at quarterback.”
The biggest challenge the Wolverines will face during this game will be matching the size and speed of the Lions.
“We need to keep them from getting deep passes behind us,” Jenkins said. “Offensively we must control the ball by getting three to five yards per play with no turnovers.”
The Lions do lots of screen passes and when they get you set up to expect the short pass, they will hit you with a long one, according to Jenkins.
“We just hope that we can bend, but not break. We want to keep the ball in front of us and make them snap it again,” he said. “We need a few turnovers from our defense if we want to have a chance this week.”
Jenkins said the Wolverines’ number one opponent is the Wolverines.
“We continue to work on the little things that will help us win our region, host a playoff game and win a playoff game,” he said. “Playing a team the caliber of Ridge Spring and now Lewisville is an attempt to get us ready for the playoffs.”
Tonight’s game will also be the Hall of Fame game. Three Whitmire alumni will be inducted into the Whitmire High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Kick off is tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Whitmire.