WHITMIRE — The Whitmire High School Wolverines will host the Hunter-Kinard-Tyler High School Trojans, based out of Neeses, in the first round of the playoffs at 7 p.m. tonight.
“Hosting a playoff game was one of our goals, but we want to win this game real bad too,” said Whitmire Head Coach Charlie Jenkins.
The Wolverines had an overall record of 4-6 this season, 2-2 within their Region. The Trojans also had an overall record of 4-6 this season, but were 3-4 within their Region.
Trojans quarterback DeVante Scott had 1,232 passing yards, 1,576 rushing yards and 30 touchdowns on offense in 2015.
“He is a big kid, 6 foot 2, 200 pounds, we hope to set our defense to keep him hemmed in,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins said they did not see a whole lot of changes in the Trojan offense this season. He said Hunter-Kinard-Tyler High School has always thrown the ball, adding that their strategy is to get the ball to their fast guys with room to run.
Jenkins said the Trojans would rather play against a spread offense.
“They have had more luck this year stopping teams that throw the ball a lot. We will be ourselves. We will attempt to keep the ball away from them,” he said.
Jenkins said the Wolverines have prepared for the first round of the playoffs a bit differently: For two weeks they did not know who their opponent would be, so they practiced their basic game plan.
“We have watched a lot of film on our projected opponents. We also held a ‘Futures Bowl’ scrimmage for our underclassman,” Jenkins said. “The seniors formed two coaching staffs and drafted their teams from the pool of underclassmen. The assistant coaches were the referees. We had a chain crew and we allowed parents and friends to come and watch. It was fun and I think our guys enjoyed it.”
If the Wolverines win tonight, they will travel to Region III champion Williston-Elko High School in Williston the day after Thanksgiving.