WHITMIRE, S.C. — A new era officially began at Whitmire in their season opener at home on Friday night. For the first time in three seasons, the Wolverines had a new man under center, a new starting running back and an almost completely new offense. Regardless, Whitmire(1-0) dominated Branchville(0-1) at home to cruise to a 26-6 victory in week one.
The Wolverines opened their 2025 football season at home on Friday, Aug. 22nd, and things got off to a slow start for them on the offensive side of the ball in the first quarter. No worries though because the Wolverines’ defense was locked in from the opening whistle.
Both teams were held scoreless in the opening quarter, but that quickly changed in the opening seconds of the second quarter. Landon Wulf broke the scoring drought with a defensive score on a pick six to began the second quarter that gave Whitmire a 6-0 lead.
The Wolverines’ defense came up with another big play on the next defensive series after the pick six. D’Angelo Ruff recovered a fumble caused by the defensive line of Whitmire. Their offense quickly punched it home after a quick 13 play drive on the short 42-yard field. Newcomer Kaden Malpass found Crue Keller for a 12-yard touchdown pass. It would be first of two passing touchdowns for the junior transfer quarterback.
Whitmire converted the two-point conversion to take a 14-0 lead. Branchville had a long drive that resulted into zero points after a third down penalty by Whitmire extended the drive. The Yellow Jackets were forced to punt, but their punter couldn’t handle the snap and a wild scramble took place that resulted in a 35-yard loss and another fumble recovery by the home team Wolverines.
Of course, Whitmire took advantage of the great field position and scored points. Malpass scrambled to the right to avoid a sack on a third and goal attempt to find Wulf at the back of end zone on a wild play for his second passing touchdown of the game. The Wolverines failed to convert the two-point conversion attempt, but took a 20-0 lead into halftime.
Whitmire made a huge stop on defense as Branchville got the ball right after the half and attempted to gain momentum with a fourth down attempt to convert a first down that failed. The home team then drove the ball right down the field using their aggressive rushing attack that kept getting big gains to keep the chains moving. Unfortunately, the Wolverines drive would stall in the red zone. The Wolverines were stopped on a fourth down rushing attempt inside their on five-yard line that ended a good drive.
Luckily, the Wolverines defense had their offense backs yet again in this game and Sam Moore nearly got himself a safety with a huge tackle for loss after bursting through the Yellow Jackets’ offensive line.
Kingston Green puts the final nail in the coffin with a 23-yard touchdown run on late in third quarter to give the Wolverines a 26-0 lead.
The Yellow Jackets would get their only score of the night on a 68-yard kick return late in the third quarter, but that would it.
“Like you just said, we returned one starter in the backfield which would be Kingston Green who played B-back last year and is now at A-back. We struggled early running the ball but like I said at halftime, who knew we were going to throw the ball to score a couple touchdowns,” said Wolverines head coach Andrew Campbell. “We knew they were going to stack the box but we saw a couple things in film and were able to get them on some counter action stuff later in the game. We do what we do though which is lull you to sleep with the run game and find a way to hit you over the top and our defense played out of their minds.”
The Wolverines defense was indeed dominate on the night. They didn’t allow any points to be scored by the opposing offense, didn’t allow a red zone trip for the opposing offense and their defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage especially Moore with three tackles for loss on the night.
“Before I talk about Sam, I have to talk about the other guys that make his Sam’s job easy. Dalton, Jayden and TJ on the inside make it easy for Z’Keaden and Sam on the edge because they are eating so many blocks. Sam also has a motor that doesn’t stop. Last year he had 14 tackles for loss and he could do that again if he stays healthy, but the funny thing is that Sam hasn’t practiced in two weeks because he has been banged up so we held him out. But our entire defensive line played well tonight,” said Campbell.
The Wolverines will enjoy their week one win their opener and quickly turn the page and their attention to Spartanburg Christian Academy in week two road matchup. The two teams will kick off at 7:30 p.m. next Friday, Aug. 29.