Greg Hollis | [email protected]
WARE SHOALS, S.C. — The Wolverines struggles continue and have now dropped their fourth consecutive game after a 2-0 start to the season. Whitmire(2-4,0-1 region 1-A) opened region play on with a 42-12 road loss to Ware Shoals(6-0, 1-0 region 1-A) on Friday, Oct. 3rd.
Whitmire entered Friday’s contest hoping to end their three game losing streak, but had a tall order in front of them as they looked to upset the undefeated Hornets. They battled hard in the first half, but their offense couldn’t match their intensity of the defense.
Ware Shoals got on the scoreboard first with a touchdown drive late in the first quarter that gave them a 7-0 lead. Whitmire attempted to respond but couldn’t convert a fourth and goal. The Hornets took a 7-0 lead into the second period.
The home team then went got on the scoreboard for the second time in the first half with a touchdown drive about halfway through the second quarter that gave them a 14-0 lead. They would hold onto their 14-0 lead until the halftime break.
The Hornets would put some distance between themselves after receiving the ball first after halftime and driving it down the field for a score. They were successful on the two-point conversion attempt and held a commanding 22-0 lead.
The Wolverines wouldn’t go down without a fight and answered the Hornets scoring drive with one of their own late in the third quarter after the two teams exchanged punts. Whitmire would score the touchdown and convert the two-point attempt to cut into the deficit, 22-8.
The fourth quarter was horrible for the Wolverines. They started it off by giving up a long scoring drive that extended the Hornets lead to 30-8 after the successful two-point conversion attempt. Then, the Hornets would get a defensive stop and score another touchdown to put the Wolverines to bed.
Whitmire did score a touchdown late in the fourth quarter for pride. Their defense put up a good fight but just couldn’t overcome the Hornets’ offense that has shown the ability to score a lot points at times during the season. This was their fourth game of the season scoring 30 points or more and their second game reaching the 40-point mark this season.
“It was 14-0 at halftime and we had some opportunities on offense but failed on three red zone trips tonight. For whatever reason we just couldn’t punch it in but our guys fought hard tonight. Crue Keller stepped up for us and our defense played well til the very end even though the score doesn’t reflect that. We have to get back to it next week and try to get ourselves out of this slump,” said Wolverines’ head coach Andrew Campbell.
Whitmire will hit the road again for a region foe as they face a one loss Dixie team on this upcoming Friday.
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