The White County Warriors overcame several forms of adversity as they topped the Cannon County Lions 41-21 Friday night in Woodbury.
The Warriors (3-3) had a shortened week of preparation after adding the Lions (0-7, 0-2) to their schedule on Tuesday, and were playing their first game without starting quarterback Malaki Dowell who is out for the season with an injury.
“On a short week, and under all the circumstances… I thought we had one of our best performances of the year,” said WCHS head coach Mark Frasier. “I thought the offensive stat did a spectacular job of spreading the football around to a lot of different athletes. I was proud of the way we played. Defensively, we gave up a score early on a short field but after that, not really anything. I thought it was overall maybe our best performance.”
Freshman quarterback Owen Adams shined in his first start of the season in place of the injured Dowell. Frasier has touted Adams all season, and Adams delivered against the Lions.
“I really didn’t expect anything else from him,” said Frasier. “He’s a gamer. Our future, he’s a big part of it. He threw the ball very well. Ran the ball well. He’s still learning the system… but I was very excited for him to get out there and with the way he played. I was more than pleased.”
Frasier said his senior leadership has been pivotal over the past week as the Warriors forge their new identity going forward
“Our kids love Malaki Dowell,” said Frasier. “But, I didn’t sense a lack of confidence from any of them. I think they expected to do what they did. That goes to especially Kade Clark and Hunter Pope and the leadership they showed. I felt like they kind of carried us through. When we got out there we played with confidence.”
The Warriors will now turn their attention towards a matchup with Livingston Academy (5-2, 2-1).
Frasier said his team will quickly need to get ready for an intense contest.
“I think Livingston football teams are always very physical,” said Frasier. “They’re always very well coached. For us, if we can match the intensity they’re going to bring. Coming off a loss, we know they’re going to be really fired up to play. We’re going to have to focus on our intensity level this week, and our effort level, especially on defense.”
The matchup between the Warriors and Wildcats is the High School Football Game of the Week and will be broadcast live on the UCR Facebook page and on Newstalk 107.7 and 1400 the HUB. Pregame coverage will begin at 6:45 Friday night.