East Webster enjoys another great season under Johnson
It's difficult to find the recipe for such consistent success as the East Webster Wolverines have had on the baseball field.
Coach Wes Johnson knows it, and he's the lead chef of such things in Class 2A baseball. It hasn't always translated to state championship rings, but the Wolverines seem to be in the hunt each and every year.
Things weren't any different for East Webster in 2018 as Johnson had them right back in position and within a game of a state title trip. The Wolverines went 268, won yet another Region 2 championship and played in the North State title series yet again against nemesis East Union.
The Urchins came back from a game one loss and took down East Webster just short of its goal, but Johnson said his team left it all on the field.
“We lost a lot of seniors last year and just had four this year, but I thought we accomplished a lot,” Johnson said. “We won 26 ball games and had a really good year. I told those guys that no one would be happy at the end of the year except the one that won the last game. I'd love to have gone down (to Pearl) and play for it, but it didn't go our way.”
It was tough on the players and on their coach to not place a bid for Pearl. This felt as much like the state championship seasons of 2006, 2008 and 2015 as any other year with one of Johnson's best group of hitters he's had and a group of pitchers that he felt comfortable in putting on the mound at any moment.
Jon Austin Roberts was one of those players and he came through with big hits and big pitching appearances when needed. With another year to go before he graduates, he was emotional at season's end talking about the impact Johnson had already made on his career and on his teammates.
“He'll push you to your limits,” Roberts said. “He tries to figure out each one of our limits and get the best out of us. He doesn't show us just what we need to know on the field. He shows us what we need to know about life. I hope everybody on the team learns from him a little bit.”
That impact doesn't just hang around the field in Cumberland, though. It reaches out beyond the program.
Starkville Daily News Player of the Year Tanner Knight has been around Johnson for most of his life on the fields. Whether playing for him in Little League or AllStar events or playing against him at Eupora, he knew he was going to get the best effort out of a Johnson-coached squad.
“I love playing for coach Johnson,” Knight said. “I got to play with him at the state games and he's always trying to help me become a better pitcher, then playing with Walker (Johnson), JT (Slay) and them,
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