Hopes are high for Wolverines, but know still much work to do
Ron Price entered his third spring as East Webster’s head football coach with high hopes but much work to do.
The Wolverines are coming off of a 6-7 season where they got better as the year went on, but the goal is a Class 2A, Region 2 championship and competing for a state title, so the team went back to work to try and fix some things and build on ending the season 5-3 in the final eight games.
It started with returning some of the veterans to lead the workouts and the practices with their leadership and he felt he got that, but there was also some big holes to fill like putting together five starters on the offensive line to protect his quarterback and his offense.
“I was very pleased with the spring and how we came out and attacked things,” Price said. “It helps when you have skilled players returning like Conner Shurden at wide receiver and your quarterback (Stephen Betts). It was a really good spring.
“Our biggest question mark was having to put together five offensive linemen that we felt comfortable going with in the fall. I feel like we’ve got our five heading into fall practice in a month or so. Now it’s about game experience for those guys. They made some mistakes in the spring game, but we’ll be fine in August.”
The five offensive linemen look to be set as talented sophomore Hastings Gibson makes the move from tight end to left tackle as Price utilizes his skill and his size at an important spot. Caleb Massey has locked down the right tackle spot and the interior looks to be Preston Hill at left guard, Cohen Clark at center and Sedrick Taylor at right guard after the athletic big man played both quarterback and linebacker last season.
Defensively, spots needed to be filled as well.
“On the defensive side of the ball, coach (Jason Smith) was searching for some holes to fill, especially at linebacker,” Price said. “We like the kids that are competing there. We should have a pretty good unit.”
The spring finished up with East Webster playing Booneville in a jamboree at its place and the Wolverines
haven’t stopped competing since that time. This summer has seen the team go through weight workouts on Mondays and Wednesdays during the month of June due to the fact that many of the players also play baseball and/or basketball and are competing in the summer in those sports as well.
With the calendar turned to July and the other two sports now finished, East Webster has begun working out three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. There’s also the 7-on-7 work that the team has put in which included a tournament at Winston Academy in which the Wolverines finished second. They play every Monday at Bruce against teams like Charleston, Bruce, Calhoun City and others.
All of that is prepping the team for another exciting schedule this year that begins on the road against Class 3A South Pontotoc. East Webster
gets tested before the season even starts as well as it plays Nanih Waiya in a jamboree game at East Mississippi Community College in Scooba.
The Warriors have been to the last two Class A State championships and won it all last season.
Price is excited to see his team in action. The game takes place on Saturday, August 17 at 11 a.m.
“I told the guys that it really doesn’t matter what the classification is, when you get a chance to play a state championship team like Nanih Waiya, it’s a chance to play a quality opponent,” Price said. “On top of that, we get to play at Scooba, which will be a cool experience for the guys.”
(Editor’s Note: The Starkville Daily News resumes its look at area high school football programs as it transitions from spring practice to summer workouts. The series continues today with East Webster High School.)