OAKWOOD — Dominating up front, out wide and down the field, the White County High football team used its strength and big-play ability to get back on a winning track Friday with a 36-7 victory over West Hall in Oakwood.
Ashely Lowery ran for 166 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, and six different Warriors scored in the victory after losing to top-ranked Gainesville the previous week.
"We had four main plays and we stuck with our plan," said Lowery, a junior tailback. "We try to spread people out and get our skill guys into open spaces and let them do their thing. We had a lot of guys get the ball tonight, and that was the plan. We knew we were faster than them just based on what we saw on film."
White County’s size and speed proved too much for the Spartans (0-3). The Warriors (3-1) outgained West Hall 393-221 in the game and 303-67 in the first half.
Much of that came out of a dominating performance by the White County line, which opened huge, gaping holes that the Warriors’ skill players turned into big chunks of yards. Nine plays went for more than 15 yards.
"We set a tone early," said White County coach Gregg Seagraves. "It was a tough week last week and we wanted to do some things to get our confidence back. We were very physical tonight, and I think that was big. This is also one of the fastest teams we’ve had so we have a good mixture.
"We have a lot of balance at the skill positions and our offensive line is coming together. If we can get them healthy and get their blocking coming along, we’ll be all right."
The Warriors scored on each of its three possessions in the first quarter and on one of West Hall’s. Lowery scored on a 5-yard run barely 1:30 into the game; the junior had all four carries on the drive for 68 yards including a 45-yard jaunt on the game’s second play.
West Hall went three-and-out on its first possession, and junior Rusty Rider scored on a 2-yard run to finish a five-play drive that covered 58 yards.
A West Hall snap out of the end zone on a punt attempt gave White County 2 more points. On the ensuing White County possession, Tyler Dotson scored on a 2-yard run.
Junior Brandon Ward ran 30 yards for another Warriors’ score in the second quarter, and Adam Hooper caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Cole Seagraves in the third quarter. Hooper, a junior linebacker and tight end, recovered a fumble on the Spartans’ opening possession of the second half to set up his own score.
"We noticed a lot of the reads and keys they made when (West Hall quarterback Shunquez Stephens) started to scramble," Hooper said. "We were able to spy on those plays and make plays ourselves."
Stephens finished 16-of-28 passing for 157 yards and an interception. The junior played with an injured left (non-throwing) hand and sore throwing shoulder.
"There was a lot of pressure in the backfield," Stephens said. "They were just bigger than we were. ... they’re strong and fast. I couldn’t really get a good grip on the ball and lost some power too from my shoulder. We’ll have to come back next week and really work hard for Gainesville."
The Red Elephants travel to Oakwood next Friday at 7:30 p.m., two weeks after they topped White County.
"They were a lot more physical than we were," West Hall coach Mike Newton said of the Warriors. "We are still a pretty inexperienced football team. Shunquez makes us go and he took a pretty good beating. We made a few plays but shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times, too, but we didn’t lay down. Our kids played hard."