Whitehouse preparing for 'stage two'

Photo/Jim Jackson Whitehouse varsity team takes on Carthage in its only preseason scrimmage. The defending area champs open their season Friday in an away matchup with Forney.

The Wildcat varsity football team finished up the "first stage" of the season as Coach Randy McFarlin referred to it by scrimmaging the Carthage Bulldogs last Friday night.

"The first stage of the season starts with two-a-days and goes through the scrimmage with Carthage," said Coach McFarlin. "This part of the season is hard work, and now we enter stage two which is the non-district schedule - when we still work hard, but we spend more time in game preparation and film study."

"We are still evaluating some kids at positions, but our first team guys will get most of the work in practice," stated Coach McFarlin.

Coach McFarlin stated that the scrimmage was "typical" in that the varsity did some good things and that there were also some mistakes that will be addressed and worked out before the season opener against Forney.

He was pleased with the team's run defense but stated that the pass defense needed to make some corrections before facing a passing attack from Forney that gave Whitehouse trouble in last year's East Texas Classic game at Rose Stadium.

The Wildcat passing game needs to get in sync while the running game proved to be solid against the Bulldogs.

The Wildcats will open the season tomorrow night in Forney with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. "This will be a good test right out of the gate," said McFarlin.

"I expect it to be a close game like last year, and it will come down to which team makes the fewest mistakes," said McFarlin. Coach McFarlin also noted that this would be the first regular season game on Forney's new turf field.

Expected starters for the Wildcats on offense will be Brady Attaway (junior) at quarterback, and he will be joined by running back Matt Ponce (senior) in the backfield.

The receivers will be Asher Williams (junior) and Bart Henderson (senior) on the outside, and Lesley Perdue (senior) and Trey Johnigan (senior) on the inside.

The offensive line will have Hunter Howard (junior) at center, B.J. Mackey (senior) and Phillip Traylor (junior) at the guards, and Nelson Ortega (senior) and Nathan Brown (senior) at the tackles.

The defensive front four will have Zach Hill (senior) and Gavin Green (senior) at the tackles, and Julian Broaddus (senior) and Jarone Reddick (junior) at the ends. Linebackers will be Cody Brown (senior) and Seth Cashion (junior) on the outside with Taylor Sulser (senior) in the middle.

The secondary will include Ace Estella (senior) and Jermaine Kennedy (SO) at the corners, and Steven Hicks (senior) and Jon Harvell (senior) at the safeties.

Wildcat Note: The coaching staff selected senior Taylor Sulser to represent the Wildcats at the East Texas Kick-Off Luncheon that was held yesterday at the UT Tyler Patriot Center. The luncheon is sponsored by SPORTyler, and Taylor received a $250 scholarship as awarded by the organization.
VARSITY SCHEDULE
8-31 Forney Away 7:30
9-7 Sulphur Springs Home 7:30
9-14 Mabank Away 7:30
9-21 Open
9-28 *Kilgore Home 7:30
10-5 *Jacksonville Away 7:30
10-12 *Pine Tree (HC) Home 7:30
10-19 *Hallsville Home 7:30
10-26 *Henderson Away 7:30
11-2 *Marshall Away 7:30
11-9 *Nac (Sr. night) Home 7:30
*District game