The schedule for Southmont football the final four weeks of the season is always a daunting one. But the Mounties can’t look ahead but instead focus on the team that lies in front of them. Friday the 4-1 (2-1 SAC) Mounties will make the trip to Danville (3-2, 2-1 SAC) for a showdown with the Warriors. It will also be Homecoming for Danville so the rowdy Warrior crowd will look to rattle a Mountie team that still has big goals ahead.
Southmont is coming off a 48-18 win over Crawfordsville a week ago while the Warriors were blanked last week 21-0 by Tri-West. Southmont coach Desson Hannum notes how the task won’t be easy for his team, but the Mounties will be ready for a war on Friday.
“Danville just has big, tall players at almost every single position,” Hannum said. “When it gets to this point every year and we go through this stretch, we know every single game we play is going to be physical. We’ve got to have our bodies and minds ready to go in and compete and hopefully win this game. We feel good about this week of practice and now its time to go out there and execute.”
Danville is already going through a little bit of adversity as they normal starting QB Conner Soper is out with an injury he sustained against Crawfordsville two weeks ago. It required surgery so that means freshman signal caller Carter Ward now leads the Warriors. Ward is 21-37 for 225 yards with three touchdowns.
The Warriors have helped out the freshman QB by having a two-pronged attack in the backfield with Ethan Wooten and Sean Robinson. Wooten has toted the rock 61 times for 299 yards and four TD’s while Robinson has 50 carries for 258 yards. Through the air senior Teke Tanksley is the leading target with 21 catches for 224 yards. Caden Collins has added nine catches for 181 yards and Jace Scrafton 14 catches for 164 yards.
A year ago the Mounties were able to walk away with a 28-14 win over the Warriors. With a lot of notable players back from that team a year ago, the Mounties can go into this game confident they can pull out a win.
“Danville is a tough place to play but we have guys we know what it takes to win that game,” Hannum said. “We all expect to go in there and win. That’s the mentality that you have to have when you play these teams we do in the final month.”
A week ago against the Athenians senior QB Nolan Boyer played his best game of the season according to Hannum. On the season Boyer is 27-48 (56%) for 430 yards. He’s added 315 yards on the ground and four TD’s including an 80 yard scamper a week ago. Fullback Wyatt Woodall is the workhorse with 70 carries for 608 yards and 13 TD’S through five weeks. Sophomore Cale Chadd has been a good addition to the Mountie backfield with 27 carries for 237 yards and four TD’s. Kyler McCandless is the leading receiver for SM with 11 catches for 178 yards while Aaron McMasters has added five catches for 101.
“Not only do we have to throw the ball, we have to be able to do it efficiently,” Hannum said of his air attack. “We’ve shown we can hit some big plays over the top and be able to move the chains in the pass game. Danville is likely going to load the box against us to stop the run, so we have to be ready to whatever it is that we have to do to come out with a win.”
Kickoff between the Mounties and Warriors is schedule for 7 p.m. from Danville on Friday and you can catch a live broadcast of the game beginning at 6:30 on 106.3 WCDQ with Jared McMurry, Barry Lewis and Jeff Nelson.
