Hendersonville Bearcats – The Bearcats are picked by most pundits to win the Western Highlands Conference this season. The squad was 7-6 last season, with a 3-3 conference mark. Hendersonville returns more experience players at skill positions than anyone in the conference, and will boast one of the fastest squads in the region. The Bearcats are senior-laden, led by NCPreps.com Preseason 1A All-State selection Wesley Cook at offensive tackle. The 6’7”, 262-pound player was all-conference a year ago. His father was an All-American at East Tennessee State and has received a college scholarship offer from East Carolina University.A trio of senior running backs returns for the Cats with speed to burn, including All-Conference returnee Cedric Allen, who rushed for 1,580 yards and 23 touchdowns in 2007. Also assisting Allen behind quarterback are Darren Perry and Darryl Demps. Both players rushed for over 350 yards last season and combined for nine rushing touchdowns.
Preseason NCPreps.com kicker selection Will Roper will anchor a strong special teams unit, with fellow seniors Corey Cook, Lance Allen, Eric Hanson, and Tory Sitton providing additional support. Behind center for Hendersonville will be junior signal-caller Ben Walgenbach, who passed for 1,095 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2007.
“We will contend for our conference title and make a deep run into the playoffs,” head coach B.J. Laughter remarked. “With the addition of Jim Fox (former long-time coach at Rosman High School) to our staff, we should really cause some problems for defenses.”
Owen Warhorses – Expectations in Swannanoa are always high for a squad that seems to contend every year for a conference championship. However, the Warhorses were a senior loaded club a season ago and will have to mature in a hurry to contend in 2008.
Gone from this year’s club is All-Conference running back Dion Wilson, who accounted for almost 1,400 yards and 18 rushing touchdowns, as well as WHC special teams player of the year Aaron Reese.
For the first time in recent memory, the team will not have a returning feature back to rely on. With the Warhorses returning only four starters from last year’s team, Coach Ken Ford admitted recently that youth will be served on this year’s squad.
"We're going to have to play a lot of young guys," Ford said. "We're relying on a lot of people for the first time. Once we start the season, it might take us a little longer to get to where we normally are. We may go through some growing pains along the way."
Junior Andy Coleman will shift from receiver to Owen's feature back and run primarily behind the blocking of Josh Leake, a 6-foot-2, 300-pound senior. Senior linebacker Seth Blankenship, is the Warhorses' lone returning All-Western Highlands Conference selection.
Owen's five-year run as the WHC champion was ended last fall by Polk County. Owen may be young in ’08, but that does not guarantee a sub par season, as the 2007 JV Warhorses was undefeated in conference play en route to a 9-1 overall record.
Polk County Wolverines- Polk County captured the conference championship last season after a thrilling win in the regular season finale against Hendersonville. Unfortunately a week later the two teams played a rematch in the opening round of the 1A state playoffs with the Bearcats exacting revenge in a seven-point win.The Wolverines will look to rebuild in 2008 without the services of graduated All-Conference quarterback Derrick Overholt, lineman Regis Bittle, and wide receiver Josh Twitty. Kamron Kerr appears in line to pick up the mantel of leadership for the young Wolverines this season. The rising senior had 872 yards receiving and eight touchdowns a year ago while averaging 17.1 yards a catch.
Other all-conference selections returning this season for Polk include Ryan Owens, J.P. Ruth and Tony Wicklund.
Madison Patriots- The Madison Patriots faced a tumultuous season in 2007 and hopes to turn the page in 2008. Head coach Darren Ponder resigned after a single season and a winless mark of 0-11. The season was also marred when a dozen football players received suspensions from varsity play after admitting "illegal use of alcohol, marijuana or prescription drugs". Further complicating the coach's situation was the arrest and conviction of one of his assistant coaches.This season new Madison head coach Eric Schneider is looking to rebuild and turn around a club that has only posted 17 wins this entire decade. “We're going to surprise some people. I honestly feel that we will," Schneider recently commented at Patriots preseason practice.
The Patriots are installing a new multiple-formation offense and 3-4 defense, while returning only one All-Conference player in RB/LB Colby Coates. In all, Madison has about 40 total players out for football, with 22 expected to play varsity. Schneider led the Patriots junior varsity team to a 7-3 record in 2007. No member last year’s coaching staff remains on this year’s varsity staff.
Mountain Heritage Cougars – Hopes are high in Yancey County this season
as eighth-year head coach Joey Robinson’s club boasts one of the most veteran-laden team in the conference. Heritage returns ten varsity starters on offense and nine on defense to a club that finished 4-7 last season and made the 2A state playoffs.The team returns experienced players at skill positions, and just as importantly, along the line of scrimmage. Over the summer the Cougars have worked on implementing a shotgun spread offense, a similar move employed by Avery within the past five seasons.
“Overall, as a group, I feel like our skilled players and our line will be the best that we have put on the football field since I have been at Mountain Heritage. This is the best team speed that we have had, and a lot of teams will have trouble matching up with our big line,” Coach Robinson told a Yancey County media outlet the opening week of practice. “We should have a very good power running game this season, but what makes this team scary is its ability to throw the football.”
Twenty one of the 32 varsity players who turned out for fall practice are seniors, led by quarterback Kirk Burnette, who tallied 1107 yards passing and 10 touchdowns last fall, running back Jessie Ballew who rushed for 409 yards, and wide receiver Dylan McMahan (44 receptions, 577 yards).
Mitchell Mountaineers- Mitchell County brought a 6-4 record and possibility for a share of a conference championship into its home finale against Avery last season, only to fall by a single point, finish with a 3-3 conference mark, and lose 42-14 at Lincolnton in the opening round of the 2A state playoffs.Russell Barnett enters his second season as head coach of the Mountaineers facing the prospect of rebuilding a team that lost many key elements due to graduation, most notably All-Conference quarterback Joe Hoilman. The graduated senior racked up 161 carries for 1,203 yards and 14 touchdowns and was the sixth leading passer in the state in terms of yards with 2,986 yards on 154 of 274 attempts to go with 29 TD. Leading receivers Jordan Jones (45 receptions, 1,001 yards, 8 TD), Randy Miller, and Joe Bomar must also be replaced from the high-octane passing attack. The key returnee for this year’s club is Jake Jarrett, one of the team’s leading rushers from last year.
The Mountaineers will get an early test in the opening week of the season when they will host traditional 1A power Murphy, a game originally scheduled to take place at Western Carolina University, but was moved due to new turf installation in Cullowee.
