New beginning for Pioneers under Huffman
Colton Hamilton waits to pass the football during drills in football camp. Hamilton is one of two quarterbacks competing for the starting job at West Greene.
West Greene’s Zachary Pettit runs the ball during a morning practice.
West Greene’s Eric Stoll attempts to tackle Zachary McHenry during training camp drills
ROGERSVILLE – For it’s next head football coach, the West Greene School Board found a candidate who prepared himself for this moment by spending time at schools nearly 600 miles away.
But Rodney Huffman is not an outsider, graduating in 1970 from West Greene, where he played quarterback.
Huffman joined the West Greene staff last year as a volunteer coach after spending 15 years coaching in the South: first at Curtis Baptist High School in Augusta, Ga., and Fox Creek Charter High School in North Augusta, S.C.
The two schools are 11 miles apart and sit on opposite sides of the state line. Curtis Baptist had between 150 and 170 students in grades 9 through 12 and Fox Creek had about 400 in the high school.
This is Huffman’s first opportunity at a head coaching job.
“Realistically speaking, we need to get to being competitive,” the 62-year-old Huffman said. “We’re definitely headed in the right direction. I see the changes already.”
Huffman isn’t afraid of reclamation projects. The two schools who previously coached at were similar to West Greene: small enrollment but high hopes.
“Both programs started from scratch when I got there,” Huffman said. “That’s why I looked at this and in the back of my mind felt I would come back home and coach. When they opened the position, I decided to apply for it.”
The first step was to increase the roster size. In too many seasons, the Pioneers struggled with numbers. Last year’s team had 13 players at the end of the season and it showed in a 1-8 record and a last-place finish in the Tri-County South Conference.
“We have 27 this year,” said Jed Hamberger, an assistant for the past two years with the Pioneers who spent five more at McGuffey. “I can say the culture is changing on the team. I think the culture is changing in the school. Players are excited to come here for the heat acclimation and conditioning. Our leadership is emerging. Each group has its own leaders and we have overall leaders on the team.”
Huffman said the roots were set in the spring.
“We went into the hallways to talk to kids and get them excited about football,” he said. “We had weightlifting throughout spring and summers and we had a core group that attended 7-on-7s. We held our own. It’s important for the kids to know they can compete and they found that out there. They held up well. We had small numbers. Some teams rotated people on offense and defense but ours played both ways. And they were still standing at the end.”
Huffman is installing a slot-I offense that will be run by either senior Owen Main (6-2, 190) or junior Colton Hamilton (6-0, 180). Both played about half the games last year.
“They are about as even as you can get,” said Huffman, “so it’s still to be decided. It might be a two-headed monster. They both have game experience and that’s extremely important.”
The running back position is a toss-up with four players who manned different positions last year trying to win the job. Zach Pettit, a 5-9, 150-pound sophomore, was the starting slot receiver last year. Junior Zach McHenry (5-10, 165), senior Tyler Baker (5-11, 160) and junior Eric Stoll (5-10, 170) are the other three. Baker and Stoll were receivers.
Junior Dylan Morgan returns at left tackle and senior Wyatt Whitlatch (6-2, 195) is back at center, and junior Craig Weaver (6-8, 240). The coaches are high on Conner Main, a 6-3, 205-pound sophomore.
“He’s still going,” said assistant coach Joe Barner. “He’s one to watch.”
Owen Main and Hamilton will be the linebackers, Conner Main and White will man the ends and Baker, Pettit, McHenry and freshman Isaac Courtwright form the secondary.