WHITMIRE - Last Friday was rough for Whitmire's football team.

Ninety-Six beat up the Wolverines 49-6. Now WHS seeks to put the loss behind, learn from its mistakes and be better this week.

The Wolves have another tough opponent though, as county rival Mid-Carolina comes to town.

Mid-Carolina

2A Mid-Carolina will be playing its first game of the season. The Rebels are coached by former Wolverine coach Louie Alexander.

MCHS uses the Double Wing on offense. The offensive line is a dominant group, according to Whitmire coach Donald Addis. The Rebs want to run the ball, but have a quarterback with a good arm if they need to go to the air.

“They're going to run and try to control the football,” he said.

On defense, the Rebels use a 4-3 base. Linebackers and defensive ends are as good as WHS will see this year, Addis said.

“They are physical up front and we have to withstand the challenge,” said Addis. “That's where the game will be decided. They are bigger and more physical and we have to match that some way. We don't want to be beat up and down the field.”

Mid-Carolina returns most of its starters on both sides of the ball. They've looked good in preseason action, defeating Newberry 8-0 in the county jamboree, losing to AC Flora on a punt return in another jamboree and beating Dreher and Ninety-Six in scrimmages.

“They have the advantage in experience,” said Addis. “We have a young group that will be challenged.”

Whitmire

The Wolverines got more than a challenge last week, as Ninety-Six capitalized on early Whitmire mistakes and then showed no mercy, jumping out to a 19-0 first quarter lead.

Addis said his team got “whipped pretty good.” Ninety-Six was bigger and more physical. It was hard for WHS to handle the ‘Cats on either side of the ball.

When the smoke cleared, Ninety-Six had gained 241 yards on the ground and held Whitmire to negative 33 yards rushing.

The Wolverines did show heart, avoiding the shutout with a 83-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Crumpton to Marcus Lindsay.

Ethan Campbell led the Whitmire defense and Alan Michael Glenn showed heart on the offensive line.

“If our guys can just hang in there and survive these early games and continue to get better, we believe this team will be OK by region play,” said Addis.