WEST POINT, Ala. – The 2020 season for the West Point Warriors was defined by the mid-season turn that began with a big win at Crossville. After dropping their first five games of the season, the Warriors defeated the Lions on the road 35-27 to begin shifting the momentum and went on to collect wins in three of their next four games to finish the regular season 4-6 and earn a trip to the postseason. Now, West Point will look to build on the momentum it finished last season with, get off to a strong start in the regular season this fall and punch its ticket back to the state playoffs. Warriors Head Coach Don Farley is entering his ninth season at West Point and he and his staff have been working to find the right combination of players in the right positions throughout the preseason.
“We’ve had a great summer; our guys have worked really hard and they’re just trying to get better every day,” Farley said. “It’s a new year and there’s some new faces and some new places and we’re just trying to find the right fits and find the guys that will be ready to step up and play on Friday nights. We’re just trying to dial in the combinations of which guys can do what and get them in the right places.”
The Warriors were just 2-4 at home in 2020 and with stadiums set to fill back up with raucous home crowds again this fall, Farley definitely wants to improve on that mark this season and is looking forward to having a full Friday night atmosphere back in place.
“I don’t know how well we played at home last year, we had that four-game stretch where we lost all four games by a total of 15 points, and we were actually better on the road so we’re hoping to kind of fold that into those home games,” Farley said. “You couldn’t tell me last year at Good Hope in that opening game that there was limited seating or anything, it really felt like the most normal thing we had done from March 13 up to that night. It’ll be good to get back to having a full crowd and everyone there supporting us. We want that atmosphere back for sure.”
Offensively, West Point will have some familiar faces returning to the field this fall, led by wide receiver Cade Simmons and running back Kelton Washington. Farley also likes the leadership they have returning on the offensive line so he and his staff are excited to see what this year’s unit can do together after scoring nearly 30 points per game in 2020.
“We’ve got Cade Simmons returning as one of our receivers and we’ve got Josh Suarez and Justin Mosher returning on the offensive line. Those guys are kind of spearheading that group and our offensive line has had a really good offseason so we’re excited about what we think they can do,” Farley said. “Eli Folds has stepped in at quarterback and Hunter Hensley is a young guy who’s really shown us a lot of good things in how he handles the position and of course Kelton (Washington), Brian (Cornelius), Garit Roberson and Suyeta DrowningBear will be people we’re looking at to help us in the run game.”
The Warriors have a little less returning on the defensive side of the ball so finding the right guys to fit in on that side has been a priority during the preseason.
“We’re taking a hit defensively; I think we’ve got four returning starters,” Farley said. “In the secondary we’ve got a couple of guys coming back, we’ve got a couple of linebackers coming back and on our defensive line. So, we’re just kind of trying to balance out some of our experience there.”
A trip to the state playoffs is the goal for every team this time of year and the Warriors are no different but the focus for Farley and his staff at this point has been on finding what they can do to improve before worrying about goals at the end of the season.
“Really, we’ve not talked about the postseason, we’ve just been focusing on what we need to do to take care of West Point,” Farley said. “We keep telling them if we’ll just worry about ourselves and keep getting better ourselves all that other stuff will kind of work itself out.”
2021 West Point Football Schedule
Aug. 19: Priceville (Jamboree)
Aug. 27: Good Hope
Sept. 3: @ Lawrence County
Sept. 10: @ Boaz*
Sept. 17: @ Fairview*
Sept. 24: @ Hayden
Oct. 1: Crossville*
Oct. 8: Sardis*
Oct. 15: @ Douglas*
Oct. 22: Guntersville*
Oct. 28: @ Curry
2021 West Point Football Roster
#1 Eli Folds
#2 Cade Simmons
#3 Will Whisenant
#4 Adan Calvo
#5 Kelton Washington
#6 Ashton Thrailkill
#7 Suyeta DrowningBear
#8 Garit Roberson
#9 Hunter Hensley
#10 JD Cochran
#11 Xander Schultz
#13 Kolby Clifton
#15 Noah Bryan
#17 Isaac Hoffpauir
#18 Caleb Vest
#19 Omar Segundo
#20 Hunter Lindsey
#22 Noah Laney
#23 Jake Wray
#24 Dawson Smith
#25 Kierian Swann
#26 Eli Sims
#29 Jacob Bencze
#30 Brian Cornelius
#32 Riley Wayne
#33 Joshua Shannon
#44 Sylar Philyaw
#47 Connor Hopkins
#50 Blayne Jones
#51 Gus McKenney
#54 Lane Talley
#55 Shawn Sanford
#56 Josh Suarez
#58 Aiden Dujoud
#61 Armando Hernandez
#62 Mikhail Dujoud
#63 Kasey Lawrimore
#65 Atticus Lindsey
#66 Jacob Smith
#68 Nathaniel Swann
#70 Oscar Hernandez
#71 Taylan Eaves
#72 Justin Mosher
#74 Nick Lee
#76 Jacob Simpson
#77 Patrick Sapp
#78 Isaiah Ortiz
#79 Damien Kilcrease
West Point Varsity Cheerleaders
Emma Guthrie, Katrina McDowell, Timberly Shaddix, Kinsley Hunter, Makenzy Bolin, Alli Tucker Hillman, Hannah Veres, Emma kimbril, Toree Wells, Emma Self, MaciJo Simpson, Jaeden Smith, Haylee Hernandez, Katelyn Saint, Kaedince Cagle, Meadow Cooper, Cole Riggs, Angel Wren, Allison Milligan, Kaitlynn Richmond and Kelsey Speegle.
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