2015 WAHS FOOTBALL PREVIEW

West Ashley High School head football coach Bobby Marion understands that preseason polls don’t mean diddlysquat. Last year, the Wildcats were ranking in the top 10 in the state for the first time in school history. They finished the season at 3-8, missing the playoffs, and winning only one of their last seven games, the bulk of those losses coming within the always tough Region 7-AAAA.
This year Marion says his team is probably picked to finish dead last or close to last in a region that features perennial powerhouses, such as Goose Creek, Wando, and Stratford. In fact, of their 11 regular season games this year, six of them are against teams that are ranked in the top 20 in the state entering the season, according to Maxpreps.com, a website dedicated to high school sports, three (Goose Creek, Stratford, and Fort Dorchester) ranked in the top 10.
But like Marion said, those rankings don’t mean much.
In fact all the preseason stuff, including the pageantry of the Sertoma Football Classic, doesn’t mean much until that ball is kicked off this Friday night. “We look like a 4-A football team. We got brand new uniforms. So at least we look good,” says Marion with a smirk, as if he knows something that Maxpreps and all other blow-hard high school football pontificators and prognosticators don’t. And he just might. While Maxpreps has his team ranking 63 in the state entering the season, they have looked good thus far in scrimmages against Hannahan, Well Branch, and Timberland high schools. And in the one quarter of play against St. John’s High at the 45th annual Sertoma Football Classic on Thursday, Aug. 13, the Wildcats looked sharp posting two touchdowns and blanking the Islander’s 14-0.
“We executed. We had 11 players on the field. We made some plays on offense,” said Marion recapping the 12 minutes of play. The first time on offense WAHS scored on two plays. The second time they touched the ball they scored in four plays. After that, Marion subbed in the second and third string players.
While you can’t take too much away from one quarter of play, there were plenty of bright spots for the Wildcats. “Ahmad Green on defense had a real good night and he had a real good punt return too, about 30 or 40 yards to set up a touchdown,” said Marion.
The Wildcats will have to start the season without star quarterback Justin Barry, who’s already being recruited by Ivy League schools, because of a non-contact knee injury during the first week of practice. But Marion hopes to have his senior quarterback back on the field before region play begins in October, maybe sooner. Junior Chris Hethington has looked good in place of Barry in the preseason. Hethington was the starting slot receiver and has transitioned into the starting role relatively smoothly. Marion says both quarterbacks present a dual-threat running and throwing the ball and that the Wildcats have not had to alter their game plan in Barry’s absence.
“Our philosophy is ‘next man up.’ Because injuries are going to happen,” says Marion, who knows that all too well after last season, where he saw his offensive line get decimated by injuries.
“Last year we started off well and then we started having injuries, we started having injuries on the offensive line. And that’s where you can’t have injuries.” While Marion makes no excuse for his team’s struggles, it was because of those injuries on the offensive line that Berry spent much of the 2014 campaign running for his life. Even still, four of the Wildcats eight losses were by less than 7 points last year. “That’s something we have to work on. We have to learn how to win those games,” says Marion.
“Our program is to the point now where we’ve got the numbers, we’ve got the brand-new weight room. It’s to the point now where we’ve just got to learn how to win,” says Marion, who begins his eighth season with the Wildcats.
How do you learn how to win those close games? “Well you have to get mentally tough,” says Marion. “It’s definitely an attitude, a mental toughness — that when the game’s on the line, ‘I’m gonna step up make a play on offense. I’m going to make a tackle on defense’ … We just got to learn how to win.”
WAHS starts the season off at home against Bishop England High, a smaller, private school, but one that always fields a competitive team and has some state championship banners hanging at their school. That’s something West Ashley hopes to one day have, but Marion knows that at the 4A level success does not come easy.
But despite last year’s lofty expectations and this year’s preseason rankings, Marion thinks this squad has the chance to play spoiler in the Region 7-AAAA.
“Where we’re better this year on offense is the offensive line. It’s really no comparison,” says Marion. “Our starting five are very good. They’re 4-A lineman. We’ve never really had that in the past in that position, where we had five guys who all bench over 300 pounds and all squat over 400 pounds.” Running behind that stout offensive line is the one-two punch of junior running backs Dexter Freeman and Tyquan Campbell. While Hethington is under center, Marion says that Campbell will fill his place as the Wildcat’s slot receiver. But once Barry is back on the field, Hethington will likely move back to the slot and  Campbell and Freeman will alternate, keeping fresh legs in the backfield and giving opposing defenses some headaches.
Marion also says that the Wildcats may have one of the best receiving corps they’ve ever had. Lead by senior T’Qele Holmes, expect this group of wide outs to do some damage to opposing secondaries in 2015 no matter if it’s Barry or Hethington getting them the ball.
Defensively, there are a few challenges for the Wildcats. Mainly at inside linebacker, where Marion is still trying to find the right formula. At outside linebacker the Wildcats are strong. Seniors Melik Brown and Donovan Brown are experienced and athletic and should provide some assistance for the inside.
Upfront on the defensive line, Marion feels his team will be solid, despite its overall lack of experience. Anchored by nose guard Dwight Smith, Marion feels his D-line will be able to get better as the season progresses. In the secondary, Marion feels the Wildcats will be pretty good, with junior Ahmad Green at cornerback being a real threat.
With expectations from outside the WAHS locker room being pretty low for 2015, don’t be surprised if the Wildcats play spoiler to some higher ranked teams this year. Especially after Barry returns from his knee injury and if the rest of the team can stay healthy.
West Ashley hosts Bishop England Friday, Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m. at Wildcat Stadium, located at 4060 Wildcat Blvd.