With every new season comes high hopes for all teams, and the Webbers Falls Warriors football team is no exception.
“There’s a lot of high hopes,” said Webbers Falls coach Trent Holt, whose season opener will be at 7 p.m. Friday at Quinton. “We call it anxiousness. We’ve looked pretty good against ourselves.”
Junior Brutus Robinson is back at quarterback for the Warriors, who were 6-5 last season and finished third in District BII-4 and finished 2024 with an opening-round playoff loss to Waukomis.
The running back position basically will be getting all new faces.
“We had three at the end of (last) year we were counting on,” Holt said. “All three of those are gone — two graduated and one moved. We pretty much have a new backfield. Right now, we have Austin Barger. He gained about 25 pounds this summer. He looks really strong. He played a lot last year, and he was getting better at the end of the year (in 2024). So, we’re expecting him to be able to do a pretty good job for us. Caden Carter is going to carry the ball quite a bit. He’s a senior. Trysten Wilbourn played a little bit at tailback for us last year. When he was growing up, he was a heck of a tailback in little league. If he decides that’s what he wants to do, he’ll be our No. 1. He’s a pretty goodsized kid, and he runs well. We’ve got those three right now.”
Gunner Shelby will spearhead the wide receivers group. “He’s leading the receiving corps,” Holt said of Shelby. “He was our best receiver last year as far as numbers wise. Gunner has gotten a little faster and has grown some. He’s still not a big kid, but he runs well.
He’s got good hands. He knows the game. He’s not the only one. If Trysten is not at the running back spot, he will be a wide receiver. Clayton Roberts is another one who’s played a lot at the wide receiver spot.”
Last year, both Chevy Cole and Thadan Yandell played tight end. This year, likely only one of them will see action there.
“Chevy has come back and has moved to guard,” Holt said. “He’ll be a lineman and not a tight end. I think he’s going to step in and be a pretty good lineman. We’re not saying if Thadan (Yandell) can’t play tight end that Chevy couldn’t step back out there and play some at tight end. Thadan looks to be our tight end. We’re actually going to move Thadan outside some. He’s a big body, and we’re going to try to throw it to him. Thadan runs well.”
Cole will have some seasoned veterans to join him along the offensive line.
“We have a couple of them back,” Holt said. “Brock Rhoden is back. He spent a lot of time last year with an asthma issue, but he’s got that under control. He’s nursing a sore knee right now, so he hasn’t practiced much. He’s definitely going to be one of our guards for sure. Hayden Stephens, a senior, played a lot last year. He started as a guard (last year) actually, but we’ve moved him to center — so, he’s the center right now. We have a couple of brothers, the Thao brothers (Preston and Evan). Evan looks to be leading the way to step in there and be our guard. Caden McNamara is in the running for a guard spot, then Preston Thao is another one (for the guard spot). They can all do it. We know Brock will be one (of the guards). We have a little bit of depth in the offensive line, and we haven’t had a whole lot of depth (in the offensive line) in the past. In small school football, you don’t have a lot of depth. I think we’ll be pretty solid there (in the offensive line).”
These same guys will be counted on to be just as good along the defensive line, but how they will fit in is the big question as Holt said the Warriors will be playing a different defensive scheme, a 3-1 front.
“We’re looking at playing a little different defense,” Holt said. “We’re looking like going to a 3-1, so we would have three down lineman. So, the linebackers and defensive secondary likely will have a little bit of a new look also.
“Thadan will be our middle (linebacker),” Holt said. “That will give us two guys to be two corners/outside linebackers. We’re looking at Gunner, Trysten, Clayton Roberts, Brutus Robinson and Caden Carter. You’ve got those five who are pretty capable to play four spots. We would have two outside linebackers/corners and two who would be playing safety. It’s set exactly where they’re going to be, but we know those kids will be in the mix. We have five, and only four who are playing (on the field at one time), we can rotate them out and give them a blow and give them a rest during the game. I would like three or four of them to step up and just say, ‘I’m the best three or four out there.’ Luckily, we’ve got some depth. We can run them in and out and give them some rest during the game.”
Holt said he’s got 20 kids out, which makes him happy.
Editor’s Note: Last Thursday’s Webbers Falls three-way scrimmage at Wetumka with Bowlegs was rained out and moved to last Friday. Since today’s edition was printed on Friday, the details of that scrimmage were not available for this edition. Look for the details from last Friday’s road three-way scrimmage as well as this Friday night’s season opener at Quinton in next week’s issue.
Here are the members of the 2025 Webbers Falls Warriors football team. Front row, from left — Evan Thao, Rocky Greenfield, Chandler Cramer, Gabriel Chocolatl, River Turley, Carson Bukowski, Chance Young and Preston Thao. Middle row — Ball boy Hudson Shelby, Caden McNamara, Trysten Wilbourn, Gunner Shelby, Caden Carter, Austin Barger, Chevy Cole and Brutus Robinson. Back row — Coach Steve Shelby, Clayton Roberts, Bo Kunkel, Brock Rhoden, Hayden Stephens, Thadan Yandell and coaches Hunter Holt and Trent Holt.
