Warhawks look for first win as region play begins

Both the Daleville Warhawks (0-2, 0-0) and Houston Academy Raiders (1-1, 0-0) come into their Sept. 4 matchup looking to rebound after lopsided losses last week.

The Warhawks are coming off a 42-0 loss to Dale County last week, while Houston Academy was thumped 44-3 by Bayside Academy. The Raiders did, however, pick up a 16-0 win in week one against Class 1A’s Kinston.

“They turned the ball over a lot and we expect them to get those kinks worked out and they’re coming off a good beating just like we are,” Daleville coach Desmond Lett said. “So, I expect them to come in for the first region game ready to go and get after us and come to our stadium to try and take one away from us.”

The Warhawks have yet to find the end zone this season and have been outscored 92-0 thus far. This Warhawk team – which has just 28 total players – is struggling to find its identity on offense but has began to tweak the offense to capitalize on the skill players they possess.

Against Dale County, Daleville used a version of the “single wing” offense – under center – and managed to move the ball at times, but mistakes and turnovers killed promising drives.

“We worked on tweaking the offense a little bit because we’re working more of a 4-back system as opposed to having that traditional I-back that can just run through and by people,” Lett said. “We have a power back and three other more speedy backs – that we will also run inside – and we want to play to their strengths.”

Let said, however, the primary thing he wants to see from his team this week is growth.

“I just want to see them grow. In the preseason I was asked what I thought would be the measure for this season and I think we have to measure it on growth,” Lett emphasized. “We can’t measure just on wins and losses and the score sometime doesn’t always dictate how good or bad you played that night.

“I just want to se us go out and compete and play hard and play to our best ability and try to eliminate some of those mistakes and be able to make it a game in the fourth quarter.”