White Hall enters this year’s Highway 270 Classic looking for redemption after Sheridan beat its rival for the first time in five years last season.
The Bulldogs will host the Yellowjackets at 7 p.m. Friday in White Hall for each team’s season opener. During the second annual Highway 270 Classic news conference on Tuesday, White Hall quarterback Wyatt Golden said the Bulldogs (3-7 in 2024) can’t quit when things get tough if they are going to beat the Yellowjackets this year.
“We got rid of the quitters back in January, and we’re just building with the guys that want to be here,” Golden said. “So, really, it’s just the fight. We just want to see the fight on every Friday night.”
Sheridan (3-8) won 44-20 at home last season with both teams debuting new head coaches: Daryl Patton at White Hall and Kevin Kelley at Sheridan.
The Yellowjackets recovered three onside kicks during the game, and both coaches said the final score would have been much closer otherwise. Kelley’s teams over the years have been known for onside kicks. He said he is undefeated when his team recovers three in one game, but Sheridan can’t assume it will happen again this year and must expect a tough contest.
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“We were fortunate,” Kelley said. “They didn’t do a bad job, but if that kick is spinning like that kick’s supposed to spin, it hits and it just fires off of a person. … We had some good kicks last year that completely changed the game, or I think we would have been sitting here talking about maybe even another result, but for sure, a game late in the fourth quarter that was a thriller.”
White Hall’s loss snapped a four-game winning streak in the series, during which only one game was decided by fewer than 18 points. Although the Bulldogs went on to finish with a better conference record than the Yellowjackets, Sheridan made the playoffs for the first time in four years while White Hall missed the postseason for the third straight season. If White Hall is to get back on track, both in this series and overall, Patton said the Bulldogs need to play better on special teams, limit mistakes and handle adversity better than last year.
“Go out there and play,” Patton said. “When you’re dealing with 16-, 17-, 18-year-old young men … anything can happen on any given Friday night. We have much respect for Sheridan, and we’re preparing that way. We’re going to go out and play as hard as we can and try not to beat ourselves and see what happens.”
For the first time in several years, both teams will have the same head coach for a second straight season. They will also have the same starting quarterbacks. Golden and Sheridan quarterback Dax McMellon are both seniors this year entering their second season as starters. After going through multiple coaches during their junior high and high school playing careers, they enter this fall with a year of varsity starting experience with their current coaches’ offensive schemes.
As juniors, Golden threw for 1,772 yards and 14 touchdowns, while McMellon threw for 3,635 yards and 35 touchdowns. McMellon said the players are more comfortable with Kelley’s system entering this season than last.
“In year two here, all the receivers know what’s expected of them,” McMellon said. “I know what’s expected of me. The running backs know what’s expected of them. The offensive line knows what’s expected, and day in, day out, we come in and work on those things that’s repeated to us over and over again, so everyone is way more comfortable in practice. Whenever it gets game time, I think it’s going to show.”