Dillon Christian adjusting to new head coach Chris Alphin

           Dillon – The season didn’t begin for the Dillon Christian School football team in the way new head coach Chris Alphin had hoped. The Warriors dropped a 35-12 decision to Florence Christian School on August 22. However, he saw more than enough to have him excited about what could be on the horizon.

           “We’re still having those early-year penalties,” Alphin said. “We’ve got to work on that and become more disciplined. After we settled in, I thought we played pretty well. At halftime we made some good adjustments. There were times where we got a little stagnant and didn’t finish drives and missed putting points on the board. We’re just going to have to work to keep on getting better.”

           DCS has six starters back on offense from last season’s 2-6-1 club. It is having to find a new quarterback and is doing so with a pair o sophomores in Jordan Blackmon and Gray Easterling. Both of them played a good bit against FCS.

           “I feel like we have a true dual threat with either of them,” Alphin said. “Between the two, Jordan has the better legs. What impressed me is I think we threw the ball better with the both of them than we did a any timelast year. We didn’t run the ball that well, but Florence Christian probably had a lot to do with that. If we can keep throwing like we did and improve the running game, we’ll be satisfied as a coaching staff.”

           The running back in Dillon Christian’s 1-back set will be senior Reese Bracey. The wide receivers are senior Zack Ellis, senior Hayden Moody and sophomore Blake Hunt. The tight end is senior Wyatt Locklear.

           The offensive line is made up of senior Braxton Cummings at left tackle, TJ Alford at left guard, freshman Eli McColl at center, senior Lincoln Dial at right guard and John Paul Walker at right tackle.

           The Warriors only have four starters back on defense. Their 3-man front will have Cummings at noseguard with Wyatt Locklear and Dial flanking him on either side.

           As for the linebackers, Bracey will line up on the outside on the right with Tripp Hyatt outside on the left. Kaden Locklear and Ethan Moody are covering the middle.

           Terry Knight will also be seeing a lot of time at linebacker with a special package in the game plan fjust or him.

           The secondary has Hayden Moody and Ellis manning the cornerback slots with Easterling and Blackmon the safeties.