Saluda football wins first two games under new head coach Greg Woerner
Tigers beat Crescent 28-6 in season opener, follow it with a 34-0 win over Ridge Spring-Monetta
Saluda – The Greg Woerner era for Saluda High School football got off to a rousing start. The Tigers defeated Crescent 28-6 on August 22 in Woerner’s first game as head coach. They followed that with a 34-0 triumph over Ridge Spring-Monetta.
“It’s football and you have to go out and work hard, and that’s what our guys did,” said Woerner, who was the offensive coordinator last season under Stewart Young, who is now the head coach at Lexington. “Our guys really played well. We spent the summer and fall trying to point them in the right direction and they did really well.
“Crescent is a good team and they made it hard on us. It took us a while to finally break it open. The defense bowed its back and had a great game. It made some big plays and had a lot of interceptions.”
Woerner takes over a team that went 9-2 last season and has eight starters back on offense. Four of those returnees are on the offensive line in All-Region 2-AA left tackle Bryan Gomez, sophomore right tackle LJ Sanders, right guard Walt Cannon and senior center Sid Shaw. The newcomer is left guard Zayden Couch.
“They’ve been playing football together a long time,” Woerner said. “They know how to communicate with one another and they’re strong.”
After seeing moments at quarterback the past couple of seasons, senior Brayden Williams is firmly
entrenched in the spot this year. Williams had 93 rushes for 614 yards and 10 touchdowns last season and caught seven passes for 177 yards and two more scores. He completed 19 of 36 passes for 415 yards and three touchdowns.
“He’s owned that position over the offseason,” Woerner said of Williams. He’s grown in that position, and he’s done a great job of leading the team for us.”
Junior Tristan Daniels is the starter in the 1-back set, but Jaylen Bledsoe will be getting his share of carries as well.
“Tristan had a monster first half, running for a touchdown and gong up to make a catch or a touchdown,” Woerner said. “Tristan is a really physical downhill type runner. Not too many guys are going to bring him down 1-on-1. He wants to be in there. He’s upset when he’s not. He has great instinctive hands to catch the ball. Hopefully we’ll be able to get the ball to him and open the game up.”
,
The wide receivers are Cooper Gantt, senior CJ Springs and Mekhi Linton. The tight end is junior Jahmeer Myers.
Saluda operates out of a 3-man front on defense with junior Grant Gentry, Ethan Graham and Monty Holmes filling those spots. The linebackers are Sandy Springs, Zeb Penny, junior Jayden Myers, Devin Dunn and Bledsoe. CJ Springs is a returning defensive back standout. The other two in the secondary are sophomore Darryl Hill and Jakaile Stevens.
“They’re a fast defense, flying around to the ball,” Woerner said. “They have a short memory. If they mae a mistake, they move on to he the next play. They’re making plays.”
Ericson Vasquez is the placekicker and Daniels will do the punting.
Woerner said the Tigers just need to continue to grind.
“It’s just staying together, buying in and being one unified team,” he said. “We need to take pride in doing things the right way. If we do that, it will be a very successful season for us.”
