(WHNT) — With only five days until the high school football season kicks off, next up in our countdown series is the JPII Falcons and the Whitesburg Christian Warriors.
St. John Paul II Catholic High School
Starting things off with JPII, the Falcons went 1-9 in 2024 in head coach Kevin Creehan’s first season.
However, it was an offseason filled with changes for the Falcons as they are moving their home field to Joe Davis Stadium.
The team also has new uniforms and has started a new football offseason program.
Coach Creehan says this change shows a commitment to football
“I think we have sort of, heading in the right direction now. Will we be any good? We’ll find out,” Creehan said. “We’ll be better than we were a year ago, but in high school football, you go as far as your senior class will take you, and so it really comes down to how these seniors do.”
The program has tons of coaching turnover, and Creehan says that establishing a true football culture was the biggest hurdle in year one.
Now entering year two, Creehan says the benchmark for success isn’t based on wins and losses.
“I’d like to see this group maximize their potential,” Creehan said. “I think that’s what any coach would probably say, so how do you maximize your potential? Is our potential above 500? Is it the playoffs? I don’t know what it is, but we will see as the year goes on.”
The Falcons open at Joe Davis Stadium on Aug. 21 against Elkmont.
Whitesburg Christian Academy
Over at Whitesburg Christian, legendary coach Jere Adcock is back for his second season.
Adcock and the Warriors went 4-6 last year. He calls the season a learning experience
Youth is the name of the game for this year’s squad.
“Our team is basically sophomores and freshmen this year, so we’ve done a good job in the weight room, doing a good job during the summer, and it’s just a matter of us understanding how to transfer everything we’ve been building on into the ball game,” Adcock said.
Adcock says he feels good about this team because they will be able to do more than a year ago.
“We ran the ball okay, but I think we are going to be able to run the ball more,’ Adcock said. “We’ll be able to use a little bit of option within our run game and our quarterback is going to be a freshman and he’s a competitor, they’ve got confidence seeing him, he’s got confidence in them, we are going to throw the ball I feel good about where we are offensively, we got some holes to fill defense but there again most of those guys are young guys.”
Adock says the team would like to win seven games and get to the playoffs.
The Warriors will start their campaign against Cleveland.
The post Football Friday Countdown: JPII and Whitesburg Christian appeared first on WHNT.
