Palmetto Pigskin's West Florence Preview
The 41-7 opening night loss to South Florence was a sign of things to come for the Knights. West Florence had won nine straight games against its biggest rival, and the shock of that devastating defeat never really went away. The Knights finished 1-10, and Trey Woodberry’s squad has been hitting the weight room heavily ever since. “Whenever you open up with your rival and you don’t win, it drains on you,” said Woodberry. “This year we’re going to have to come out and play well right from the start.”
West Florence returns many of its key players that lived through the tough 2009. RB Eddie McKenzie had some big games in region play, and was a big factor in the Knights’ upset victory over Carolina Forest. The Knights have a lot of depth at wideout, led by Zach Shields, who was all-conference as a sophomore. There’s a QB battle in camp between senior Andrew Stewart and sophomore Josh Davidson. Defensively, West Florence returns linebacker Jacob Izake and defensive back Eric Driggers.
The Knights have little depth on either line. Woodberry laments that his team is the opposite of the team two years ago, that had great linemen Malliciah Goodman, John Coleman and Sydney Sarmiento, but had few players at the skill positions.
The Knights believe last season will help them in the long run. The bad taste of losing 10 games has pushed more players to work harder this summer. The Knights non-region slate includes trips to Camden and Myrtle Beach. So while Woodberry says his team “is so much better this year, it’s not even close,” it will still be a tough schedule to navigate through. But, if there’s one thing that last season taught them, their opener against the Bruins is the most important game of all.
