The 2023 Fall football season has been filled with great moments, great plays, and great victories. Led by head coach Andy Capone, The Dub finished the season with a record of 8-2 and an undefeated record at home. Their only losses were tight battles up until the end in weeks 4 and 10, with injury issues in both of those games.
There were a few fresh faces this season with Senior wide receiver Keenan Jackson (Committed to The University of North Carolina) playing in his first season with Weddington along with junior wide receiver Javon Barber. The two newcomers have been able to improve an already elite passing attack led by senior quarterback Tyler Budge (Committed to Georgia Southern) at the helm for his second season as the starter.
The team had also returned major core players on the defensive side of the ball such as Senior Cornerback Sam Neely (Committed to Wake Forest), Senior linebacker Michael Luisa, and sophomore linebacker TJ Davis.
Coming into the season expectations were high with state championship aspirations, those goals are still very much intact as the Warriors were able to receive the 1 seed for the playoffs.
In week one they were able to take down 2022 playoff opponent Cox Mill rather comfortably in a 54-3 rout at Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, NC. The Warriors were firing on all cylinders and set the tone for a very successful season. Week two was a game against Ardrey Kell which started with battling over social media prior to the Friday night bout between the two heavyweights. The game ended in another comfortable win as they were able to shut out the Knights on the road 35-0.
Week three against West Forsyth was a shaky start for the Warriors but once they settled into the game, they were able to pick up another win at home 44-22.
These 3 weeks of dominance then set up a highly anticipated matchup between Weddington and Butler in a week 4 showdown of two elite teams. It was a game played at Butler High School and the atmosphere was electric with many of the Weddington faithful making the trip over to Matthews. It was a game that early on did not start out great for the Warriors as sophomore interior Lineman Aiden Harris left the field early due to a hip injury. Both teams battled back and forth with Butler getting a late stop to knock off the undefeated Warriors. The Dub would then shake off the loss and bounce back in week five with a home thrashing of Chapel Hill 66-13.
Week six on the road at Dutch Fork was the most highly anticipated game for many when the schedule was released back in the spring of this year as Dutch Fork is seen as a South Carolina football powerhouse. The game started out horribly as Weddington found themselves down 14-0 at the half. They would then go on to score 17 unanswered and stun the Silver Foxes on their own turf to advance to 5-1 on the season. Week seven was a bye week which gave some much-needed rest to a team that had just gutted out a very tough road game.
Week eight kicked off conference play as the Southern Carolina Conference looked to be very challenging at this point in the season. Weddington would travel to 5-1 Porter Ridge and get a big road win, winning 36-12 to kick off their conference campaign. Week nine was another very highly anticipated matchup against the Sun Valley Spartans as Sun Valley came into the game undefeated on the season looking to take down their Warrior counterparts. With all of the buzz surrounding the game, Weddington mauled the Spartans and picked up a statement victory at home.
Week Ten also had a large amount of buzz around it in the Weddington community as it was senior night, and it turned out to be a good night as well with a 62-14 dismantling of the Cuthbertson Cavaliers. This then set the stage for a final-week showdown with the Marvin Ridge Mavericks on the road. It was a game where there were many inactives at key positions with Senior Cornerback Sam Neely inactive and also vital receivers Joseph Madden and Javon Barber. It was a game that was very back and forth up until the end with The Mavericks scoring a late touchdown to take down the Warriors.
Weddington goes into the playoffs as the number 1 seed in the 4A West Side of the NCHSAA football bracket and will face the Providence Panthers on Friday, November 3rd at 7 PM at the Dub. Senior runningback Brady Ritter stated “We are feeling confident with coach Capone’s gameplan going into the Providence game. We also feel like having home-field advantage will give us a good chance of going to states.”
