On Senior Night, the last game of the season, the football team played host to Henderson County rival East Henderson. Neither team had won a game all season.

The game ended with West’s 28-21 win, which prompted the fans to storm the field.

Team members said the season was a learning opportunity.

After several players, including junior quarterback Dustie Fender, suffered injuries, several sophomore players on junior varsity had to be called up to varsity.

“Because of injuries, we’ve had to move a couple of players up from junior varsity,” Assistant Coach Ben Pierson said. “We were struggling with a team of about eight seniors, a few of which are new to the sport, a large group of juniors and a few players stepping up from JV.”

Sophomore James Murray was one of the players that moved up from junior varsity.

“It’s a huge honor, but there’s mixed feelings,” Murray said. “It’s great to be able to get a feel for how varsity plays, but at the same time it’s disappointing to go from winning games easily on JV to having a very difficult time on varsity.”

The football team has improved over the course of the season, a fact that is proved by the season high 35 points scored by the offense against Brevard on homecoming night.

The junior varsity team has proven to be a formidable opponent by winning every game except for the final game against East Henderson, 22-28.

“Moving up the younger players to varsity hasn’t hurt the junior varsity team that badly, but it’s for the better,” Pierson said. “There’s a big difference between the level of play from the two.  The players are bigger, faster and stronger.  I’ve got a good feeling for the next few years since the sophomores this year will have more experience that they wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

By Patrick Martin, Head of Tech