Veterans Warhawks preparing for tough road test at Jones County

The Veterans Warhawks hope to improve from last season as they head to Gray for a week one matchup with Jones County.

KATHLEEN, Georgia – (41NBC/WMGT) – The Veterans Warhawks have a tough road test at Jones County to open the high school football season this Friday night.

Last season started off great for the Warhawks; they went 3-1 in their first four games but then lost six straight to finish 3-7.

With an 8-12 combined record over the last two seasons, Veterans is looking to its senior quarterback, Brooks Masters, who is getting his first shot at the starting reigns, as well as a heavy run game and defense that’s ready to match the Greyhounds’ physicality. Even with the third new defense in the last three years, Coach Josh Ingram, who’s entering his third season as head coach, believes his team can get in position to make it to the playoffs and possibly win a region championship for the first time in more than a decade.

“Week one is just trying to get to Friday healthy,” Coach Ingram said during Tuesday’s practice. “You don’t have a long camp in the offseason, but you want your kids to be physical and put pads on and start running into each other. We had a great scrimmage on Friday, and in less than a week, you got to turn around and play week one.  So we want to get to Friday healthy, have some energy, have some juice and just get better every single day.”

Masters knows he is now a leader on this team and is taking the role seriously.

“Just really trying to oppose our will against Jones [County] running the football and getting after it in the trenches really,” he said at practice Tuesday. “When things aren’t going as they’re planned, just trying to get the team back up, try to head them in the right direction.”

Coach Ingram knows what it’s going to take for his team to come out with a win in Gray.

“We have to contain number four [Duke WR commit Jaivon Solomon], we got to limit explosive plays on our defense, and offensively we got to be physical,” he said. “We have to ground it out, and I tell our kids, ‘Veterans can’t beat Veterans.’ We have to do all the little things right: line up, no penalties and play clean football. That’s a huge challenge going against Jones in week one, but we got a young secondary, and we’re excited to see how they respond. Go Warhawks!”

Veterans and Jones County meet Friday at 7:30. Catch the highlights of this game and more on The End Zone during 41NBC News at 11.