By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Lexington — In his third year as the head football coach at White Knoll High School (14-1) Nic Pelham is super proud of the progress he and his staff have made over the past four seasons completely changing the culture of the Timberwolves football program.
“We were totally disgusted about the way we played in the state championship game against Dutch Fork and we have been the past two weeks getting that bad taste of defeat out of mouths,” said head coach Nick Pelham. “This upcoming season we will have the opportunity to prove whether we spent the past three seasons building one good team for this season, or whether we have built q program on solid footing for the 2024 season.
“I think myself and our staff have worked hard with the younger kids down in our middle school and junior varsity programs,” said Coach Pelham. “Our junior varsity football team was undefeated this season. We even allow juniors, who are not ready to play on varsity, to play down on the junior varsity and we might actually have some of those type players contributing on varsity next year as seniors.
“We had around 15 players start for us or have key roles the past three years on our varsity,” said Coach Pelham. “Most of them are graduating after this year so we get to see what kind of program we have been starting our fourth season in 2024.”
White Knoll dominated the all-region awards this season. Senior LB Damenco Banks was the Region Defensive POY. Senior Shrine Bowl LB Jaiden Kimble was the Region Player of the Year, and QB Landon Sharpe (6-1,185) was the Region Offensive Player of the Year.
Senor WR Austin Cunningham was a North-South selection and he also made all-region. Senior center Ty Bennett was named all-region along with senor TE Hasan Lee who missed the Shrine Bowl due to injury. Lee recently committed to Charleston Southern. Senior DE Lincoln Ilunga was named all-region along with freshman RB Tiyon Fanning. James Smith is a talented freshman strong safety who earned all-region honors also.
White Knoll will return six starters on offense and five starters on defense in 2024. The offensive starters back are QB Landon Sharpe, RB Tiyon Fanning, WR CJ Earl, OL John Quesda, OL Hayden Hohiwein (5-11, 270), and OL Donovan Sims (6-4,320).
The five starters expected back on defense include: DL Tyrone Jennings, CB Caleb Geronomi, CB Devin Geronomi, MLB Connor Burgress, along with SS James Smith.
Here are some key stats from numerous players this season. Sharpe completed 187-of-273 passes for 2,646 yards and 30 TD’s, “I stand by my statement that Landon is the best junior quarterback in the state,” said Coach Pelham. “If I was playing Yahtzee, I would want him on my team. He is a winner. He can beat you with his arm and his feet. He is a complete quarterback.”
Sharpe added 534 rushing yards on 93 carries and 7 touchdowns to back-up what Coach Pelham said about Sharpe’s feet.
The top rusher on the team was talented freshman Tyon Fanning who gained a team leading 834 yards on 166 carries and he scored 11 touchdowns. DJ Dingle also added 305 yards rushing on 50 carries and three TD’s.
The top four receivers included Evan Henderson (56-750-3), CJ Earl (38-611-8), Austin Cunningham (35-419-6) and Hasan Lee (23-397-5).
The top 10 tacklers on defense were: Banks (120-6 TFL,5 Sacks), Burgress (117-3 TFL), Jaiden Kimble (111-19 TFL, 6 sacks), Domench (100, 10 TFL, 3.5 sacks), Illunga (79, 12 TFL, 8 sacks, 5 Forced fumbles), Caleb Geronomi (72, 2.5 TFL, 7 PBU), James Smith (54, 2.5 TFL, 3 picks), Devin Geronomi (50, 3,5, 6 PBU), Tyler Stoudimire (49, 2 FF), and Charles Plange (42 tackles).
White Knoll had one of the top defenses in AAAAA football as they allowed opponents only 113 points all season.
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