White Knoll ready for tough Region 4-5A action

Worthy Evans

HSSR Contributing Writer

Columbia - In spite of two overtime losses, the White Knoll football team picked up where they left off from last year’s 14-1 effort.

The Timberwolves fell 43-40 overtime loss to Sumter Aug. 30, and opened up Region 4-5A with a 24-21 overtime loss to unbeaten River Bluff, but the state runners-up to 5A champion Dutch Fork have overcome the loss of many seniors and early season adversity.

The Timberwolves edged 2023 Class 3A runner-up Camden 21-14 in the season opener Aug. 24, fell to Sumter, then won the next three games with a total score of 136-31. White Knoll leveled Fort Dorchester 38-0 in the team’s final non-region game.

Even though the team lost four of five starting wide receivers, several offensive linemen, and some experienced defenders, the Timberwolves are back out to prove that they can go one game better than last season, when they fell to Dutch Fork 21-6 in the 5A state championship game. 

“We kind of snuck up on everyone last year, let’s be honest. Nobody thought we could do what we did,” head coach Nick Pelham said about last year’s team and falling in the final game. “I don’t think it sat well with everybody else, and it was doubly hard coming back from that with a lot of new faces. We had 29 seniors that led us to that great year.”

This season Pelham said he was actually glad that his team had a little bit of adversity in the first two games of the season.

“We had to grab their attention,” he said. “All of those guys left, but the guys we have here can be tough and can be great players if we just do what we ask. I’m glad we had some adversity, I’m glad we’re playing better. The bye week (Sept. 13 was an open date) helped us and we were able to go back to our offense and our defense and just playing fast and playing tough.”

Against the Patriots Sept. 25, a game that was played two days early because of the threat of Hurricane Helene, Sh’Quez Montgomery, taking the place of starting running back Tiyon Fanning, who was injured the week before, rushed for two touchdowns and senior quarterback Landon Sharpe passed for two more scores, including a 40-yard TD pass to Caleb Geronomi in the shutout victory. Geronomi had nine catches for 143 yards in the game.

The win over Fort Dorchester sets up a multifaceted Region 4-5A showdown among all the teams. Dutch Fork (4-0), Irmo (5-0), and River Bluff (5-0) are undefeated, while Lexington, Chapin, and the Timberwolves are each 4-1. 

White Knoll got the region fight started with a game at River Bluff Friday.

“Six teams, five games, and all of them are really well-coached,” Pelham said. “They’re all really tough. They all have some sensationally talented players, and then they’ve got a bunch of hard-working guys that fit their roles. Our region is really good, they’re really well-coached, and they hit. I’m really excited to watch them.” 

For the Timberwolves, there are some issues that need to be corrected before they become too much of a problem.

“I think we’re playing pretty well, we’ve improved a little bit on defense,” he said. “ We still have some issues on tackling, we still have some issues with penalties on offense, but that’s why we play. We’re starting six or seven sophomores right now. I’m proud of those guys and I’m really excited to see what these young guys can do.”