Westfield football gets a visit from Brookwood to open the season

The Westfield Hornets are entering their second year under championship coach Chad Campbell, and they’re looking to make a good first impression in 2024 as they host the Brookwood Warriors on Friday.

The Warriors were a potent offense last year with Rodge Waldrop under center, TJ Thomas on the ground (946 yards rushing, but also 1025 yards through the air with 30 total touchdowns) and Rex Schofill bringing down 1258 yards and 13 touchdowns.

But, every one of those players is gone now. Schofill is now at Thomasville High School, and the others have graduated.

They weren’t particularly good on defense, and got in to a lot of shootouts throughout the season. They also lost their top tackler Chapman Wolsfelt, and top two cornerbacks Thomas and Oskar Thompson.

The Hornets do have to rebuild some position groups after losses last season, but can they take advantage of another team in a similar situation?

Here are three things to watch in Friday’s contest:

1. Can the Hornets take care of the football?

Westfield suffered from a lack of ball security in 2023, and finished the season with an astounding 19 turnovers. That’s an average of 1.72 per game.

It would have been worse, too, had the Hornets not recovered six of their 17 fumbles.

Campbell said that it got better as the season went on, but before every practice ends the team goes through ball security drills to ensure 2024 has a much lower turnover rate.

2. How does the offensive line look?

Another big talking point for the team is the loss of four offensive linemen. The Hornets only return two starters at the position, and one is coming off of an offseason surgery and wasn’t fully up to speed in July.

They will also have to retool the tight end position.

With the strengths of their offensive players, good blocking is paramount.

Jackson and Stone St. Clair are very good on sweeps and screen passes, and in order to get the most out of those they’ll need good blocks not just from the line, but also their tight ends, running backs and receivers.

3. With an extra year of experience, how do the offensive position groups look?

Westfield hardly graduated any offensive talent last year. Trae Hardy is the only senior who contributed rushing or receiving to graduate last year according to MaxPreps.

That means the St. Clair pair will lead the receiving room, along with Mason Easom and others.

Not to mention returning Nick Free, Jackson Hair and Neal O’brien on the ground. They accounted for 847 rushing yards and seven touchdowns in 2023.

Kickoff is scheduled for Friday at 7:30 p.m.