Warhorse midget team is chasing perfection

The football season in the Swannanoa Valley will continue for at least one more week after the Warhorse Youth Football and Cheer League’s midget division team remained undefeated on Oct. 22.

The Warhorses hosted the Brevard Blue Devils at Warhorse Stadium on a frigid Saturday night and advanced to the next round of the playoffs with a 32-22 win.

The victory sets up a rematch between the Warhorses and the Rosman Tigers about 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29 at West Henderson High School. The winner of that game will advance to the league’s Super Bowl.

The Warhorses were the only team to beat the Tigers when they defeated them 20-12 in the opening week of the season. Curt Presley, who joined the Warhorse coaching staff two seasons ago, said it won’t be easy to beat Rosman for a second team.

“The Rosman game next week will be another physical game for us,” he said. “That’s how it was against them in that first week we played.”

Matt Cook, the head coach of the Warhorses, said his team worked hard to improve after a tough season in 2015.

“We won one game last year,” he said. “We have most of the same kids back with the addition of some younger guys that came up. All of the kids have bought into our system and want to be coached. And they listen to the coaches.”

Cook credited Presley and the rest of the coaching staff with establishing a relationship with the players that’s led to success on the field.

“The players trust us as coaches,” he said. “And in turn we trust them to get it done and win games. That’s worked out really well this year.”

Presley said that trust starts with the parents, who he said have also been instrumental in the team’s success.

“The community feels that we have has been big,” he said. “We’ve been able to do that because the mommies and daddies have said ‘Coach them as hard as you want to, and we’re going to back you.’”

Presley said that backing from the parents has helped the players learn how to handle adversity as a team.

With the division championship game taking place 40 minutes away from their home field, Cook would like to see the community make the trip to support his team as they take on the Tigers.

“The more people we get out there to support these kids the better,” he said. “We’ve had a great turn-out this year, and our kids like to put on a show.”