Consistency is key for West Johnston

By RANDY CAPPS

After a narrow 27-24 loss to Durham Jordan in the season opener, West Johnston raced to a 5-1 record to begin the 2021 season. Things went south after that with five straight losses, including a first-round playoff defeat at Lee County.

“The main thing is weathering the storm,” head coach Jermaine Harper said. “We started out well, then halfway through the season, the wheels fell off. That’s what we talk about when we talk about being consistent. Being a winning program. We need to be consistent throughout the duration of the season, because it’s a long season. These guys have been getting it since February in the weight room, then we come in for summer practices and all the way through to November. We’re asking a lot of these guys. Just being able to stay consistent, stay healthy and keeping that drive. Because the football season is so long.”

Harper won’t have his son, Donte’, along for the journey this fall, as last season’s starting quarterback committed to Saint Augustine’s earlier this spring.

“It’ll be a little different,” Harper said. “But TJ (Denning), the guy we have returning, got some experience a year ago. I’m excited to see what he’s going to be able to do this year as a senior.”

Denning completed nine of his 19 passes for 202 yards and a score in spot duty last fall.

There will be a new face at running back for the Wildcats as well, with allconference selection Nicolas Robinson (1,208 yards, 14 TD) moving on.

“Alijah Brooks will be stepping into that role for us,” Harper said. “He had a couple of carries a season ago. He’ll have a little bit of help in the backfield from Lamont Turrentine.”

Alex Wilson, who emerged late last season at receiver, is also expected to play a key role.

“He made a couple of plays for us in that Lee County game,” he said. “We’re looking for him to be an impact player for us on offense and defense.”

Caleb Lichlyter, Joey Nunnery and Jesus Torres should anchor the offensive line for the Wildcats this season.

On the other side of the football, Turrentine is the leading returning tackler after recording 72 stops in 2021.

“He’s a returning all-conference player for us at linebacker,” he said. “He’s one of the guys we’ll be looking to come out and set the tone and be a leader for us.”

Linebackers Patrick Schmidt and Jon Johnson are in line to be key contributors, as are Jack Gibson and Wyatt Singeltary in the secondary and defensive line, respectively.

The Quad County 3A will be a tough test for Harper’s team this fall. The Wildcats finished fifth in the new league last season.

“On any given night, anybody can win,” he said. “I think the teams are stacked up that evenly in our conference.

“We just want to keep that culture going with our younger guys. Because we had a lot of guys graduate. We got younger guys that need to step up and fill that void. We just want to be consistent, year in and year out.”

View West Johnston's 2022 schedule here: https://www.maxpreps.com/nc/benson/west-johnston-wildcats/football/schedule/