By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



The last time the Tuscaloosa Warriors and the Tabernacle Torches met, it was for the top prize in the 8-man Christian Football Association—the state title.

This Friday, the two old rivals will meet for the third time in the last 10 months.

In 2007, the Torches enjoyed two routs of the Warriors—wining the regular season meeting, 42-12 and capturing the CFA crown with a dominating 58-12 victory.

This Friday, however, things could be much different, as several key players from last year’s club won’t be in uniform.

According to Torches head coach Keith Dabbs, the two clubs will have a different look due to graduation losses, but the fans shouldn’t expect too much to change.

“We lost seven seniors and they lost five or six,” Dabbs said. “But they’re a lot like us. They traditionally do the same things from year-to-year. They’re a toss-sweep type of offense and I’m expecting them to run right at us Friday night.”

One graduation loss for the Torches that will change the look of the offense is the departure of two-time CFA All-State quarterback Daniel Whaley.

This season, the Torches may use as many as three quarterbacks in an attempt to replace Whaley.

Last season’s leading rusher, senior Landon Ingle, who played at tailback for the past two years, will move behind center in a shot gun set and run the offense first.

“We’ll start with Landon back there,” Dabbs said. “When we go under center, then Jonathan White will take over at quarterback.”

Dylan Hargreaves may also play some under center Friday night.

“Dylan’s going to play quarterback some time this year. It may start Friday, but I’m not sure about that yet,” Dabbs added.

Last season, Ingle led the Torches with 946 yards rushing on 116 carries for a 8.2 yards per carry average, while scoring 20 touchdowns.

Adding to the ground game was Matt Wade, who returns for his senior season after rushing for 636 yards on 65 carries for a 9.8 average and 12 touchdowns.

Last year’s leading receiver, Bradley White returns for his senior season after catching 23 passes for 474 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior. The speedster averaged over 21 yards per catch last year.

According to Dabbs, the Torches backs and receivers could spell the difference in Friday’s game.

“Our skill people with their speed are our strong suit,” he said. “If we can keep our playmakers on the field we’ve got a good chance. But, if we have to go into the bench, we’ve got several young guys there that may not be ready to play at this level.”

The Torches may play high-scoring games this year, after enjoying a dominating defensive performance last year, when Tabernacle led the CFA in fewest points allowed. Part of last year’s success was depth, something that needs to develop this year.

“We were spoiled last year,” Dabbs said. “We had the best defense we’ve ever had here. We had the luxury of having some kids play only on defense last year, so we had fresh defensive players on the field all the time. We don’t have that now. We may have to out score people this year.”