Ware Shoals’ Rushing Attack Pounds Dixie

Ware Shoals&#8217; Rushing Attack Pounds Dixie

Jed Blackwell October 17, 2025 @ 11:34 PM

WARE SHOALS | On his last carry of the first half, Ware Shoals RB [player_tooltip player_id='1639783' first='Altavis' last='Evans'] was brought down awkwardly for no gain, and stayed down for a few minutes before exiting the game.   He came back with a vengeance.   Evans rushed for 272 yards, with 127 of those after halftime, and scored five touchdowns as the Hornets defeated Dixie 58-33 to stay unbeaten on the year at 8-0.   "I bounced back," Evans said. "I've got to give it to the O-line, they blocked like they never have. We're just going to keep on going and keep this momentum."   Ware Shoals had another huge night on the ground. The homestanding Hornets churned out 428 yards on the ground, with all but 12 of those coming courtesy of Evans and QB [player_tooltip player_id='1821508' first='Jayden' last='Johnson'], who rushed for three scores of his own. Head coach Chris Dodson said that was by design.   "All week we preached that we could be physical and that we were going to run the football," Dodson said. "We were going to run it, and when they stopped it we were going to try to run it again. We just came out and tried to impose our will. We talked to our receivers and they understood. We had a gameplan, and we had to make it roll."   That physical style held true on both sides of the ball. Destin Lewis and Jacob Baldwin were the cause of a lot of the success in the running game, while Keithan Lomax and [player_tooltip player_id='1639784' first='Trent' last='Dyal'] also helped set the tone on the defensive side of the ball.   Dixie's playmakers came up big in the early going, as [player_tooltip player_id='1267345' first='Brandon' last='Nance'] ripped off an 81-yard touchdown and [player_tooltip player_id='1824665' first='Dallas' last='Dotson'] had scoring runs of 15 and 5 yards. But Ware Shoals' defense played particularly well after halftime. In the third quarter, despite scoring a TD thanks to a long kick return and a busted-play TD pass from [player_tooltip player_id='1823492' first='Staylon' last='Johnson'] to Nance, Dixie totaled exactly zero offensive yards.   "Our defense has been playing well," Dodson said. "It feels like when we started in Week Zero was two years ago. But they've been playing well since Week 2. It doesn't look like it sometimes, because we'll give up a big play here and there, but we're bend-but-don't-break."   Joshua Winbush made a huge impact with three tackles for loss, while Brennan Goode notched a sack and Rykeem Robinson pounced on a mishandled kick to open the second half and steal a possession for Ware Shoals. Tyrell Cunningham had two crucial catches on the Hornets' only completions of the night. Charles Callaham and Brayden McDonald were also in on a ton of plays for Ware Shoals.   [player_tooltip player_id='1820867' first='Riley' last='Wojtkowski'] nabbed an interception for Dixie, while [player_tooltip player_id='1818524' first='Skyler' last='Evans'] set up a touchdown with a huge kick return and [player_tooltip player_id='1823496' first='Jayden' last='Martin'] provided the Hornets' final score of the night with a seven-yard run.

WARE SHOALS | On his last carry of the first half, Ware Shoals RB Altavis Evans Altavis Evans 5'8" | 175 lbs | ATH Ware Shoals | 2026 State SC was brought down awkwardly for no gain, and stayed down for a few minutes before exiting the game.