Beasts of the east

Warhorses blank Eagles to improve to 2-0

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
March 5, 2021

A week two meeting of the easternmost high school football teams in neighboring counties was a decidedly Buncombe affair. 

The Owen Warhorses improved to 2-0 on the 2020-21 football season with a 47-0 victory at home Friday night over East Henderson.

Senior Caleb Scott, who finished the game with 224 passing yards and a team-high 75 rushing yards, led the Warhorses down the field late in the first quarter to set up a Dequan Boyce touchdown run. 

The duo would connect through the air before the second quarter for a 52-yard touchdown, giving Owen a 14-0 advantage. Boyce finished the game with 54 yards on the ground on 8 carries and 63 yards on 2 receptions.

A host of Warhorses contributed offensively, including senior Shavoy Harding who hauled in 3 passes for 73 yards and 2 touchdowns. 

The Owen defense secured its first shutout victory since Sept. 16, 2019, when the defense blanked North Henderson, 13-0. With Friday’s victory over the Eagles, the Warhorses open the season 2-0 for the first time since 2014. 

A strong start is important in any season, head coach Nathan Padgett said after the game, but especially in a shortened 7-game campaign.

“Any time you get a win it’s a great feeling, obviously,” he said. “We cleaned some things up tonight that we didn’t clean up last week. I challenged our kids during the week to fix those mental mistakes we made in the opener. We fixed those, and that helps us take a step forward going into next week against Mitchell.”

The head coach credited the speed and athleticism of his roster for the convincing win over the Eagles. 

“They are a huge football team; they have a lot of size,” he said. “Our kids played with a lot of heart and a lot of physicality. We’re not big, but we’re physical. We did our job and executed, and that’s exactly what you want to see.”

While Owen players and coaches celebrated the team’s second straight win on the field after the game, the focus will quickly turn to the Western Highlands Conference schedule, which begins next Friday in Mitchell County. 

“Yes, we’re 2-0 but we really go into this week 0-0, because the conference schedule starts,” Padgett said. “Next week we have to go to Mitchell, and that’s going to be a big game for us.”

The Warhorses lost at home to the Mountaineers, 41-7, in 2019. Mitchell will put its own 2-0 record on the line next week when it hosts Owen, coming off of back-to-back victories over Statesville and Smoky Mountain. 

To see photos of the Warhorses’ win over East Henderson, view the gallery below.