Only nine players showed up in 2022 for the first workout under new Washington County coach Johnny Carpenter. Here, they run stadium steps. (Photo submitted)
Washington County coach Johnny Carpenter: “I don’t think there’s a game this year we can’t compete in.” (Call News file photo)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
When Johnny Carpenter walked into the first weightlifting session with his new Washington County High School football team only a month before the 2022 season began, what he saw made him cringe, at least inside.
Nine players showed up looking as if they were puppies who had been kicked by a steel-toed boot — understandable, since they were on their fourth coach in seven years and had won just four games in the previous two years, all by forfeit.
Since getting 10 forfeit victories a year wasn’t a workable strategy for success, Carpenter wanted to put the steel where it belonged: In his players’ hands, bodies and minds.
“It was one of the weakest teams I’d ever seen,” Carpenter said, and not just physically.
“They just stood off and didn’t want to be relational,” he said of the players. “They didn’t know how to work. It was a bit discouraging at first. I tried to stay positive. There was a lot of negative stuff; they had been through a lot of coaching changes.”
Carpenter himself left Fruitdale — which he had led to three straight playoff appearances — and came to Chatom a month before the 2022 season began. He knew it would be a heavy lift to reshape the Bulldogs but didn’t know how heavy, only that he had to coax them into a love for pushing tin the right way.
“It was like prying teeth to get them in there at first,” Carpenter said. After the initial weightlifting session, he went home and confided to his wife: “I don’t know what I have done.”
But Carpenter had the right name for the task ahead. He started pulling out walls and hammering new studs into position in the biggest renovation job in school history, for no WCHS coach had ever inherited such a dilapidated program with only 13 wins in five seasons.
When his players ran the stadium steps up and down the first time, it was more down than up. They fit single file, even spaced out, and gasped as they struggled to get to the top of the bleachers.
The scene was similar on the field between 2017 and 2021, when the Bulldogs not only lost but were rarely competitive, losing by an average margin of 32 points. To put that into perspective, their average winning margin was 27 points between 2012 and 2014 under Chris Wilson during the most successful three-year period in school history (39-5), which featured back-to-back appearances in the Class 2A Super 7.
When Carpenter put on his tool belt, WCHS had gone 13-36 since the last winning season of 6-4 under Al Earnest in 2016.
“I knew it would be a big challenge but it was close to home,” Carpenter said. “I’m friends with most of the people here. I wanted to build something special, bring it back to what it once was. I was told it would be impossible to win there for the next several years. But the kids needed someone who cared about them. … I had to develop a relationship with them and earn their trust. It took time for them to trust me.”
The elapsed time was about three weeks.
“Day one, we had 10,” Carpenter said. “Day two, we had 15.” Then he put his persuasive powers into action with kids he had seen around town and knew could contribute if he could convince them to play.
“We had 40 about three weeks later,” he said. “A lot started showing up after they found out that I got hired. They were going into a season and didn’t know if they had a coach.”
Washington County is 5-16 in Carpenter’s first two years but it reached the playoffs last year for the first time since 2016 and he said that ended the rebuilding phase.
“That was over last year,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a game this year we can’t compete in. … We have a lot of average kids who with hard work have become above average. … One of the buzzes in the locker room is making Washington County what it once was. I think we have a dadgum good shot at winning the region if we stay humble and hungry and injury free.”
The Bulldogs return nine starters on offense and eight on defense, most of them playing both ways, but those encouraging numbers aren’t all encompassing to Carpenter. What is more important is that his players are pushing each other now.
“I started babies the last year and a half,” he said. “But just because you are a returning starter doesn’t mean you will start. We’ve got a lot of competition at all positions.”
Carpenter even has a Division I prospect in offensive lineman Kearius Bivens (6-7, 290, senior), who has offers from South Alabama, Southern Mississippi and Jacksonville State and probably could have taken out all nine of Carpenter’s first players two years ago if he had fallen on them.
“We have enough linemen where he will play mostly offense,” Carpenter said.
The strength gains among those linemen are obvious.
“Last November, we didn’t have anybody who could bench 200,” Carpenter said. “Now, no offensive lineman benches under 250. The difference between where we were and where we will be is the weight room.”
Washington County has depth at running back in Rylee Brantley, Randy Luker and Trey Smith. Jaylin Howze, who Carpenter said is easily the best athlete in the school, is the primary wideout for sophomore quarterback Conner Williams. Kelin May (6-2, 203) can be special at defensive end.
“My kids are giving me all they’ve got this offseason,” Carpenter said. “I think we overachieved last season by making the playoffs. I wouldn’t say we’re ahead of schedule but we’re ahead of where people thought we’d be. We’ve come a long way in two years. I want to put a football team on the field that will make the community proud. I think we’ve finally got the kids and the community on board.”
