Beaty Hopes Warriors Offense Can Repeat

White County opens the football season against Silverdale Academy Friday night, with the Warriors again hoping to be an offensive football team.

Entering his second season as head coach, Curtis Beaty credits the 28.9 points a game in 2023 to offensive coordinator Michel Sloane. Beaty said when he took over as head coach, it was a no brainer to retain Sloane.

“In rural Tennessee, there is a lot of guys that have to pull double duties,” Beaty said. “But here at White County, I was blessed with a guy that was already on staff, Mike Sloane, and he does an excellent job with the offense.”

Beaty said Sloane does a great job connecting with his players and the players believe in Sloane’s system.

Tripp Pinion enters his fourth season as White County’s starting quarterback. Beaty said Pinion is such a special athlete that he ever tried to control him too much and prefers he plays free.

“Coming into his fourth year as a starter, he has the keys to the offense,” Beaty said. “We give him a lot of room to make decisions on the fly.”

While fans love Pinion’s improvisational skills on the field, Beaty said Pinion and Sloane study film and what looks like a split decision has actually been planned.

“He’s already been prepped on the situations that may come up Friday night,” Beaty said. “And he already has the answer, so we let him take the test.”

Pinion threw for 931 yards and tossed 11 touchdowns to zero interceptions last season. He also ran for 1,872 yards and found the end zone 23 times.

Besides the talent of Sloane and Pinion, Beaty said he attirbutes the offensive success to his players growing up playing football together.

“Anytime you have a bunch of kids that have come up the ranks together, they’re real tight knit, I always use the line that ‘They’re truthfully like brothers’,” Beaty said. “So, when you got that kind of closeness, you count on those guys. You trust that they’re going to be where they’re supposed to be, block who they are supposed to block.”