Simmons Says - We’ll show up
For two decades, DeKalb County has been waiting at the beginning of Warren County football season. It has almost become a tradition at this point. Warren County opens the year, DeKalb County is on the other sideline and more often than not, something wild happens.
Friday night was no different.
The Pioneers left Smithville with a heartbreaking 10-7 overtime loss, another razor-thin finish in a series that has produced plenty of them since the schools started playing regularly in 2005. Warren County will certainly hope the ending isn't a sign of things to come, but there is also some recent history that says one tough night in Smithville doesn't have to define a season.
A year ago, Warren County lost another heartbreaker to DeKalb County by three points. The Pioneers still bounced back and produced just the third winning season for the program in the last 36 years.
Maybe that's why Friday night had me thinking so much about where this all started for me.
I've been going to Warren County football games for 16 years now, usually standing on the sidelines with a camera around my neck, a notepad in hand and sweat pouring from the predictable muggy August nights in Tennessee. My first football game to cover was in 2010 and, fittingly enough, it was at DeKalb County.
Warren County won 19-16 that night. Caleb Northcutt broke a long touchdown run, Frank Martin Jr. had a long kick return for a score and the Pioneers survived another close one in Smithville.
I walked out of there after covering my first Warren County football game and I was overwhelmed. I had a camera I barely knew how to use, a sheet of paper where I was trying to keep stats (way before phones could do it) and absolutely no clue what the next 16 years were going to look like.
I was 24 years old and probably the only person there covering the game from Warren County's side.
Things have changed. That really hit me Friday.
This time, I arrived about 2 1/2 hours before kickoff because for the first time, I wasn't just going to DeKalb County to cover a football game. I was going there to broadcast one.
For The Warren County Way, for the Warren County Sports Authority and, most importantly, for everybody back home who wanted to watch the Pioneers.
It was a new journey for me and another step in a new journey for everything we're trying to build.
Less than 24 hours later, I was sitting back in the Woodshed (AKA my house, for all those who haven’t been Day 1 listeners on the WCSA) thinking about the more than 40,000 views of our coverage, along with the messages people had sent, the calls I’ve gotten and the support we received.
We're going to get better. There are things from opening night we know we have to fix, just like the Pioneers know there are things from opening night they have to fix.
But Friday felt like the start of something. Chris Sullens was beside me in the booth. Trevor Evans was with Ansley Mullican Murphree working the sideline - the perfect WCSA reunion. Kelly Walker Slaughter from Warren First came out and joined us for the pregame show and was an absolute trooper, providing all the backup we needed to give Pioneer Nation a broadcast. Connor Winton and Rudy D'Armand handled so much of the production work that made the entire thing possible.
During the pregame show, where we were able to sit down and talk to coach Belew before the game and get the temperature of the evening, one of my favorite moments of the entire night happened.
The Pioneer Pride marching band came rolling in.
It wasn't even the full band from what I was told, which says something considering it felt like a small army passed by the camera. Anyway, we got to show a little of their entrance during the pregame show and I saw director Duane Farnham bringing his group into the stadium.
Suddenly, I was thinking about 2010 again. I actually wrote a column after that first game and, being the 24-year-old smart aleck I was, made some comment about being confused why Warren County's band was wearing black and gold shirts.
Funny enough, they were wearing black Friday night too.
Trevor pointed out during our pregame show that between the band, coaching staff and plenty of Pioneer fans wearing black, it almost looked like everybody had arrived for a DeKalb County funeral. The Tigers obviously had other plans.
But seeing that band come through also made me realize just how much I've grown up around Warren County athletics.
I'm not the 24-year-old guy trying to figure out how his camera works anymore or trying to write down some hot take that will elicit a few calls.
I understand now that the things I say and the things I do carry a little more responsibility than they did then. I understand what our coverage can mean for Warren County athletics and what we're trying to build with the Warren County Way and Warren County Sports Authority.
Over the last few months alone, we've been able to sit down with people National High School Sports Hall of Famers Gary Rankin and Rick Insell. We've had coach Belew on the show, Andi Jones joined us after being named the Lady Pioneer wrestling coach and Patti Clarke came by to tell stories of how the Pioneerettes became a national powerhouse.
We've recently talked with Pioneer legends like Bobby Luna and Jimmy Walker - with the latter coming in just days after a Hall of Fame induction.
We're getting opportunities to tell Warren County's stories. Friday night was another one.
And as much as the night represented something new for us, the real story was still the kids on the field.
AJ Whitman was phenomenal. In my opinion, he was the best player on the field Friday night.
There were times watching him run when my mind went back to some of the great Warren County runners I've covered over the years. Northcutt had that ability to keep going, but that was his job as as running back. The Pioneers have had guys like Brandon Steg, Isaiah Grayson and Alex van Vuuren who were all dual-threat QBs that put their stamp on this rivalry too.
Of course, there's C.J. Taylor too, but he set a standard that makes comparisons almost unfair. It was Whitman's first-ever start at QB and it's time for him to write his own story.
What stood out Friday was the way he ran, the way he commanded the offense and the confidence he showed when Warren County desperately needed something in the fourth quarter.
The Pioneers had to have a touchdown. Whitman delivered it.
Then there were the images after the game.
Brent Carden (and Leah Mara) captured some great ones throughout the night and there were photos taken after the final play of Whitman being helped back up by his teammates following the fumble that ended the game.
AJ Whitman helped off the field by his teammates Friday. Full post from Carden below.
That's when you remember how much all of this matters. It matters to those kids.
It matters when Whitman is fighting for one more yard on Friday night. It matters when the Lady Pioneers are playing volleyball or soccer and the student section is going crazy. It matters when Emma Woodlee is running for Warren County and winning medals.
It matters on Friday nights, Thursday nights, Monday nights, Tuesday nights and every other time somebody puts Warren County across their chest.
That's why we're doing this. It matters to me. It matters to Sullens. It matters to the Warren County Way. We want to be there to call those moments. We want to show them. We want to tell those stories.
Friday night, we got to call Whitman's first touchdown of the season with Warren County needing it in the final minutes. There will be more moments.
A special thanks goes to First National Bank of Middle Tennessee for serving as the presenting sponsor of our coverage Friday night. Their slogan happens to fit exactly what we're trying to do.
We Show Up.
That's the plan. We're going to keep showing up. The Pioneers are going to keep showing up too. Friday's loss hurt - Warren County will feel like it was a game it should have won. I'm sure the coaching staff feels that way and I'm sure every player in that locker room does too.
But it wasn't that long ago that this program was sitting in the middle of a 21-game losing streak. Look how quickly things changed.
Last year ended with one of only three winning seasons Warren County football has produced in the last 36 years. That opportunity is still there for this team in 2026.
There are opportunities everywhere right now.
The Lady Pioneer volleyball team has started 3-0. The Lady Pioneer soccer team opened its season with a 3-2 victory over Ooltewah. Fall sports are underway and an entire school year is sitting in front of us. There are a lot of chances for 2026-27 to be special.
Sixteen years ago, I remember walking into that stadium in Smithville and thinking I had made it. I had finally gotten the opportunity to cover Warren County football.
Friday night, I left that same stadium realizing something different: This isn't about me. It's about Warren County. It's about the Pioneers and Lady Pioneers. It's about showing up for them.
And that's exactly what we're going to keep doing.
