Raiders welcome Eagleville for Homecoming

White says the Raiders are ‘not far off,’ touts defensive growth and offensive balance in search of Region 5 win

4:05 p.m. Sept. 27, 2026

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

Homecoming week is never just another football week. There are pictures to take, things happening at school, old classmates coming back to town and plenty for a teenager to think about before anybody kicks a football Friday night.

Moore County head football coach Kris White knows all of that comes with the territory. He is not asking his players to miss it. He just expects them to know when it is time to put everything else down. “When it’s football time, it’s football time,” he said.

“When we put on the helmet and go to practice, that’s all that’s on our mind.”

That focus will matter again this week. Moore County returns from its open date at 7 p.m. Friday when Eagleville comes to Lynchburg for Homecoming and another Region 5 game.

The Raiders are 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the region. Eagleville comes in 3-3 and 1-1, having lost 48-27 to Cornersville before bouncing back with a 13-7 win over Richland.

No mystery with Eagleville

There is not much mystery to what White expects from the Eagles. He called Eagleville sound and fundamental on both sides of the ball – a team that is not likely to spend Friday night trying to fool anybody.

“They’re just gonna line up and play hard-nosed football on both sides,” White said. In other words, Moore County should know what is coming. The question is whether the Raiders can keep cleaning up their own football.

Two Fridays ago at Huntland, Moore County stayed within a point into the third quarter before the Hornets finally pulled away. The Raiders trailed 13-12, recovered a Huntland fumble on the ensuing kickoff and had the ball with a chance to take the lead. They could not finish the drive.

That has been a familiar story through the first half of the season, but White came out of Huntland encouraged by what he saw from a defense that continues to grow up in a hurry.

Young defense keeps growing

Much of that progress has started along the defensive front. Moore County is rotating five or six players there, and White believes that group is doing a better job of getting off blocks and making offenses account for them. When opponents have to put two blockers on a defensive lineman, somebody behind him gets room to work.

That has helped the linebackers find the football. Hunter Travis had more than 15 tackles against Huntland, which White called probably his best game. Drew Hardison has become more involved, too, and Tucker Smith continues to show up around the football.

White sees those tackle numbers as a reflection of what is happening in front of them. “Either they’re making a play or they’re freeing up the linebackers to make a play,” he said.

For a roster that has had to lean on young players, some of the biggest gains are showing up in the little things.

Freshman Mason Sandefur is one of White’s favorite examples. The toughness was never in question. White knew that much in fall camp. He described Sandefur as the kind of kid who would run through a wall, get knocked down and get right back up smiling.

Now the football part is catching up with the toughness. “As he’s picked up on the scheme, he’s starting to do things the right way too,” White said.

That matters for a Moore County team still asking freshmen and sophomores to take meaningful Friday-night snaps. They are no longer simply surviving those snaps. More of them are beginning to make plays.

Three yards apart

The same kind of growth has shown up on offense, although the Raiders still need more points to show for it. For all that has gone wrong through five games, Moore County has become almost perfectly balanced. Just three yards separate its rushing and passing totals.

The Raiders have rushed for 551 yards and thrown for 548, about as close to a 50-50 split as an offense can get. Tucker Smith has carried much of the load on the ground, while freshman quarterback Austin Scherff has continued to settle into the job through his first five varsity starts.

Even White was a little surprised when reminded how close the numbers were. “I don’t think we’ve ever been as balanced as we are right now,” he said.

That balance gives Eagleville something to worry about. Load the box too heavily and Scherff has shown he can throw it. Sit back and protect against the pass and Smith has already proven he can hurt a defense on the ground.

Now comes the finish

Moore County’s bigger problem has come after it gets moving. The Raiders have turned the ball over on downs 11 times through five games. Eight of those drives ended in opponent territory, and three reached the opponent’s 5-yard line or closer.

It happened again at Huntland, where Moore County twice came away empty after crossing into Hornet territory. One drive ended on fourth-and-1 with the Raiders threatening to take the lead. Another reached the Huntland 1 before stopping there.

Those missed chances help explain how an offense can move the ball at a reasonable clip and still average just over 10 points a game. Moore County has moved it. Now it has to finish.

White does not believe his team is far from doing that more often, and he has seen nothing from this group to suggest a 1-4 start has worn it down. Even when Huntland began pulling away late, the Raiders kept playing. White noticed that.

He also liked the way they came back to work afterward. He has called this group blue-collar and lunch-pail all year, and that has not changed with the record. They show up, practice and keep trying to fix what went wrong the Friday before.

White believes one good Friday could help some of the younger players stop waiting for something to go wrong. “We’re not far off,” he said. “It’s more of a confidence thing, I think, especially the kids.”

Homecoming will bring plenty with it Friday.

For a few hours, Lynchburg will have all the things that make the week feel different. Then the lights will come on, Eagleville will line up across the field and Moore County will get another chance to turn “not far off” into something it can put in the win column.

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