WYTHEVILLE, Va. (WFXR) — On deck on the Hardee’s Friday Night Blitz Preview Tour, we make a stop on the preview tour to Wytheville for a look at George Wythe. The Maroons are on a quest to get back to the Class 1 finals and get a state title win.
“The bar has been set before I got there with previous head coaches. When I took the job I wanted to continue that success,” said George Wythe head coach Brandon Harner.
Harner enters his 10th season leading the Maroons. He’s carrying on the successful tradition of the program. Last’s years run to the state title game came from a tough schedule. Harner hopes that by using the same scheduling formula of strong opponents, will pay off in 2023.
“When you look at it you look at it in one way. Yeah, you are looking at it as you are taking some losses, but that is going to pay off when you get into the playoffs. Because I would rather win there than win early and the kids are not prepared for that type of competition,” said Harner.
This year’s Maroons offense could be more dynamic with the return of senior quarterback Tandom Smith and senior running back Laden Houston. Both players have breakout years in 2022 on the playoff run. They hope it will carry over to this edition of George Wythe.
“We have got athletes all around the board. We don’t specialize in just one thing. All of our kids can do everything that we need them to do,” said Smith.
“There will be change…not in the coaching wise but how we run our offense. We do not have as much muscle as we did last year. So there will definitely be a lot more skilled players this year. More like talented kids. I feel like definitely a lot more passing,” said Houston.
