Whitefield Academy upset No. 1-ranked Turner County

Macon — There was a time this season when Whitefield Academy coach Tyrone Johnson had pretty much had enough. In fact, the longtime WolfPack coach calls this year the worst of his career.

“[The players] were just so hardheaded early in the year,” Johnson said. “That sounds bad because we have eight seniors, but it took a while to solidify our roles, and I got frustrated a lot with this team this year.”

Johnson will remember the season a lot more fondly after the WolfPack (26-5) upset No. 1-ranked Turner County 69-53 Saturday to claim the school’s second Class A boys championship. It was the fourth trip to the final for the Cobb County school, which won in 2003 but lost in 2006 and 2007.

“These guys answered the challenge and made it through the storm,” Johnson said.

It was a stormy season for the WolfPack and a stormy game for the Rebels, who lost for the first time in 2009. Turner County (30-2) was called for 41 fouls, and seven players fouled out.

Sensing that the game was going to be tightly patrolled after 11 fouls were called in the first four minutes, Johnson stressed the importance of playing strong defense without fouling.

It was the WolfPack’s matchup zone press that made the difference, turning a tie game at halftime into a comfortable Whitefield margin. The WolfPack opened the second half with a 16-2 run, and Turner was never able to cut the lead to single digits the rest of the way.

Whitefield was led by Brandon Reed and Kennard Backman with 17 points each. Turner County’s Ternell Davis led all scorers with 18.