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Ethan Amyx and Justice Hilton scored two touchdowns apiece, including one each in the final minutes of the second quarter played in an absolute downpour, as the Wolves opened the season with a 30-13 win over Tennessee High on a stormy Friday night at The Ridge. 

West Ridge (1-0), which defeated Volunteer in its first four seasons of existence, added Tennessee High to the list on a night in which the start of the game was delayed by 30 minutes, and another delay followed in the second quarter before the Wolves took the lead away from the Vikings and kept it the rest of the way. 

"It is pretty nice," West Ridge head coach Justin Hilton said. "I feel pretty good. We are going to enjoy it for a little while and then go get ready for [David] Crockett."

Tennessee High (0-1), which dropped its seventh straight season opener, took a 7-0 first quarter lead when West Ridge quarterback Justice Hilton was pounded by Jackson Reed, forcing a fumble that Cooper Booher took 66 yards to the end zone. Dexter Dishner added the extra point for the Vikings. 

Hilton was pleased with how his sophomore son, Justice, played in his first start at quarterback after replacing three-year starter Trey Frazier with the Wolves. 

"When you run the option that is going to happen sometimes," Hilton said. "I am sure he is not going to forgive himself for it, but he came back, responded and played pretty well."

Holt wasn't pleased with how his squad reacted to so many distractions throughout the night, including a lightning strike that forced the second quarter delay when the Vikings still led and had the Wolves pinned deep in their own territory. 

"We didn’t handle adversity at all with the weather breaks and with everything that happened. We handled the highs of the game really well, we did a terrible job of handling the lows of that game and that is ultimately what cost us," Holt said. "We had some kids that kind of showed themselves and we are going to have to take care of that because that is not we do around here."

When the game continued in a deluge, West Ridge was able to force a couple of turnovers near the goal line, leading to short fields for the Wolves, something that was a common theme throughout the night. 

"They did a great job of playing in our territory all night long so that made things tough," Holt said. "We have just got to clean up mistakes. We put the ball on the ground too much, it was those typical first game things that you never want to have to say, but you do...

"They dealt with (the rain) just fine, we didn’t deal with it very good. Those are things we can fix. We can get balls wet and we can practice with them, that is not a thing at all."

Hilton scored on an 18-yard run and Amyx added a 10-yard score for a 14-7 lead heading into what was a 10 minute halftime break.

"We kind of had a little momentum when it started raining so we were like, ‘we don’t know if this is a good thing or not'," Hilton said. "Coach [Connor] Copas did a good job, making some adjustments offensively. I am proud of that and we came back out and responded." 

With the rain reduced to more of a drizzle in the third quarter, the Vikings pulled within one on a 45-yard scoring pass from Jack Richardson to Barron Harkleroad. The extra point was missed, leaving the Wolves still up by one point.

Once again, Tennessee High was pushed back to its own 5-yard line on a punt by Kaleb Mabb. The Hayden Musick-led Wolves defense was able to tackle Harkleroad in the end zone for a safety. 

"I guess we thought we had something there, but you can’t do stuff like that and expect to win. We will take care of that. We still have to execute everything, it was just a rough night," Holt said. "We got out-physicaled and that is the most disappointing thing considering this is Tennessee High football and we don’t like to be out-physicaled."

West Ridge took advantage of more good field possession following the ensuing kick, with Amyx dashing 48 yards for a touchdown and a 10-point third quarter lead. 

"He is a tank. He is strong and runs hard," Hilton said. "These guys just play for each other and that is what I love about football. This was so much fun."

Justice Hilton added a 2-yard run late in the fourth quarter to finish up the scoring. Samuel Burress made four extra point kicks for the Wolves. Hilton, whose Wolves improved to 3-2 against Tennessee High, felt like the Vikings were the more physical team in a loss to them last season. 

"We expected them to come out in that Power-I stuff and mash us the mouth," Hilton said. "I challenged our guys because they did mash us last year. I felt like we held point and maybe give a little back."

That didn't sit well with Holt, whose Vikings will host Elizabethton next Friday night, followed the next week boy Science Hill. 

"That’s not how we play the game and that is not what we want to do, but those are things we can fix," he said. "It is early in the year. I am not taking anything away from any game, but conference is when it matters and we have two more really good tuneups before we have got a tough conference opponents see have to go play.

"That is just where we are at. We have just got to get better."