Veterans ready for pivotal game against Upson-Lee

Veterans head coach David Bruce is quite familiar with the balance and toughness of GHSA Region 2-AAAA.

A year ago, the Warhawks faced a win-or-miss-the-playoffs road game against Upson-Lee and found a way to win 28-26.

The scenario this year is much the same, except Veterans will be at home. A win advances the Warhawks to the Class AAAA playoffs, but a loss combined with a Howard win over Baldwin ends the Warhawks' season.

"It's always good to have a meaningful game in November, but this team is not ready for the season to end this Friday," Bruce said. "But Upson-Lee is a very good football team, and we will have to play a great game to beat them. They have running back Quay Reviere who is very good and a dual-threat quarterback in Kalen Puckett, who will make you cover all your bases. And those are not the only weapons they have. I mean, they can hurt you in a lot of areas.

"I am hoping that being at home with a large crowd will give us some kind of advantage, but really it should just be a great high school football game."

Reviere has rushed for 1,200 yards and 18 touchdowns, while Puckett has passed for 967 yards.

Veterans lost a tough region game a week ago against Howard to put itself in a must-win situation, but Bruce insists his team will have no carryover from that loss.

"I have to give Barney Hester credit for the way Howard played last weekend, because I did not think we played that bad," Bruce said. "Sure, we could have played better, but we are ready to bounce back this weekend and get things done."

Veterans will be counting on senior running back Desjuan Harris, who has 1,295 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns, and quarterback Logan Byrd, who has 738 yards rushing and 589 yards passing to lead the offense, while junior linebacker Josh Lee leads the way on defense with 94 tackles, including seven tackles for losses.

"Logan has been starting since he was a freshman, and Desjuan has been around for almost as long, and I know these guys will be ready to play, "Bruce said. "On defense, we have had great play from our front seven for most of the year, but we have struggled in the secondary at times. Josh has turned into a very good football player and a leader, and he gets better every single game.

"We are counting on these guys to have a solid game on Friday night."