Warhorses are preparing with purpose

Owen focused on ‘taking the next steps’ in 2025 football season

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
August 12, 2025

The Owen Warhorses return from a challenging year, Aug. 22, when they host Rosman to open the 2025 football season. Photo by Fred McCormick

Beneath the layers of adversity endured by the Owen football program last season, when the team finished 1-8 in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene, head coach John Faircloth learned a lot about his young players in his first campaign on the sideline in the Swannanoa Valley.

“I feel like we had a successful year,” said Faircloth, who accepted the position in January of 2024. “Considering what I walked into, and the circumstances surrounding the season, the fact that we won a game and competed strongly in three others, show we established effort as a non-negotiable characteristic of our program.”

As the Warhorses prepare to host Rosman in the 2025 season opener at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Aug. 22, their focus is simple: take the next steps in reestablishing Owen as a hard-nosed and competitive football program.

Owen entered 2024 having won 7 games in three seasons under two head coaches, prior to the arrival of Faircloth. The Black Mountain resident and former R-S Central coach’s first priority was establishing stability and a strong foundation within the storied program.

“We always stress to the guys, ‘be the best version of yourself you can be,’” Faircloth said, as exhausted players trotted off the field after a challenging summer conditioning drill. “If we want to trend in the right direction and have success, we have to continue doing the things that work. Last year was all about effort and not giving up, but this year things are a little more tactical.”

Faircloth inherited a roster featuring only three seniors, but he returns this season with a core of experienced veterans to lead another young Owen squad.

“I had 36 players on my roster last year, and I wanted all 36 of them to understand the vision, play with effort and learn schemes and technique,” he said. “This year, about 92% of my roster is returning. I don’t have to coach the freshman or new players on that standard, it’s on these returning guys to teach them the culture.”

Seasoned players like senior Hayden Burpeau, who will once again start for Owen on offense, defense and special teams, have embraced that message.

“We need to mentor the other guys, because I see all of us as part of a movement,” he said. “It’s not just me or one particular season or group, it’s all of us in these uniforms. With coach going into his second year, we know he wants to be here for a long time, so if we put in the work, we’re setting him up for future success.”

The multi-purpose athlete is one of many starters, including junior quarterback Emmett Minks, junior running back and linebacker Stephen Anderson, senior wide receiver and cornerback Haiden Small and senior offensive and defensive lineman Rio Obispo, returning to the field for the Warhorses.

“I think we faced a lot of adversity last year, but we’re a tight group, like family, and we're all ready to come back this year and build on what we started,” Burpeau said. “A lot of us we’re out there helping this community after the storm, and we all really want to make this same community proud out there on the field.”

Owen head coach John Faircloth enters his second season on the sidelines in the Swannanoa Valley, where the Warhorses are looking to improve upon last year’s 1-8 record. Photo by Fred McCormick

The Warhorses took advantage of that opportunity last season, with a dramatic 50-49 victory over Asheville Christian Academy in a game that brought football back to the Swannanoa Valley for the first time since Helene. The success in that moment, according to rising sophomore Slade Gardner, who hauled in the game-winning 2-point conversion reception, gave players a boost heading into offseason workouts.

“I know, personally, it really helped my confidence,” Gardner said. “That catch, and really the entire game, made me think of where this team can be, and what we have to do to get there.”

The coaching staff has provided players with a road map for that journey, according to rising junior and starting linebacker Bear Dasher.

“We have to keep working harder, raise the standard everyday and continue to be tough,” he said. “It’s all about us doing the things we already know we need to do and maintaining that level of effort on the field.”

How that approach will be applied against opponents is no secret, according to the coach.

“There is no identity crisis with Owen football,” Faircloth said. “We want to make sure that the teams we play know we were going at them, non-stop, for 48 minutes, and they couldn’t keep us off of them. It doesn’t matter if it’s the starters, the backups, the JV team or the cheerleaders, we just keep going at them.”

Offensively, fans can expect a commitment to tough football.

“We’re going to run the option, be aggressive on special teams while trying to beat our opponents in that phase of the game every Friday night,” Faircloth said.

Anderson, who established himself as a sophomore with a 332-yard rushing performance against ACA and finished the season with more than 400 yards in his final two games, will be featured in the attack.

“I would love to see Stephen rush for 1,500 yards this year, and I think that’s a realistic goal for him,” Faircloth said. “He averaged 6.5 yards per carry last year, and he didn’t really even figure everything out until after the storm. When it clicked, it clicked in a big way.”

Minks, coming off his first season as quarterback, is eager to return to the huddle with more experience.

“We were all careful to understand the things we did wrong last season, and that’s how we learned how to do better,” Minks said. “For me, personally, I’m coming into this season knowing that I’ve been working on all of those things for the past year, so I’m confident I won’t be making those same mistakes this year.”

His development in the position will allow him to remain poised in high-pressure scenarios, he added.

“I’m at a point where I can handle myself, and different situations better,” Minks said. “That’s something that comes with experience, so I’m building off last season.”

Owen rising senior Hayden Burpeau will start on offense, defense and special teams for the Warhorses, who open their season, Aug. 22, at home against Rosman. Photo by Fred McCormick

The Warhorses’ special teams unit, which features Burpeau as both punter and punt returner, is a team strength, according to Faircloth.

“Honestly, he might not even come off the field for us,” the coach said. “I wish he could punt and cover at the same time. But, seriously, good players need to be on the field, and he’s not the only one.”

Rising senior Haiden Small, who pulled in 3 touchdown receptions while averaging 7.1 yards per catch last year, is likely one such athlete.

“He’s the fastest kid on the team, and that’s not a guess, he has the fastest 40-yard dash time,” Faircloth said. “When he opens it up, he can run, and he’s a real threat. We found that 18% of the time he touched the ball last year, it was an explosive play, whether it was a run for 15 yards or a pass over 20.”

Gardner was “hooked” on football after his late-season performance last year, according to his coach.

“Football coaches are adrenaline junkies, and games like that ACA game are the ones that give you a rush,” Faircloth said. “Slade catching that game-winning pass hooked him. He’s put on 27 pounds this offseason and worked his butt off. His dad is in the hall of fame here, he has some super competitive brothers, and there are no days off in the Gardner house.”

Defensively, leading tackler and rising senior Tru Davis rising junior Tommy Russell will likely hear their names called frequently.

“Tru is a player who just has a nose for the ball, so it’s not a coincidence that you see him in the mix on so many plays. He knows where he has to be and he knows how to get there,” Faircloth said. “And, Tommy has had the best offseason of any player I’ve coached in my life. He’s definitely going to be our starting linebacker, and he may even end up starting on offense. He went from scout team to special teams now might be a two-way starter, just because of how dedicated he is.”

Players and coaches are satisfied with the work that’s been done, but the job for the Warhorses is far from over, according to Obispo, who finished last season with 43 tackles, 5 tackles for losses and a fumble recovery, while also starting on the offensive line.

“I expect us to keep working as hard as we have been,” he said. “Once we’re in the season, we just have to keep working that much more.”

Developing a familiarity with the offense and defense over the course of a season puts players ahead of where they were at this time last year, according to Small.

Rising sophomore Donte Middleton, who will see playing time for Owen at linebacker and running back this season, participates in conditioning drills while preparing for the 2025 football season. Photo by Fred McCormick

“We all understand everything so much more, and that just makes a huge difference when you’re preparing for the season,” he said. “Now we all have a better idea of how to execute.”

While the coach maintains that success is not measured in wins and losses, playing a winning style of football is on the minds of players.

“It feels like Owen has been kind of a laughingstock of the conference for a few years now, but I expect that to change this year,” Dasher said. “We’re going to be good, and I think we can shock some people. I’ve seen how hard these guys have worked and the time and energy our coaches have put in, and this is the season we can start to show people what Owen football is really all about.”