Two Football Warriors Fighting Opponents, Diabetes During Senior Year

At Oconee County High School, the football team starts practice at 6 a.m.

That’s hard enough for any teenager, but it’s an extra challenge for two: Darius Darden and Hatcher Hogan are playing with type 1 diabetes.

Darden, now a senior linebacker, was diagnosed in the fourth grade.

“I was sick for the whole week,” Darden said. “My blood sugar was like 600. That was the worst I ever felt.”

Senior defensive lineman Hogan was also diagnosed in fourth grade.

Why me? Why couldn’t it have been anybody else?” said Hogan.

Head coach Ben Hall was concerned when he learned about Darden and Hogan upon taking the job four years ago.

“I knew that I had two players in the eighth grade that had type 1 diabetes, and I was a little concerned because I’d never really had to experience that in the past with any other player,” he said.

Despite Hall’s concerns, Darden and Hogan have handled the challenges well, with a helping hand from athletic trainer Brittney Mitchell.

“When it comes to practice early mornings, they eat breakfast, they dose themselves with insulin,” said Mitchell. “And when they get here, they make sure to check right before they go out to practice.”

Darden, on offense, has 259 yards on 50 carries for 5.2 yards per carry. On defense, he is second team-wide in tackles with 33. Despite missing two games, Hogan has accumulated 12 total tackles with one tackle for loss and a sack.

The Warriors (5-3, 3-0) play for a region championship this Friday against Monroe Area.