‘Player-led’ West Charlotte hopes to turn Cleveland County nightmares into title dreams

West Charlotte High football coach Sam Greiner officially started his fifth season with the Lions when N.C. practice began Wednesday, and Greiner said there’s something different about his team this year.

“They understand our expectations,” he said. “And the difference now is with the players caring. A lot of coaches say all the things you’re supposed to do, but when the players have accountability and conviction to do the right thing, that’s when you take a turn. As much I want to win, they have got to want it more than me. That’s where I think we are.”

West Charlotte finished 9-4 last season and reached the third round of the N.C. 3A playoffs. The Lions led a heavily-favored team from Crest High School 22-6 in the fourth quarter before losing 30-29 in overtime. The year before, in 2022, the Lions blew a double-digit fourth quarter lead to another team from Cleveland County, Kings Mountain, before losing in the third round.

The returning players said memories of those losses has brought them closer together. It’s also taught them, they say, to lean more on each other.

“The environment is different,” said junior tight end and receiver Rakim Finch. “This is a player-led team. We have more leaders this year. We have the talent. We have the coaching to go all the way. Last year taught us about finishing and never letting out guard down. We were up (22-6) and (Crest) ended up coming back. It’s motivation, man. That’s all it is.”

Finch is one 14 starters returning for the Lions. Many are sophomores and juniors. About half of them have multiple Division I offers.

Like his teammates, Finch believes all the pieces are there, including a strong coaching staff that includes Greiner, who has led West Charlotte to three straight playoff appearances and won a 4A state championship at Harding.

Former Providence High coach Randy Long starts his third season as offensive line coach. Former Tenneessee Titans player Chris Coleman is offensive coordinator. Former Mallard Creek and Charlotte 49ers player Robert Williams is defensive coordinator. And this year, Greiner brought over Donald Littlejohn — a state championship assistant at Rock Hill’s South Pointe High and Mallard Creek — to coach his quarterbacks.

It’s been his history to try to coach everything, all the time. Now, Greiner’s become more of manager, letting his coaches do much more.

And the atmosphere around West Charlotte seems relaxed, fun. Athletic director Steve Joyner Jr. stopped by practice this week, joking with assistants and hugging players who were eager to up run to him and speak. Former Lions students and players stop by frequently to watch the workouts.

“It’s great having alumni come out and support,” all-conference lineman Justin Wilson said, then he offered a warning about what teams can expect from this season’s West Charlotte team:

“We’re going to be tough in the trenches. That’s where we’re going to win, running the ball. The difference is we might be a lot younger than last year, but we just can physically dominate. Everybody out here are athletes and everybody can contribute.”

The Lions’ biggest star is probably junior KD Cotton, who recently changed his name from KD Smith to honor his mother. Cotton has more than 12 Division I offers from schools like Charlotte, Kentucky, Miami and Wake Forest. This fall, Cotton will move from quarterback to playing defensive back on defense, the position he’ll play in college, and a slot receiver on offense.

Last year, Cotton had 2,314 total yards of offense as a quarterback and accounted for 37 touchdowns. He also had five interceptions while playing seven quarters worth of defense all season.

Greiner thinks Cotton is one of the best leaders he’s coached, and Cotton said that player-led framework the Lions are building is exactly what the team needs.

“We’ve got a lot of talent,” he said, “and we’ve got a lot of discipline this year. That’s all we were really missing, just discipline. This year, I feel we have that. In practice, showing up on time, in the workouts, just doing everything with intention.”

Like his star player, the West Charlotte coach thinks his team’s self-motivation will help it in close games.

It’s part of the reason why Greiner thinks this will be the best team he’s coached.

“We’ve been very successful the last few years,” Greiner said. “But this is a brotherhood. It’s just a different feeling. We always say a really good team is led (by) the coaches, and a great team is led (by) the players. This is the first year that it’s just been a full-out leadership amongst the players.”