50 questions about the 2024 North Carolina high school football season in the WNC area

The North Carolina high school football season kicks off in mid-August.

With the season just beyond the horizon, here are 50 questions for Western North Carolina teams ahead of the 2024 season. Will WNC have a 1A team advance to an NCHSAA state championship game for the first time since Mitchell three years ago? Or will another Asheville or Hendersonville team reach the regional semifinals like West Henderson did last season?

These questions will be answered in the next five months.

1. Who becomes West Henderson quarterback Cade Young's top target following the graduation of star wide receivers Truitt Manuel and Diego Castro?

2. How quickly can Pisgah's veteran offensive players acclimate to new coach Ricky Brindley's system?

3. Who becomes West Henderson's go-to running back after 2,000-yard rusher Carson Dimsdale graduated?

4. What is the ceiling for Pisgah's defense, which returns eight starters?

5. How does the West Henderson defense rebound after graduating most of its starters from a unit that gave up only 11 points per game in 2023?

6. How well does Pisgah running back Landon Pope fill the void left by Breydon Reynolds' graduation?

7. With a ton of talent returning on defense, will one of Pisgah's players win All-WNC Defensive Player of the Year?

8. What does the Tuscola offense look like under quarterback Bo West, who will take over after big brother Jed West moved on to Campbell?

9. Can Tuscola and coach Jonathan Crompton extend their winning streak over Pisgah to three games?

10. How well does Smoky Mountain transition to new coach JT Postell after coach Ricky Brindley, arguably one of the best coaches in program history, left for Pisgah?

11. Who wins the Smoky Mountain quarterback competition between senior Jarek Jones and junior Kavan Wilson?

12. How does North Henderson coach Jim Beatty replace last year's senior class of 27 players?

13. Can North Henderson running back Mason Gasperson become a top 10 running back in WNC?

14. How does Franklin handle the adversity of a 2-8 season and coach Josh Brooks returning 99 days after resigning?

15. How quickly can East Henderson break a 16-game losing streak with 19 starters returning from last season?

16. Can Reynolds successfully balance its offense between star running back Max Guest and new quarterback Ely Hamrick?

17. Who becomes Hamrick's favorite target as the Rockets look to replace wide receiver Ty Johnson?

18. After a disappointing 2023, can Asheville High bounce back to compete for the Mountain Athletic Conference title?

19. Will Asheville High quarterback Meek Slydell show significant improvement as a junior after a sophomore season slump?

20. How will Roberson's run-pass option trio of LaRon Mills, Tyrin Credle and Zeb Swangim fare in taking over for a group that went 9-3?

21. Can North Buncombe retool and win its first conference game since the 2020-21 season?

22. Will Erwin capitalize on returning talent like quarterback Caden Ingle and cornerback Lawson Reynolds to finish in the top three in the conference?

23. Can Enka find a way to end its 16-game losing streak to conference rival Erwin?

24. How many wins can McDowell running back Hunter Pittman lead his team to?

25. What is the ceiling for Hendersonville with 16 starters returning from a year ago?

26. Can quarterback JaRon Ward and running back Hezzie Rudisill help Hendersonville have one of the best offenses in WNC this season?

27. How much of a leap does Brevard quarterback Benjamin Kessinger take with one season as a starter under his belt?

28. How does Brevard running back Braylon Thompson handle becoming the main running back after Corey Matthews graduated?

29. Can Brevard advance past the third round of the NCHSAA 2A playoffs with 14 starters returning?

30. Does Polk County running back Loreynzo Sanchez become one of the best running backs in WNC in his second year as the featured tailback?

31. How does Polk County replace star wide receiver / defensive back Antonio Simpson?

32. Can Murphy win its first Smoky Mountain Conference title since 2016 with its three leading tacklers returning?

33. Does Murphy sophomore running back Cameron Clem rush for 2,000 yards in his first season as a starter?

34. How does Robbinsville replace the production of running back Cuttler Adams, last year's All-WNC Offensive Player of the Year?

35. Does Robbinsville coach Dee Walsh find a way to get the Black Knights back to the 1A Western Regional final?

36. Can Hayesville build off back-to-back seven-win seasons with the return of backs Tre Graves and Michael Mauney?

37. Can seniors Everett Tatham and Eli Aguilar help Andrews bounce back from a winless conference season in 2023?

38. How does Cherokee fare after having to replace its leading passer, tackler and three leading rushers?

39. With less than 150 total returning rushing yards on the roster, does Swain County find a consistent option to replace Josh Collins and Josiah Glaspie?

40. Does Christ School quarterback Mason Holtzclaw become a front-runner for All-WNC Offensive Player of the Year?

41. Can Asheville School win a third consecutive NCISAA Division II state championship?

42. Who is named the starting quarterback at Asheville Christian Academy to replace star Javier Rice?

43. With over 4,500 yards of offensive production returning and only two of its 15 leading tacklers graduating, does Mountain Heritage have the talent to win a state title?

44. Can Mountain Heritage junior linebacker Cason Jones become a front-runner for All-WNC Defensive Player of the Year?

45. Can senior quarterback Brandon Quinn produce 3,000 total yards of offense after reaching 2,700 last season?

46. Can Rosman continue to build after snapping a 40-game losing streak last season?

47. Can new Owen coach John Faircloth lead his team to multiple wins in his first season?

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48. Can Mitchell threaten Mountain Heritage's conference title hopes by beating its rival?

49. With most of its production returning, can Madison replace running back Levi Shelton to win five games for the first time since 2016?

50. How does Avery County coach Ethan Farmer build off the Vikings' best season since 2019?

Evan Gerike is the high school sports reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email him at egerike@citizentimes.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @EvanGerike. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

Zachary Huber is a high school sports reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times and Hendersonville Times-News. Email him at zhuber@gannett.com or follow him on X @zacharyahuber. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times and Times-News .

This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: 50 questions about the 2024 North Carolina high school football season in the WNC area