High school football practice begins across Eastern NC

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WCNT) — It is officially football season as high schools across Eastern North Carolina took to the practice fields Wednesday.

At South Central, legendary basketball coach Chris Cherry is starting his second year leading the football program. He said they’ve averaged between 85 and 92 players at workouts this summer and expects a few more later on.

“We’re still improving. Got a ways to go, but we put in a lot of good work all season. We’ve seen seen a lot of changes in bodies from just, you know, strength, development, speed and skill development,” Cherry said. “So, you know, we’re looking just to continue to build that. You know, we’re not skipping the steps, you know, to take it. You know, you got to crawl before you can walk. You got to walk before you can run. So, you know, but we’re excited about the direction the program is going in.”

D.H. Conley’s Nate Conner had 117 players out for the first day, with varsity and JV combined. The Vikings have some key experience returning.

“It’s an awesome feeling because we work so hard year-round to get out to this point and these boys have really committed a lot,” Conner said. “And the fact that we’re here, we’re eight days away from scrimmages, it’s just a lot of fun.”

At J.H. Rose, Head Coach Will Bland is excited about what the Rampants could accomplish this season. The team had 124 players out for the first day of practice. Junior quarterback Jimmy Martin takes the reins of the team. They open the season at New Hanover in Wilmington.

“You know, we’ve been going for two months in the summer with all the kids and they’ve been doing a great job here, not missing a lot of days,” Bland said. “So it feels great that we get to finally officially lace up here this season on the way. It feels great. I mean, just getting back out here, working with the guys and really it’s been a minute, but it feels great. I think we’re good. Both sides of the ball. We’re really deep. We got a lot of good players on both sides of the ball.”

The New Bern Bears took the field Wednesday, optimistic about the season ahead. “It’s amazing. Nothing like day one. You know, starting a new football season. Just, the kids are excited. You know, the coaches are excited,” New Bern Head Coach Terrance Saxby said. “Everybody has the extra energy to get started. The understanding that, you know, you’re playing you’re working towards something here in a week or two. The guys were accurate today, we stay physical. We stay disciplined. I just want us to get faster more and stay ahead in the game. QB in the game. Oh no more arguing. We got to build as a team. Come together.”

Down in Havelock, the Rams are loaded for 2024, led by ECU commit Jonathan Williams and South Carolina commit Donovan Darden. The Rams are one of the top contenders in the 3A class on the Eastern side of the state. They will be tested with nonconference games against Wallace-Rose Hill, Laney and a big showdown with Tarboro. Head Coach Brent Wooten and his squad are enjoying every moment of what they think could be a special year.

“Like Christmas morning, like these kids have been hyped up. We’ve been talking all week about how this is the last Friday we don’t have a game, hopefully until middle of December,” Wooten said. “So this is what you look forward to, this is what you work hard all summer for. The main thing for us right now is to know that we’ve got a lot to improve on and we know that we’re not where we need to be. We’re not a state championship team right now. We got to work throughout every week and each practice to get better.”

At Farmville Central, the Jaguars had around 55 players out for the first day of practice. It’s year four at the helm for Head Coach Ron Cook in Farmville. Defensively, safety O’Maurie Phillips is a standout, already with an offer to play in college at Boston College. Junior B.J. Gardner takes over at quarterback for an offense that averaged 45 points per game last year.

“Well just taking that next step. You know, from last year, we got a home playoff game, was one of our goals last year now, you know, that’s the expectation,” Cook said. “What we expect this first week, just being more disciplined in everything we do, being fundamentally sound. Just doing the little things right. This year is really a new team and people think we were only good last year from a couple of players, but I think we got a lot of guys on my offense, very fast.”

In Tarboro, the perennial contenders, the Vikings are once again opening practice as a predicted state title contender. Head Coach Jeff Craddock had about 70 players out on the first day between varsity and JV. It all starts in the backfield for Tarboro with running backs Mason Satterfield, Kamerin McDowell-Moore and Caiden Everette. Craddock said they have an older group hungry to end their careers the right way, with a state title.

“We’ve been the best team in the East the last two years, but we haven’t been able to be the best team in the state,” Satterfield said. “So a lot, plenty of motivation going into this year. You know, we want to win that last game and we want to be state champions. I’m really excited for this year and me, our whole starting line of seniors and running backs. I’m the senior. We have two juniors, but they played varsity last year and they both rush for a thousand yards each. So this team is going to be really good.”

In Jacksonville, Head Coach Beau Williams welcomed 110 players out for the first day of practice. The Cardinals have a stable of running backs and are expected to compete for the top spot in the Big Carolina Conference.

“Looking forward to the start of the season when we open up with Southwest looking to see how we improve throughout the year,” Williams said. “So, kind of excited about our first scrimmage and then we’ll move on from there.”

At Southwest Onslow, Head Coach Charlie Dempsey starts with an experienced squad. The Stallions had around 80 players out on the first day. The JV team has won back-to-back conference titles and Dempsey said the day is like a holiday for them.

“I think everything just getting back on the field, you know, this is my third year, the head coach coaching, you know, 15 years overall,” Dempsey said. “And uh, you know, we always have the saying here at Southwest is, you know, first day of practice is like Christmas morning around here. Um, you know, our kids love football, our community loves football. Just excited to get back on the field and you hope we can pick up where we left off.”

At White Oak, the Vikings had 95 players out for the opening day of practice. Under Head Coach Jonathan Byrd, the Vikings have won back-to-back conference titles and the team is looking for more in 2024.

“You know, we return majority of the offense. So we hope to be in pretty good shape offensively,” Byrd said. “And, you know, we return a really good defensive line and most of the secondary. So we’re hoping that, you know, we can kind of pick up where we left off last year.”

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