Senior-laden Rams seek another step forward

PEMBROKE — After taking a big step forward in 2023 in Josh Deese’s first year as head coach, Purnell Swett enters the 2024 season with a whopping 27 seniors on the roster.

With such an experienced team, there’s plenty of reason for their own expectations that they’ll continue that improvement throughout this fall.

“I think it’s a really big plus, because when it comes to that fourth quarter, everybody’s tired, emotions are everywhere, and everybody can come together because everybody’s been in that moment,” senior linebacker/tight end Charles Wilkes said. “Everybody knows the gritty, the grimy, how to keep their cool and play together, not just anybody to do their own thing or lose their control.”

As an older team, the Rams have a lot of natural leadership, Deese said.

“They understand the intensity level that we need, they understand what we’re going to be asking of them, all spring, all summer,” Deese said. “And as the season has started now, so they’ve kind of stepped up in the leadership roles that we need, and it’s just helping things run a lot smoother.”

Purnell Swett started 4-0 last season, but lost five of its last six regular-season games; the team slid into the playoffs, earning the very last spot in the 4A East Region, before a first-round loss to No. 1 Rolesville to finish at 5-6. Despite the tough second half of the season, the program still carries momentum into 2024 coming off its best season since these seniors were in fifth grade.

“That gives us a crazy amount of momentum,” senior quarterback Raymond Cummings said. “From last year, playoffs, since 2017 that was the first time. We’re trying to make a comeback this year and go farther, win more games.”

“We could’ve finished way better,” Wilkes said. “But I feel like now it’s like a chip on our shoulder; we’ve got to do better because we know we can do better.”

The Rams will feature a run-first approach on offense, with senior Jamarion Douglas likely to get the bulk of the carries but other backs also expected to contribute. When the Rams do turn to Cummings for the pass, key targets will include seniors Jedidiah Wilkins and Calton Oxendine and juniors Sean Locklear, a transfer, and Jayven Lovette.

“Offensively, we run the ball more than we pass it, so our run game is very strong,” Cummings said. “We also have a strong pass game too. We have a few new receivers that came in.”

“We have very capable running backs,” Deese said. “The thing is, this year, more than last, we have experience at the receiver. We have quite a few guys that got reps last year, played a lot, and one guy (Sean Locklear) came in that, to me, is the best receiver that we have all around.”

While several leaders exist on the defensive side, Deese expects Wilkes to be the biggest leader of them all.

“Any time that we’ve had a decent team, a good team, we’ve had a strong defense, we’ve always had that one guy that we can lean on,” Deese said. “That one guy that we can lean on this year, that’s been there since a freshman, basically, so he’s been there, he’s battle-tested, is Charles (Wilkes). He’s going to make sure everything is run the way it should be, that everybody’s lined up and that all our calls get communicated on the field.”

“(The defense) is going to look good,” Wilkes said. “We’ve got good depth at D-line, so we’re going to be rotating a lot at D-line. We’ve got a lot other people coming up too at linebacker. Corners are good.”

Seniors Ethan Hunt, who returns from a season-long injury in 2023, and Collin McMillan will be key cogs on the defensive line, while Caleb Goins joins Wilkes at the linebacker position and senior Chris Lowry is among the impact players in the secondary, along with Sean Locklear and senior Simmeon Lennon.

As the senior class plays its final season, beginning with an opener at St. Pauls on Aug. 23, they hope to end it with at least one home playoff game at Big Mo Stadium.

“No matter what, the lowest games we want to win is six,” Wilkes said. “We feel like no one else can beat us, and that’s the only thing that matters … when we play (teams like Seventy-First and Cape Fear), we ain’t going to put our head down and think we’re going to lose. We’re going to go out there like we ain’t never saw them before and we can win, no matter what.”

They hope can reach those goals by establishing themselves, week in and week out, as a physical football team.

“We want to win more games. We want to be competitive in every game that we play, and just play hard,” Deese said. “When you’re done playing us, you’re going to know that you were in a football game.”