ECC 3-A/4-A football: Aycock picked 5th, followed by E. Wayne and So. Wayne

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on August 11, 2015 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

GREENVILLE -- Newly-minted Eastern Wayne head football coach Phil Gray expected his team might drop in the preseason Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference football coaches poll conducted Monday.

But sixth place?

After two consecutive seasons of top-four finishes, including a three-way tie for ECC runner-up a year ago?

Hello, bulletin board material.

"It was kind of heart breaking when you hear it," Gray said. "When I got back (to school) and let the kids know where we were predicted, at first they were a little disappointed. It's a little bit of motivation for us and it's not even about the 3-A portion.

"It just takes pressure off of the kids and coaching staff. (Since) no one expects us to have success, we can just go out and focus on the game and have fun."

Coaches tabbed defending 4-A state champ New Bern to successfully defend its ECC crown. The Bears, who posted an unblemished 16-0 worksheet last season, collected 36 points -- five more than J.H. Rose, which ended up second in the poll.

D.H. Conley drew a third-place nod with 24 points. South Central (18 points), Charles B. Aycock (17), Eastern Wayne (9) and Southern Wayne (6) rounded out the seven-team league.

Gray is depending on nine returning players, including dual-threat quarterback KK Best and his senior backfield mate, Devonte Corum. The entire corps will be called upon to provide leadership as Gray and his staff work to develop both the offensive and defensive lines.

Eastern Wayne won 11 games in 2014.

When the final Friday night rolls around in October, third-year CBA head coach Steve Brooks hopes his team is playing the Warriors for that No. 1 postseason seed.

"Obviously, our kids seeing what Eastern Wayne has done and have they have competed and ran through the playoffs, they believe that a team from Wayne County can do something special," Brooks said. "We've got to make it through this 4-A field and that's a bugaboo. New Bern is loaded, Rose is loaded as well.

"South Central and Conley have bitten us in the butt for two years."

The Golden Falcons have posted back-to-back four-win seasons with Brooks at the helm. Two of those victories have been against Southern Wayne.

Brooks does have one goal -- get CBA an opening-round home playoff game. The Golden Falcons have played 14 postseason contests since 1981 and competed only once at Hardy Talton Field -- a 2004 first-round triumph over Northeast Guilford.

Southern Wayne continues to battle attrition and youth.

The Saints, again, will field a young team this fall and depend on their underclassmen to handle much of the work -- especially in the trenches and the linebacker/secondary positions.

"I really think this is a group that's going to get better as the year goes on," SW head coach David Lee said. "We're going to use these non-conference games with the approach that we're going to go out there and play the best that we can. The scoreboard doesn't always dictate winners and losers.

"At the end of the day, if you've given everything you've got, you're not a loser."