PREP FOOTBALL: Early-morning rain? No problem for CBA, Eagles, Dogs

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on July 31, 2018 5:51 AM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

Slivers of sunlight tried to peek through heavy gray clouds on occasion Monday morning as several county teams launched their respective 2018 high school football campaigns.

A gulley washer in Pikeville forced Charles B. Aycock to partake in a spirited workout session in the Dave Thomas Weight Room. The Golden Falcons headed out to a soggy practice field around 9 a.m.

Rosewood's players squished through the rain-soaked outfield on the softball diamond.

Drill stations were set up, including a five-man sled on an adjoining hill that got plenty of action from the Eagles' offensive and defensive linemen.

Princeton managed to avoid the deluge of rain that left numerous puddles of water on and around the JV baseball practice field.

No one seemed to mind.

After all, this is the best time of the year, is it not?

"It's like Christmas Day for us football coaches," CBA head coach Steve Brooks said. "A huge day...always fun to get back and be able to do formal stuff with the kids and get ready for the season."

It's day one in a five-day conditioning period mandated by the N.C. High School Athletic Association. Teams aren't allowed body-to-body contact until Saturday.

Brooks considers it as a retention period.

He'll test his young, inexperienced players on how much they remember from a scale-downed playbook he implemented during spring ball and summer workouts that included a few 7-on-7 passing affairs.

"It's actually been more fun for me as a coach with this group because you're almost going back to your roots," Brooks said. "Sometimes, when you become a head coach, you don't get to teach and coach as much. For me, this summer and spring, I got to do quite a bit of that.

"And this team wanted it, wanted to continue to learn and that's a good thing about this group. I've just got to make sure I don't throw too much at them."

Across the Little River, county rival Rosewood logged a solid, opening-day practice.

"We were fortunate to be able to get outside with the rain," Eagles assistant coach Jason King said. "[We'll] continue to install the offense and defense the rest of the week. We were happy with the numbers, for the most part [but] expecting a few more freshmen."

King barked at the linemen for the entire practice, while Josh Smith and Aaron Sanders worked with the offense. Danny Merritt took care of the defensive duties.

Nearly 60 kids suited up for the blue and gold across the Wayne County line at Princeton.

However, head coach Travis Gaster couldn't help but miss his five offensive linemen who graduated in June. The unit left a significant void for the Bulldogs, who are coming off a seven-win season that included a playoff berth.

He, like Brooks, is working with a completely different group of players.

"It's a challenge for us as coaches, which I enjoy," Gaster said. "I like making the pieces of the puzzle fit in the right spot. They listen, are quiet when you're trying to teach them and then teach them to give effort above and beyond what they think is necessary.

"They're headed in the right direction."

Gaster lauded the middle school program's recent success and the work of coach Brent Gurganus. He said that some of the sophomores, who didn't play as ninth-graders, have come out this fall.

Though the offensive system remains intact, the Bulldogs will run their basic offense with a few tweaks on Friday nights.

"The kids understand the terminology, the language that we use to talk to them and there is a lot of retention carried over from last year," Gaster said. "That's been a big help already this summer."