The 2019 high school football season is already upon us for what promises to be an intriguing fall.
Gone at Jordan-Matthews and Northwood are head coaches Marty Scotten and Brian Harrington, both alumnus of their respective schools.
Scotten stepped down after 23 years at the helm of the Jets, moving on to take the offensive coordinator job at Orange High in Hillsborough, a 3A program in the Big Eight Conference with Northwood.
Harrington, meanwhile, was the head coach at Northwood for four seasons after 22 years as an assistant for his alma mater. Harrington resigned last spring and immediately took an assistant coaching job in football and track and 4A Fuquay-Varina High.
Sam Spencer, a Durham native and Jordan High graduate, was chosen to take over the Jordan-Matthews program while Cullen Homolka, a Claflin, Kansas native, was hired to guide the Northwood program at the end of February.
Sam Howze, in his fourth season at Chatham Central, is now the veteran gridiron coach in the county.
As far as numbers go in the early stages of practice, all three area coaches have been pleased.
In Siler City, Spencer and his staff deserve a great deal of credit thus far with 45 players turning out when it appeared that the Jets would even struggle to field a team back in the spring. Spencer made it a point to visit the feeder schools and to field a jayvee team this fall and his efforts have paid dividends with 20 freshmen out after three days in the books.
“We promised our freshmen kids that they would have a jayvee team at Jordan-Matthews this fall and we are going to follow through with that,” said Spencer. “We are excited about the turnout so far and expect more. Our seniors are having fun and have been very positive. We want to get better every day and continue to build.”
In Pittsboro, Homolka was also pleased with the turnover and what he’s seen from his squad so far. The biggest school in the county, by far, with almost 1,600 students, numbers are not an issue as 80 players are out for the Chargers.
“Everything is going great so far,” said an upbeat Homolka. “The numbers are awesome on jayvee and varsity. The kids are working hard and having fun.”
In Bear Creek, Howze is expecting big things from his squad that has 40 players out thus far.
“We feel like the kids are working hard. Our motto is no excuses this year, and we feel like we could have a great season,” Howze said. “We’ve got good size and the leadership has been really good so far.”
Chatham Central will be the first team to scrimmage as the Bears will travel to Southwest Randolph on Saturday, August 10 before competing at Northwood’s Jack Shaner Jamboree on Friday, August 16.
Jordan-Matthews will also host Granville Central on Wednesday, August 14 in Siler City before taking part in the Jack Shaner Jamboree at Northwood, the Chargers lone scrimmage date set.
The 2019 season officially gets underway on Friday, August 23 with a full slate of games with Jordan-Matthews hosting Bartlett-Yancey, Chatham Central entertaining Eastern Randolph, and Northwood traveling to Apex Friendship.