The Southeastern 4A conference had a banner year last season with all six conference teams making the playoffs as well as Scotland High going undefeated and winning the state 4A football championship.

This season, the Fighting Scots will have their work cut out for them as they try to win a second state title. Folks in Richmond County are expecting a "return to order" as the Raiders of Richmond Senior will try to reclaim the SE 4A conference title and avenge last year's 41-7 loss to the Fighting Scots. Richmond was a very young team last year and was also hit with injuries. The Raiders should be more experienced this season and hopefully will stay healthy this season if they want to have a chance at a conference title as well as a deep playoff run.

Though Scotland loses three dozen seniors from last year's team, former Jack Britt head coach and new Scotland head football coach Richard Bailey will have the Fighting Scots ready for battle this season, and Bailey will have the talent to make a deep run in the 4A or 4AA playoffs. It's too early to know which bracket the Scots will fall into, but no matter where they land, they will make a run for another state title.

The remainder of the conference teams will be fighting for third place. I am also predicting that at least five teams will make the playoffs. Out of nearly 100 football teams in the 4A classification, 64 teams will go to the playoffs, the biggest 32 go to the 4AA bracket and the smallest 32 teams go into the 4A bracket. Also, with 64 teams making the playoffs, you will have some teams with losing records get in, and more or less, that's how Pinecrest got in there with a 5-6 record. With all those factors in mind, Hoke County wound up being the smallest school in the 4AA bracket, whereas with just a handful of students less, Scotland wound up in the 4A bracket. And of course, as they say, the rest is history ...

Getting back to conference battles, Hoke will edge out Purnell Swett, Lumberton and Pinecrest for third place. The Bucks have a lot of athletic talent, as well as good size on both the offensive and defensive lines.

Purnell Swett may not have the best or most talent, but head coach Mark Heil knows how get the most out of the talent he has and will be competitive in the league.

Lumberton will have another strong defensive unit, but the offense seems to be an unknown entity. Last season, the defense did a lot more to help the Pirates win football games as opposed to the offense. Also, this will be head coach Mike Brill's last season for the Pirates as he plans to retire from coaching.

Pinecrest seems to be a mirror image of Lumberton. The Patriots will be strong on defense, but the offense is an unknown and will be tested. Defense may win ball games, but the Patriots success will depend on whether the offense can put up points.

Could this be a season where anyone can beat anyone in conference play on any given night? Only time will tell ...

Southeastern 4A Conference

1. Richmond Senior, 5-0 conference, 10-0 overall
2. Scotland, 4-1, 9-1
3. Hoke County, 3-2, 7-4
4. Purnell Swett, 2-3, 6-4
5. Lumberton, 1-4, 5-5
6. Pinecrest, 0-5, 4-7

Comments

Adman 9 months, 2 weeks ago

Rube, I agree with you about the Patriots this year. Defense will be strong and keep them in ball games just like last year, and the pressure will be on the offense to produce. Pretty much the same story as last year, only this year there are a lot of new faces on the offensive side of the ball for Pinecrest.

You look back at last season and the Patriots struggles on offense - that was with probably the strongest and most experienced offensive line collectively they've had at PC in at least the last decade and a half, and with a quarterback in Scales that had experience starting at the varsity level coming into the season. Even with missing most of his junior year because of the injury, he'd taken way more snaps under center in a varsity contest before he stepped on the field as a senior last season than BOTH the senior QB's for Pinecrest this year have combined!

That said, with all new personnel taking over on offensive this season it's gonna be a tall order - it's not impossible though. I know the guys will work hard, and I hope that they'll be able to come together and get it done - and sooner rather than later. They've got seven weeks and six games to get it figured out before heading into league play because it's not like their going to be lining up against Mattamuskeet on Friday nights - this is after all, the SEC!

If nothing else, I just really hope there's one thing Pinecrest has figured out before the start of this season that they couldn't ever seem to alllll of last season... defense wins ball games, the option pitch looses them. GO PATRIOTS!!!

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