Firebirds look to fill holes quickly as practice begins

An exodus of starters in the graduating senior class leaves the door wide open for returning Southern Nash High varsity football players as the pace of preseason practice accelerates.

That group of some 20 seniors helped the Firebirds win the 2-A/3-A Big East Conference championship last year and go 27-8 over the past three seasons. Firebirds head coach Brian Batchelor said their absence has been felt more keenly off the field, but the current group is working to close the gap.

“I’ve told our guys all spring, the biggest thing we’ve got to replace is the leadership from last year’s senior group,” Batchelor said in a telephone interview. “Yeah, they were good players, but the best thing they were was just great leaders. And you know, our guys have been working hard on that this summer and guys trying to step into those roles. So that’ll be the interesting thing to see how that develops.”

Southern Nash will hold workouts from 8:30-11:30 a.m. each day until teachers return to school in August. The Firebirds will once again participate in the Fike Jamboree on Aug. 16 with the host Golden Demons, SouthWest Edgecombe, D.H. Conley, North Edgecombe, South Garner and James Kenan as well as 2-A Big East member Nash Central.

The teams will pair off in four hour-long scrimmages under real game conditions at Fike’s Buddy Bedgood Stadium, starting at 5:30 p.m. However, the matchups have yet to be announced.

So far, that’s the only scrimmage planned, although with the season starting the fourth Friday of August rather than the second or third Friday, there’s time for another one.

“We’re trying to figure that out,” Batchelor said. “We usually only do one scrimmage. That’s kind of how we’ve done it over the years, so having those extra four days, we’ll see.”

The Firebirds are slated to kick off the season at home against East Wake on Aug. 23.

Two new members of the coaching staff are like nearly all of the holdovers in that they are Southern Nash graduates and former players. Howard, class of 2002, will coach linebackers, while Luke Watson, a starting senior lineman on the Firebirds NCHSAA 3-A runner-up team in 2019, will help coach the offensive line.

Exiting the staff were Richard Hall and Jordan Bass. Batchelor, starting his fourth season as head coach, will have defensive coordinator Robbie Kennedy and offensive coordinator Brian Rice as well as Sterling Leonard, Lovelle White, Kwamaine Battle and Adam Monts de Oca back on the sidelines.

The Big East figures to be another Nash County battle between Southern and Northern, which lost to the Firebirds in the regular season but won the rematch in the state 3-A playoffs. With NCHSAA facing a major overhaul with added classifications in its upcoming realignment, Batchelor wasn’t too worried about whether this would be the last go-around in the Big East for the Firebirds.

“Yeah, I don’t know — and everybody’s in the same boat,” he said of the uncertainty of that situation. “Everybody’s trying to scramble and schedule stuff, but it’s kind of hard to schedule when you don’t know what conference you’re going to be in, what size you’re going to be, and so, as far as it being the last year under these guidelines or this structure — I mean, just enjoy it. What’s going to happen is going to happen, but right now, just really worried about being ready to go this year.”

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