News-Record.com

Rockingham County

LAST SEASON: 4-7, 2-5 Triad 3-A (6th place).

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS: The Cougars have more than 90 players in their program this year, by far the most in head coach Lin Stadler’s seven seasons. It’s the culmination of efforts by Stadler and others to get youth football off the ground in the area. “We’re just starting to reap the benefits of the investment of a lot of people in the community,” Stadler said.
BACK IN FORCE: The Cougars return eight defensive starters: lineman Jacob Dickerson, cornerback Elijah Russell, safeties Eric Kennedy and Clay Reed, and linebackers Nick Key, Lance Hall, Sage Lawson and Shakel Gant. They’ll be under the direction of new defensive coordinator Mike Gebbia, who came from Trinity.
ON OFFENSE: Jake Wall will handle most of the quarterbacking, and he’ll be flanked by returning receivers Lance Hall and Travis Long. Long, who missed almost all of last season with a torn meniscus, has been clocked near 4.3 in the 40.
SEEKING ANSWERS: The Cougars missed out on the playoffs lsast year despite having four players go on to college scholarsips. “I really searched my soul,” Stadler said. “When you feel like your opponents outworked you and wanted it more, that’s kind of humiliating. So I arrived at the conclusion that maybe we were being too easy on the kids, we were letting them get spoiled, not having them set goals, not expecting enough. So I really put the screws on them. Anyone who doesn’t want to do what we want to do is not with the program anymore.”