Team of the Week: 2024 success carrying over for South Columbus

TABOR CITY, N.C. (WWAY) — After winning a solid eight games last season, South Columbus football has started 2025 strong once again.

The Stallions are one of five area teams sitting at 2-0. Their practices tend to be more physical than most in the Cape Fear, which Head Coach Russell Dove says better prepares them for game time.

“Practice is supposed to be tough so Friday’s easy,” Dove said. “You want to keep it physical. You’ve got to block, you’ve got to block a man on. We do throw some pads in and different things like that, but I do think that’s what gives us an edge. But you’ve also got to be smart with your kids, knowing when to turn it on and when to turn it off.”

(Photo: Colton Emswiler/WWAY)

The program is coming off a massive 56-20 win over county rival South Columbus.

During that game, Easton McPherson scored on a hook and ladder play after calling his own number and delivering in crunch time.

“I knew I was going to score,” McPherson said. “Time was running out and I told coach I wanted the ball. I got the ball, ran as hard as I could, dove into the end zone right before the half. Felt great to be able to do that and score. Started off strong and kept on executing.”

(Photo: Colton Emswiler/WWAY)

Next up comes nearby Loris crossing the state line.

Both team have scored exactly 56 points in one game while their season totals are just one point apart.

In a way, the Stallions main objective will be to slow down themselves.

“We’ve got to control the ball and we’ve got to play defense,” Dove said. “We got to get their offense off the field and we’ve got to control the clock. We can’t be our own worst enemy. It’s more than physical, it’s a mental game now. It’s a mental and emotional game. We want to play with emotion, but don’t want our emotions to control us to get us flags and do those types of things. Which I think we did a good job Friday night of taking care of that.”