New Hanover County football teams preview upcoming season at Carolina Coast Conference event
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The four New Hanover County schools in the Carolina Coast Conference met Wednesday at Hoggard High School to discuss and preview the upcoming football season.
Hoggard hosted the event as the Vikings prepare to defend their conference championship.
Hoggard head coach Craig Underwood said senior quarterback Matthew Boring will be an important piece of the team’s offense, and will be integral in getting over the hump, and winning the state championship.
“He wants to learn the game, and doing so, he’s prepared himself for a really strong senior season,” Underwood said. “I’m excited to see where he leads this offense.”
Underwood also emphasized the importance of Boring’s role as the team’s quarterback.
“I tell him all the time, quarterbacks are decision makers … you’re looking at where the ball is going … you get to touch it every play,” Underwood said.
At Ashley, former Hoggard offensive coordinator Adam Purzitza is taking over as head coach. Purzitza said he plans to mold a few different schemes into a new system, with hopes of having a balanced attack.
“We’re gonna try and run something similar to what we’ve been running the past few years at Hoggard,” Purzitz said. “We’re gonna try to be a little more balanced this year … it all starts with running the football.”
Laney also enters the season with a new head coach. Coraey Houser previously played at Hoggard and coached at both Hoggard and New Hanover before taking over the Buccaneers program.
Houser said his players have continued to put in work during the offseason.
“The buy-in is there, everybody is high energy flying around,” Houser said. “We’re still trying to get faster and stronger in the weight room … every single day.”
At New Hanover, the offseason has featured a competition for the starting quarterback position between Ronan Brady, and Julian Robles.
Wildcats head coach John Fuller said both players have performed well and embraced the competition.
“I’m not gonna give it away, but both Ronan and Julian are doing what they need to do to win that starting job,” Fuller said. “We had a scrimmage against Jacksonville last week, they both played well.”
Fuller said the competition has been positive for the team.
“It’s a competition … they’ve both embraced it and that’s what we’re looking for from them.”
The Carolina Coast Conference enters the season with a lot of familar faces, albeit some of them in new places. It is sure to be a great season in the Port City.
WWAY will preview the upcoming season with a half-hour football special airing Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. on CBS. The first episode of “5th Quarter” will air Aug. 21 at 11 p.m. on WWAY News.
