Pigskin Preview: Winless last year, South Brunswick enters new conference in 2025
BOILING SPRING LAKES, N.C. (WWAY) — Last year did not go the way South Brunswick football would have liked, and they may have caught a break this season.
The Cougars went winless in 2024 as the smallest school in what used to be the Mideastern Conference. Now they find themselves as the biggest school in the newly formed Southeastern Conference.
Instead of Ashley and Topsail, South Brunswick will face schools such as Whiteville and West Bladen.
Head Coach Daniel Yow enters year two at the helm and says while the change is nice, nothing is going to be given to them.
“That was a big sigh of relief, of course,” Yow said. “We’re not worried about who we play, but when we do go up to a game against those teams up in New Hanover, they got 75-80 kids on their roster. It has nothing to do with us being a bigger team or we’re just going to win all of our games because we’re the big team. We’ll have a 40 man varsity roster and across the field, they’ll have 40 man varsity roster. They also have to play those same games that we have to play and so that’s going to be a big help for us as well.”
(Photo: Colton Emswiler/WWAY)
South Brunswick is now a 5A school while the rest of the schools they used to be in the same league as are considered 6A and bigger. The rest of the Southeastern Conference is 4A and smaller.
That is actually bittersweet for some players who embraced facing tough opponents.
“Me personally, I’m never going to shy away from competition,” senior linebacker Gregor Brock said. “I always want to go up to the big fish and see if I can be the David and Goliath, if you know what I’m talking about. Being able to have some competition that’s maybe more our level, it’s always going to be a nice change of scenery. But we’re never going to miss playing good competition.”
(Photo: Colton Emswiler/WWAY)
The 0-10 season still leaves a bad taste in the Cougars’ mouths, leaving them determined to silence any doubters they may have.
“It hurts,” senior quarterback Jayden Daniels said. “You go to school and everybody’s making fun of you guys. ‘We’ve got TikToks posted about you guys losing every game.’ So it does hurt. It’s going to take every little bit that we have to go out there and win some games this year. I definitely feel like we are going to do that this year.”
The program has 16 seniors on their roster this year to go with nine returning starters. That includes five on offense and four on defense.
South Brunswick is currently on a 17-game losing streak, which is the longest in the area. When they get that first win, the players say they will celebrate before getting back to work.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had one, so I know we’re going to really enjoy it,” Brock said. “But at the same time, it’s not just about the first one. It’s about every one after that. Being able to get the guys to settle back down and be prepared for the next one the next week.”
(Photo: Colton Emswiler/WWAY)
Despite the new slate of games, the Cougars will still face West Brunswick and North Brunswick in non-conference play. Coach Yow says it was important for the communities to keep those rivalries intact.
