Mallard Creek’s Mike Palmieri wins N.C. coach of the year award

Mike Palmieri of Mallard Creek is The Associated Press prep football coach of the year for North Carolina after guiding his program to a second straight state championship.

Palmieri led his team to a 15-1 record and the Class 4-AA title despite losing 17 starters and 38 seniors from the previous year’s squad.

He earned eight votes from 20 sports writers across the state in results released Tuesday. Earlier this month, Palmieri was named Charlotte Observer coach of the year.

Clinton’s Bob Lewis, the veteran coach who returned to rebuild his former program, was tied for second by earning three votes after leading the school to the 2-A final in a two-loss season.

Robbinsville’s Dee Walsh, who led his team to a 16-0 season and the 1-A title, also earned three votes.

Palmieri said his revamped roster had a sluggish start to the season and the coaches juggled the lineup by moving players between positions to find the best combination.

“It wasn’t like last year’s team where we knew we had all these seniors,” he said. “We were a little more steady last year than we were this year. This year was kind of up and down early until we found our groove.”

He said a comeback win against Charlotte Hough – Mallard Creek trailed 30-0 in that one – was the moment the season “just took off.”

“If you move a kid that’s been playing the position and they don’t want to do it, it can become a little bit of a problem,” Palmieri said. “But we had some great leadership. Every kid that we moved understood why we moved them and that we needed them to do it.”

The team ended the season by beating Wake Forest in the 4-AA final for the second straight season, with quarterback James Smith improving to 26-1 as a starter, and linebacker Josh Brown and defensive back Amari Henderson making the AP all-state team released Monday.

“To be honest,” Palmieri said, “the kids really answered the challenge.”

The AP will name its player of the year on Wednesday.

This story was originally published December 30, 2014 at 7:21 PM.