New name, same goal. Chambers High, formerly Vance, starts season No. 1 in Sweet 16

After winning back-to-back N.C. 4AA state championship games, Chambers High coach Glenwood Ferebee smiled when he was asked about how good this year’s team could be earlier this month.

“We look pretty good, man,” he said. “And I try not to say it, but we look a little bit better than we did last year.”

Chambers begins the year ranked No. 1 in The Charlotte Observer’s Sweet 16 poll, and the Cougars are No. 26 in the High School Football America national rankings.

Two other Mecklenburg County teams appear in the national poll and both are near the top of the Sweet 16.

Three-time N.C. 3A state champion Charlotte Catholic is No. 5 in the preseason Sweet 16 and No. 88 in the national poll. And Hough begins the season No. 2 in the Sweet 16. The Huskies, who beat Chambers in the regular-season conference game last spring, are No. 94 nationally.

Yes, that’s two nationally ranked teams in the same conference.

For Chambers, this year is about history. Only two Class 4A teams from Mecklenburg County have ever won three straight state championships. Independence won seven in a row from 2000-06. Playing in the same conference that Chambers is in, Mallard Creek won three in a row from 2013-15.

And if the Cougars are to three-peat, they will do so relying on a lot of new faces.

Only nine of 22 starters return, and Chambers will work in lots of new lineman and new quarterback Anshon “Bubba” Camp. Additionally, defensive coordinator Anthony Hackett, who had put together a unit that had been the team’s biggest strength, is now at Independence.

Ferebee said, despite the personnel and coaching losses, not winning a third consecutive state title would be disappointing, but not to the point where he feels the season would be a loss if his boys don’t get that ring.

“In the grand scheme of things, no,” he said. “We’ve done something that’s kind of rare, to win it the first two years I’ve been here. But my team is still young, and I don’t think people realize that.

“I get my whole offense back next year.”

Two of the offense players who have two years left are running back Daylan Smothers, the reigning N.C. high school player of the year, and all-state junior receiver K.C. Concepcion.

Chambers also gained six transfers who figure to play a lot this fall — Olympic High’s Cam Kennedy, a wide receiver/defensive back; Richmond Senior defensive back Jamari Broady; Fayetteville Britt athlete Dymere Edwards; and three Mallard Creek players: wide receiver Zion Booker, linebacker/running back Mekhi Bigalow and linebacker/running back Dante Harbison.

“We’ve been doing well, man,” said Ferebee, whose team beat S.C. power Spartanburg 35-10 in a scrimmage Friday. “Offensive line-wise, we did lose some guys, but we had a young JV that was big. Some guys that played defense are sacrificing to play both ways. So we’ll be fine up front, and then wide receiver-wise, this might the fastest group I’ve had since I’ve been here.”

Ferebee said Camp, his junior quarterback, could’ve started at most any school in the area last year, but chose to stay at Chambers and learn under Austin Grier, who was named state final MVP after running up nearly 300 yards of offense in a 35-14 win over Wake County’s Rolesville High in the 2021 spring finale.

Camp is eager to start his first varsity high school game Friday in Raleigh against N.C. power Cardinal Gibbons. He said he never thought about leaving Chambers to play somewhere else.

He also said he feels no pressure being QB1 for Program No. 1.

“These are my brothers, man,” he said. “I grew up with them and I knew this is where I wanted to be. I can throw, run. If anything, I feel like the offense will be better than last year. People think I’m here to run only. I’m going to show them different.”

And that’s one theme that seems to run through Camp, and all these Chambers players — a perceived lack of respect, despite their accomplishments.

So if it’s possible for a back-to-back state champion to feel it still has a point to prove, well, these Cougars are it.

“All I see are haters on Twitter and stuff,” linebacker Jordan Thompson said. “People say our (offensive line) got weak. That we’ve got a new quarterback, that Hackett left. I just want to prove everybody wrong.

“We’ve got a big chip on our shoulders. We’ve got to fight through adversity. We’ve just got to keep reaching for the highest.”

The chase begins Friday in Raleigh.

Charlotte Observer Preseason Poll

— Compiled by Chris Hughes

This story was originally published August 15, 2021 at 6:45 AM.

Langston Wertz Jr.

The Charlotte Observer

704-358-5133

Langston Wertz Jr. is an award-winning sports journalist who has worked at the Observer since 1988. He’s covered everything from Final Fours and NFL to video games and Britney Spears. Wertz -- a West Charlotte High and UNC grad -- is the rare person who can answer “Charlotte,” when you ask, “What city are you from.” Support my work with a digital subscription