Which area HS football teams made The Observer’s annual ‘Way Too Early’ Sweet 16 poll?

The way-too-early preseason Charlotte Observer Sweet 16 high school football poll is filled, at the top, with some of the teams you might expect.

▪ Providence Day, the reigning N.C. Independent Schools Division I champion, starts at No. 1, and the Chargers are chock full of national recruits and three or four potential high school All-Americans, including lineman David Sanders, the nation’s top player in his class, receivers Jordan Shipp and Channing Goodwin along with quarterback Jadyn Davis.

Goodwin and Davis have committed to Michigan.

▪ No. 2 is Hough, which has a new coach — former Cox Mill head coach DeShawn Baker, a S.C. State Hall of Fame running back — and plenty of returning talent. Some area coaches believe this Huskies defense might be better than the one last season that held 11 opponents to 10 points or less and reached the state semifinals.

▪ And at No. 3 is Butler, which reached the third round of the playoffs last season and returns junior quarterback Zach Lawrence, a Division I recruit who threw for nearly 2,600 yards and 32 touchdowns last season.

But pulling up at No. 4 is a resurgent Independence team. The Patriots have never started this high in the “way-to-early” poll, which dates back five years.

Once, the Patriots were the most feared team in North Carolina, annually ranked among the top 20 nationally. From 2000-09, Independence won seven state championships and played in nine straight N.C. Western Regional championship games.

But from 2010, the first season without legendary coach Tom Knotts, until the start of the 2021 season, when current coach DJ McFadden was hired, the Patriots faced some tough times — including five straight years without a winning season.

When he was hired, McFadden was the school’s fifth coach in six years.

His first team went 5-4. His second, last season, finished 11-2 and reached the third round of the N.C. 4A playoffs.

And this rebuild is personal for McFadden, who was once 32-0 as quarterback at Independence when he threw for 6,148 yards, 48 touchdowns and won two championships during the Patriots’ dominant run.

Now, McFadden’s third team as coach has Power 5 recruits and, in his words, enough skill position players to compete with anyone. If Independence was ever going to be “back,” this is the year.

“This is exactly what I told the kids,” McFadden said. “The ‘23 team has not done anything yet, but we already have more expectations than last year’s team.”

A year ago, McFadden played a lot of freshman and sophomores in key positions. Those players will return bigger, stronger and more experienced.

Among them are rising sophomore Dallas Brannon, who has offers from East Carolina, Miami, Missouri, Temple, Virginia Tech and West Virginia. Brannon will move from defensive end to middle linebacker. Nick Reddish, a rising sophomore safety, has offers from Charlotte and East Carolina, and he’s the younger brother of Patriots’ senior defensive back Que Reddish, who has narrowed his college choices to N.C. State and Virginia Tech.

Rising senior tight end Will Brown has an N.C. Central offer and the star of the team, rising junior quarterback Justin Little, returns after throwing for 3,028 yards and 27 touchdowns.

Little’s got offers from Campbell, Charlotte and Georgia Southern, and McFadden isn’t shy about telling everyone how good he is, even in a county that has the nation’s second highest rated senior quarterback (Davis of Providence Day).

Last week, McFadden tweeted that he felt Little was the best quarterback in North Carolina. He was called out in the comments and tweeted again a few moments later:

“Yes (sic) i said NC, and we can debate it!!!! Im (sic) willing and ready lol.”

When the season begins in August, it won’t take McFadden long to figure out just how good his team is.

Independence’s schedule includes a season-opener with Sweet 16 No. 8 Mallard Creek, followed by games with No. 9 Hickory Ridge and No. 15 West Charlotte. After playing South Meck at home on Sept. 8, the Patriots open Southwestern 4A conference play with No. 13 Charlotte Catholic.

And unlike in recent years, even in McFadden’s first two seasons, Independence won’t be the team chasing a big win against a powerhouse. The Patriots will be the favorite most everyone is coming to get.

“We had a taste of the third round last year,” McFadden said, “and, at minimum, we want to ourselves in position to get back. I challenged the guys early with the (non-conference schedule). We’ll get challenged early. The goal for us is to keep building this program and taking care of what we need to in house, and I think everything will take care of itself.”

Note: The Observer’s Sweet 16 poll, which began in 1983, ranks the top teams in the newspaper’s coverage zone, which now includes teams in Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln and Union Counties. The weekly poll will begin in August and continue through the conclusion of the season.

Way-too-early Sweet 16

This story was originally published May 17, 2023 at 5:30 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