‘It’s just a blessing’: As NC high school football practices begin, hopes and dreams are renewed
It has been about nine months since East Lincoln High School won its third state championship in eight years.
On Monday, the Mustangs held their first official practice of the 2023 season, and star running back Chris Daley said he and his teammates are ready to leave the 2022 season behind them.
“It feels good,” he said, “but it doesn’t matter anymore. It’s time to try to win another one.”
Throughout North Carolina, high school teams held their first practices Monday and everybody had the same record, 0-0, and the same dream — to end the season with a state title.
Despite losing a bevy of senior talent, Daly thinks this year’s Mustangs team, which returns eight starters and 12 lettermen, has a real shot at back-to-back titles.
And he’s not the only one.
“Last year,” East Lincoln coach David Lubowicz said, “it was tough going into every game, every week, knowing you were the better team and everybody was going to give you their ‘A’ game. Hopefully, from a coaches’ perspective, we can get a couple of people to sleep on us and make our season a little easier.”
Lubowicz laughs.
“This team will be pretty good,” he continued. “We return a lot of talent. We lost a lot of talent last year, but with that junior class coming up, there’s a lot of talent in there, too, a lot of kids with college looks and offers.”
A lot to live up to
A year ago, East Lincoln won all 16 of its games, mostly in dominating fashion, and won its third state championship in eight years. East LIncoln beat Northern Nash 30-15 in the 3A state final, getting a 2022 title to match ones the school won in 2012 and 2014.
As the team rolled on, fan support swelled.
East Lincoln would normally draw more than 3,000 fans to home games on Friday night, and that is more than the town of Denver’s official population of 2,697. At last year’s state semifinal win, the final home game of the season, more than 6,000 fans were in attendance.
And that 2022 team, which might have been the best in school history, was full of stars.
Lubowicz was named The Observer’s regional coach of the year. Linebacker Ben Cutter, an All-Observer first-team pick, was one of several Division I talents on the team. Cutter is at West Virginia. Defensive back Keandre Walker is at Virginia. Quarterback Tyler Mizzell, who threw 35 touchdown passes, is at Wake Forest.
“We lost a couple of really good players like (Cutter) and (Walker),” said senior defensive end Marcel Johnson, the reigning Western Foothills conference defensive player of the year. “But there’s still talent here.”
Excited to get going
On Monday, the Mustangs ran out on a brand new turf field with bright orange end zones that looked like something you might see on a college football Saturday.
Everybody had on shorts, T-shirts and cleats, and the smiles were everywhere.
Take junior quarterback Hunter Bolling, challenging to replace Mizzell as the school’s starter.
He was one of the first players out of the locker room, standing in the shade, gripping and tossing balls underhanded with a look of determination on his face the whole time.
He kind of looked like the first person in line at Best Buy on Black Friday.
“I’m excited,” he said. “I’ve been missing it. We’ve all been missing it. And I know we’re going to have that (target) on our back. Everybody is coming for us. We’re ready for it. We want that.”
Johnson, the team’s star defensive lineman, said Monday was a day he had been looking forward to all summer. Like his teammates, he just can’t wait for that first game in a few weeks.
“It’s just a blessing to be out here,” he said. “Friday night lights are special to me because growing up, I went through a lot of tough times and all I depended on was football. To this day, I still depend on football. It brings me happiness and joy and I can leave my heart out on the field every game.”
PHOTOS: East Lincoln first practice
