For teams across the state, it’s a new season. For Presbyterian Christian, however, it’s a different kind of new season. It’s a new era for the Bobcats’ program.
It’s a new-look team and it all starts with first-year head coach Derek White. Because PCS is a MAIS team, it got official practice started a week earlier than this week’s opponent, West Marion, but White still has unanswered questions about his team.
“I still have a lot of questions marks,” he said. “We’re really young, we’re getting better and our numbers are low. We’re at 33 kids and we can’t go live in practice a lot because we just don’t have the numbers. So, every time we play we’re going to get better.
“We have 18 players on this football team, who will start for us who have never started a varsity football game. They have to get used to the speed of the game a little bit, and the only way to do that is by playing.”
PCS and West Marion will begin the season Thursday at 7 p.m. in Foxworth.
While PCS will look a little different than it did in last year’s season-opener against the Trojans, West Marion has a lot of returners from a 6-7 team. Junior Jeremiah Holmes is back at quarterback, and he’s also the team’s leading returner in rushing yards, and sophomore Qavonte Swanigan is back after recording a team-high 746 receiving yards and five touchdowns. Senior Dontavious McGowen led the Trojans with seven touchdown receptions, too.
Holmes, a dual-threat quarterback, passed for 1,887 yards, 18 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 2017, to go along 487 rushing yards.
“He’s a big guy who can run or throw,” White said. “I don’t know if you can stop it, in my opinion. You have to slow him down. We have to be sound on defense. They like to run it lateral a lot then throw it over your head. Then they’ll run right at you with the quarterback. We can’t beat ourselves and we have to make them drive the football. Hopefully, they’ll turn it over some and give it to us.”
The biggest question for PCS is who will be the starting quarterback. White said he has junior Layton Pitts and freshman Collin Necaise still battling for the spot, and the Bobcats will go with a two-quarterback system at least for the first game.
“We’re still shuffling a little bit, trying to figure out what works best for us,” White said. “I hate going into Week 1 not knowing exactly what we’re doing. We have a plan, we’re going to keep rotating those guys and hopefully, someone emerges and gets better.”
The offense won’t change a lot, White added. One quarterback runs a little better than the other, while the other is a better passer.
White was hired as PCS’ new coach in early April and he quickly saw West Marion in action in a spring game at Southern Miss. From the conversations he’s had with people who are familiar with West Marion, he’s come away with a conclusion.
“I know this is one of the best team they’ve ever had. That’s coming from some guys who have seen them and watched,” White said.
