Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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JULY 4-10, 2018 UCW 21 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Bill Sochovka Dominic Roberto Brian Randolph Michael Matthews Britt theme for 2018: Bigger, stronger, faster by EARL VAUGHAN JR. When Pine Forest football coach Bill Sochovka had his team fill out goal sheets in February, most of them listed winning the state championship as a priority. Sochovka asked them to take it a step further, telling them it was fine to want to win the title, but better if they listed ways as a team they can make it happen. "Having that goal is great, but knowing the plan to get there is more important, everybody being on the same plan,'' he said. Sochovka feels that so far, this year's team is more focused. "We have a lot of guys who are more team players, playing both sides of the ball, not afraid to step up and do things they haven't done before,'' he said. He cited quarterback Richard McEachern Jr. as an example. e Trojans are changing to a 4-2-5 look on defense, and McEachern is being moved to free safety because he's smart enough to handle the switch, Sochovka said. "at says a lot about him being a senior, being able to step up and make a difference,'' Sochovka said. "Sometimes you get a kid at his age that says, 'No, I'm a quarterback and I don't want to do both.' He's willing to do that.'' One area where the Trojans need work is the of- fensive line. Sochovka said he fired his old offensive line coach, himself, and brought in Andy Karcher from Triton. He thinks the 4-5-2 defensive alignment fits his per- sonnel better. Last year's offense found itself running the ball, and he plans to stick with that same philoso- phy this fall with returning running back and outside linebacker Dominic Roberto leading the way. Roberto saw limited action at running back be- hind all-conference selection Lavonte Carter, rush- ing for 177 yards and two touchdowns. "He's got a lot of hard offers from Southern Conference and Big South teams,'' Sochovka said. "Furman likes him at running back, Elon likes him at linebacker.'' Another player who's had a good spring is slot receiver D.J. Jones, Sochovka said. Jones caught 14 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns last season. Roberto said the main thing the Trojans need this fall is leadership on the field and he hopes to pro- vide some of it. "I've got to come out here and lead the team, guide them,'' he said. "I think if we work hard and condition hard, we can compete with anybody.'' Bigger, faster, stronger. Those three words dominated the theme of spring workouts at Jack Britt High School this year as head coach Brian Randolph sought to avoid a repeat of what hap- pened last fall when his Buccaneers lined up against Sandhills Athletic Conference powers. "Last year we had a huge issue with getting pushed around in games when we played the bigger teams,'' he said. "We wanted to get bigger, faster and stronger. Coming out here in the spring, we wanted to get better at the fundamentals, getting the small things right.'' The Buccaneers didn't get everything wrong under Randolph in last year's sea- son. They finished 6-6 overall and 4-3 in the Sandhills, which was good for a tie for fourth place with Pinecrest. They scored a big win over perennial power Richmond Senior and advanced to the state 4-AA playoffs where they suffered a first-round loss to Raleigh Millbrook. Heading into the summer workouts, Randolph expects his defense is going to have to carry the Buccaneers this fall until some offensive holes can be filled. "I think we'll have a pretty good senior class coming back, especially on defense,'' he said. That depth is highlighted by the return of four linebackers and a couple of solid defensive linemen. Losses at the skill positions will complicate things on offense. Among players Randolph will be counting on there are quarterback Brennan Shortridge, who returns after throwing for 1,524 yards and 13 touchdowns. Chancellor Johnson, younger brother of former Buccaneer star Eric Johnson, is back at running back as is a speedy Cornell Raynor. A key jack of all trades returns in Michael Matthews, who will be called on to play multiple positions on offense and defense, but he's getting college offers as a linebacker. "We want to work on getting better as a team, becoming a family,'' Matthews said. "We want to be the best we can be. We feel like we're going to have a great season.'' HIGH SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS Pine Forest adding substance to goals for 2018 by EARL VAUGHAN JR. Athlete of the Month for the School Year 2017-2018: August - Xeaiver Bullock (E.E. Smith) September - Justice Gallaway-Velazquez (Cape Fear) October - Christian Jayne (Terry Sanford) November - Justice Gallaway-Velazquez (Cape Fear) January - Alexandria Scruggs (E.E. Smith) February - Daniel Peede (Pine Forest) Michael Vernagallo (Cape Fear) Dallas Wilson (Cape Fear) March - Justin Ebert (Terry Sanford) April - Andrew Jayne (Terry Sanford) May - Carlie Myrtle - Jack Britt (Softball) 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 50 MONDAY & BRINGING YOU THE BEST IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS 6-8pm EARL VAUGHAN JR., Sports Editor. COMMENTS? EarlUCWSports@ gmail.com. 910-364-6638.