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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28 UCW MARCH 8-14, 2017 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Terry Sanford's girls' soccer team made one of its deepest state playoff runs ever in 2015. So when the 2016 playoffs began and the Bulldogs were the top seed in the 3-A East, bigger and better things were expected. It didn't happen. They lost in a penalty kick shootout to Wilson Hunt in only the second round. But don't expect coach Karl Molnar and this year's team to dwell on that fact. "Right now, I think we are looking at each other and saying this is a talented group,'' Molnar said. "We better make something happen.'' Numbers tell a lot of the story for this year's Bulldog team, which opened the 2017 season with a 9-0 rout of Cape Fear that included three goals from senior captain Gracey Lewis. Molnar has nine seniors and seven juniors on this year's roster. "We're pretty talented at every position,'' he said. "I don't know that I attack any better than I defend. We're pretty solid across the board.'' Among the most solid players on the team is Lewis. Athletics is very much in her blood, as she's the daughter of two veteran coaches, Randy Lewis and Dotty Lewis. Although neither coached soccer, both have plenty of wisdom about preparation and gamesmanship to share with their daughter. "She's a very mature kid,'' Molnar said. "She kind of looks and understands differently from most kids. And we've got a bunch of type A personalities around her that believe the same things she believes.'' Like her coach, Lewis said the loss to Wilson Hunt last year is already forgotten. "You've got to move on or you're never going to move forward,'' she said. The key to success for the Bulldogs this year, said Lewis, is staying healthy. "I think our starting lineup is going to be unreal,'' she said. "We have a lot of speed and a lot of communication. We can possess the ball this year.'' Lewis said she will be keeping the advice of her parents in her head as she tries to make the Bulldogs a winner again. "They like to see me work hard at everything I do,'' she said. "If you mess up, don't give up, get the ball back. "They always told me for every shot you take you have to have amnesia and forget about it so you can make the next one.'' As a senior and a captain, Lewis said she feels more comfortable in the role of team leader. "I have halftime speeches going through my head on how we can improve,'' she said. "I think it runs in the genes.'' Terry Sanford Girls' Soccer Team Set for Success by EARL VAUGHAN JR. It's the eternal question for high school football programs when the time comes for a coaching change: Do you build from within, or reach outside the school to take your team in a different direction? For both Terry Sanford and Jack Britt, the decision was to hire someone with a link to the program. Terry Sanford picked Bruce McClelland, a 1988 Terry Sanford grad currently in his second stint as an assistant coach on the school's staff. Britt also turned to an assistant, a man who was with the school a few years ago but will leave E.E. Smith to return to the Buccaneers, Brian Randolph. Randolph is a Douglas Byrd graduate and played for its legendary coach Bob Paroli during his years there. McClelland has an obvious advantage already being in the building at Terry Sanford and serving as offensive coordinator under former head coach Bryan Till, now at Richmond Senior. Routines are important for high school coaches, so McClelland said you don't need to expect many changes for now. "We'll have the whole staff but Coach Till,'' McClelland said. "We'll keep things familiar so we can add to it rather than reintroduce things.'' As offensive coordinator last year, and with quarterback Christian Jayne returning, the Bulldogs will figure to be one of the area's most prolific passing teams. Defensively, McClelland plans to stress bringing the pressure to the opponent. One of the biggest concerns will be replacing Till's leadership in the weight room to keep the Bulldog strength training program on track. When the spring conditioning period begins in a few weeks, McClelland said his focus will be on developing linemen. "We want to see how much we've progressed from last year and put in the basics of our system to see how the kids react to that,'' he said. Randolph is only the third football coach Britt has had since opening in 2000. He worked with both his predecessors, Richard Bailey and Brian Rimpf, and is excited for the great opportunity he has to build on the legacy at Jack Britt. His biggest concern is how soon he'll be able to start work at Britt. He teaches a critical math course at E.E. Smith, so finding a way for him to transition to Britt before school's end this year won't be easy. When spring conditioning begins, he wants to focus on getting students who haven't been playing football out for the team. "I want to let them know it's a clean slate and we're starting from fresh,'' he said. "We want as many numbers as we can within the parameters of what we can do.'' Randolph wants to run a no-huddle, up-tempo offense. He's not set on defense, except that he wants his team to be sound fundamentally. "There are no easy weeks,'' he said. "The schedule is tough. No days off.'' Britt will move into the Sandhills Athletic Conference and face traditional powers Richmond Senior and Scotland as well as some of the top teams from Cumberland County. He plans to borrow a lesson learned from his old high school coach, Paroli, and try to field a team that is mentally tough. "He loved to make practice harder than the game,'' Randolph said of Paroli. "If you make practice hard, the game is easy. "We're going to have fun. At the end of the day, winning games is more fun.'' New Coaches at Jack Britt and Terry Sanford by EARL VAUGHAN JR. EARL VAUGHAN JR. Sports Editor. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly. com. 910-987-5311 HIGH SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS Terry Sanford football coach Bruce McClelland Gracey Lewis Jack Britt football coach Brian Randolph