How is Southwest expected to be this upcoming season? An improvement from last season or a bit of a struggle? I always have a soft spot for tarboro's rival since my mom graduated from there,my stepdad graduated from there as well.
Unfortunately, we'll be better than we were last year. I say unfortunately because improvement will only gain the coach more time here. The fanbase isn't pleased at all. It's not like we've had a drop in talent around here. A regular season 5-5 record is most likely, but strangely enough, I can also see a 6-4 record, with us going into the final game of the regular season tied with West Craven at 5-0 (6-3) in the conference. We won't win that game, though. I don't see any threat from Greene Central, Farmville, or Ayden Grifton. I think North Pitt had a good year last year, but comes back to their program's reality this year. The intriguing game is Washington. We stayed with them for a while this past season before they recognized that they were just better than us. If we can do the same this year, an upset COULD happen. I have wins against North Edgecombe, Greene Central, Farmville Central, Ayden-Grifton, and North Pitt. Losses vs Northern Nash, Hunt, Tarboro, and West Craven. Coin toss vs Washington.
The showing we had in the 1st round loss to Wallace-Rose Hill last year was big. We scored the 3rd most points they allowed with 36, and their two games in which they allowed more points were against an out of state team, and Shelby in the championship. Those points we scored weren't in garbage time either. They were legit, whole game points. If the team had an ounce of decent defense, it could have been an intriguing game.
In summary, SWE improves this season. It'll still be ugly during the non conference. NN, Hunt, and Tarboro are 3 teams that no one should want to play right now. There will be blowouts early. The defensive side is getting a lot of attention and overhaul, as it should, and will most likely be out there practicing for the conference portion of the season early on.