South Central hoping changes in offseason lead to more wins

A crowded Eastern Carolina 4A/3A Conference isn’t easy for South Central, and second-year coach Andy Tew knows it.

Tew, who has been an assistant at the school since it opened in 2003, knows that for the Winterville school to raise its level of play, it must be mentally tough.

So this offseason, it was fewer X’s and O’s and more about an attitude adjustment this year. Every position is considered open for competition.

“How we went about practice wasn’t very good last year. We had a talented football team, but it didn’t reflect in our record,” Tew said. “So in the offseason we started looking at that as a staff and figuring out how can we make our kids practice better.”

Who are some players to watch?

Robert Rapp should be a third-year starter at quarterback, and he has some offensive playmakers around him in Emmanuel Lewis, Tre Smith and Tyreck Parker.

What will be a team strength?

Rapp’s experience will come in handy on offense. The secondary will be the strongest part of a young defense that lacks varsity snaps.

What’s the biggest key to this year?

South Central was competitive at times last year but wilted late.

Reversing that is Tew’s biggest focus.

“Last year we had a couple of games where we were in the ballgame going into halftime; we came out of halftime in the third quarter and something happened – mentally, pysichally emotionally, whatever it might be – and we let the game get away from us,” Tew said. “The question mark isn’t the skill ... the question mark is, ‘are you going to have the will to play at that high level,’ and that’s why we focused on it so much this spring and summer.”

This story was originally published July 31, 2016 at 8:23 PM with the headline "South Central hoping changes in offseason lead to more wins."