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Coach Sherman Holt directs Maroon Devil athletes during a football drill at practice recently.
Larry Griffin
lgriffin@thesmokymountaintimes.com
Maroon Devils football coach Sherman Holt can sense the excitement in the air now that the sport’s return is imminent. The team has been doing “a lot of work in the off-season” in preparation.
“At this point, everyone is excited that football is back,” Holt said.
The team has been waking up early every day to train from 7:30 to 9:30 in the morning. Holt said it was good to “get ‘em up early, get ‘em going.”
“The kids do a good job. They are tough players. They’re getting in better shape than they were in last year,” he said.
The strict regimen of training was a relief to Holt, who said he was getting restless after last year’s season ended.
“It’s good to be back at the grind,” he said. “I don’t know what to do in the off-season.”
The upcoming year is likely to be challenging, Holt said, with many of the nonconference teams they’ll be playing boasting tough showings, including Smoky Mountain, Franklin and Waynesville. All in all, he sees it as being a “real tough” schedule of opponents.
Then the actual conference, with games set against Murphy, Robbinsville and Cherokee, will likely be formidable, too. Holt said Cherokee’s coach “did a good job” and trained the students there well.
Asked what his goals for the coming season, he said the team always has the same three goals: to win county championship, then conference, and then state.
“Those three things haven’t changed since 1977 when Coach Dietz was running the team,” he said.
On Thursday evening, Aug. 3, the team gathered at the high school gym for the Maroon Devils First Down Dinner. The gym was full of people gathered at tables, dining on steak and chicken dinners and sweet desserts, celebrating the impending beginning of the football season.
Among them was Swain County School Board member Mitch Carson, who echoed Holt in saying that football has been sorely missed. He said Holt, who is new as a coach for this area, has brought some rejuvenated excitement back to football that the area had been starved for a few years prior.
“Football is our biggest drawing sport. It’s good to have the sense of community back in the sport. We haven’t had that in a while,” he said.
Carson said the community “loves [the football team] as much as they love their own kids.” He said the massive showing at the First Down Dinner showed that.
“Walk in there and see those people, that tells the story by itself,” he said.
Both varsity and JV football have a scrimmage scheduled for Friday, Aug. 11 at Mountain Heritage. The first scheduled game for varsity is Friday, Aug. 18 against Charlotte Country Day, while JV’s first scheduled game is Thursday, Aug. 17 against Rosman, both at home.