West Johnston hopes to continue upward arch

By RANDY CAPPS

BENSON — West Johnston improved from 2-9 in Jermaine Harper’s first season as head coach in 2019 to a 5-2 mark in the COVID-shortened season this spring.

While he’s happy with that turnaround, he’s looking for even more from his players this fall.

“It’s about being consistent,” Harper said. “One thing I stress to my guys is that winning’s not easy. And once you start winning, it becomes expected. Just being able to raise that standard, man, to raise that bar. Being able to win consistently is going to be the key in what we’re trying to do here.”

Seven starters return for the Wildcats on offense, headlined by the coach’s son, quarterback Donte’ Harper. The senior passed for 634 yards and seven scores in the spring while adding 235 yards and two more touchdowns on the ground.

“I expect him to be able to run the offense more efficiently,” Harper said.

Nicolas Robinson, who piled up 424 all-purpose yards and six touchdowns as a receiver, running back and returner, will take over the starting tailback spot while center Ryan Denning, a three-year starter, Myles Derleth and Alex Neuenschwander provide punch and experience to the offensive line.

Defensively, West Johnston returns four starters. And while Ryan Schmidt and Cameron Snead are back to anchor the secondary, some new faces will need to emerge on that side of the ball.

“We’ve got a few guys coming up from JV who were players for us on Thursday nights who we’re going to need to become role players for us on Friday nights,” Harper said. “We’re going to be unconventional. We need to be better at the fundamentals. I expect us to be better at tackling and the things we worked on this summer in the offseason. ... I expect us to be able to cover well, since our strong point will be our secondary.”

The two losses in the spring campaign were to county rivals Cleveland and Clayton, neither of which will be playing in the 3A conference with West Johnston this fall. Instead, it will be C.B. Aycock, East Wake, Fike, Hunt, SmithfieldSelma, Southern Wayne and South Johnston in a league that should be a competitive one.

“It’s definitely a plus when you don’t have to play Cleveland and Clayton,” Harper said. “With the teams coming in, I feel the conference is wide open. Hunt was pretty decent a year ago, Fike usually has a pretty good football team, and there are certain schools we know from (our last conference). With all of these teams coming in, I really think it’s wide open for anyone to win this conference.”

In a normal season, last year’s record would have likely resulted in a playoff berth for the Wildcats. Racking up enough wins to be in that discussion on a year-in, year-out basis is what Harper and his team are working toward.

“Anybody can come in and have one winning season,” he said. “Being able to string winning seasons together and build that culture, that’s what it’s about.”

SCHEDULE

Aug. 20 at Harnett Central

Aug. 27 Western Harnett

Sept. 3 Gray’s Creek

Sept. 10 BYE

Sept. 17 Fike

Sept. 24 at Southern Wayne

Oct. 1 East Wake

Oct. 8 at Smithfield-Selma

Oct. 15 CB Aycock

Oct. 22 Hunt

Oct. 29 at South Johnston