Looking at his roster, Catawba Ridge head coach Zac Lendyak knows his team may take a while to get on the same page.
Catawba Ridge only has eight players that started on either side of the ball last year returning for the 2023 season. The Copperheads finished last year at 11-2 overall falling in the third round of the playoffs to Greenville. They have a little bit more back from those that were on the roster from last season.
“We only have about 15 back from the varsity roster (from last year),” he said. “We are young and have a lot of energy.”
Lendyak said the one thing his team needs going into the season is reps. With the youthfulness of the Copperheads this season, don’t expect them to play mistake free football in the early portion of the season. But the early games are where kinks can be worked out as Catawba Ridge preps for their Region 3-4A schedule.
“We have high expectations of where we want them to be and they are slowly getting there,” Lendyak said.
Offensively, Catawba Ridge is bringing back quarterback DJ Latimer, who saw time under center last season. Latimer will most likely be the starter at quarterback. When Latimer isn’t at the position, look for possibly Andrew Turner to get snaps as well.
However, look for the Copperheads to do a lot of running this year as well.
“Ira Mister is going to be big in the backfield for us,” Lendyak said. “We are breaking in four new offensive linemen, a new quarterback, two new receivers. We have a lot of inexperience so it is taking some time to gel. We want to run the ball. We want to run the ball to open the pass game and taken some pressure off the quarterback.”
Lendyak said to expect Catawba Ridge to have a quarterback running attack as well this season like they have done in years past. When the quarterback does throw it, look for Jordan Gilliam, Sheldon Crawford and Brady Ambrose to be two of the top receivers back catching the ball.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Copperheads are bringing back more experience led by players such as Rasean Marajah.
“We feel good about where we are at defensively,” Lendyak said. “We have more experience on that side. We are moving some guys around on defense, so we have some experience over there that is carrying us now.”
Catawba Ridge won’t have an easy run this season with a challenging non-region schedule, only for things to get harder once Region 3-4A play begins.
“Our region top to bottom is as competitive as anyone in the state,” Lendyak said. “We had five of the six teams in the playoffs last year. With our region, you can’t take a week off.”
The Copperheads open hosting Fort Mill Aug. 18 followed by Charlotte Christian the next Friday (Aug. 25). They take the 10-minute drive to Nation Ford Sept. 1, and then hit the road for their first two real road games to Ardrey Kell Sept. 8 and at Chester Sept. 15 before their bye week Sept. 22.
Catawba Ridge opens region play at home against South Pointe Sept. 29 and then hits the road Oct. 6 at York and Oct. 13 at Lancaster before finishing with back-to-back home games Oct. 20 against Indian Land and Oct. 27 against Northwestern.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
