The 2024 high school football season starts this week. Magna Vista comes in with high hopes following a 12-1 season last fall. Bassett and Patrick County look to improve upon .500 seasons in 2023, and Martinsville is hopeful for a turnaround after a winless campaign a year ago.
Here's a look at the biggest stories for all four local teams this season.
Can Magna Vista improve even more?
It was a record-breaking fall for the Warriors in 2024. They had a perfect regular season and broke a school record after starting the year with 12 straight wins.
They graduated 12 seniors, including all-region selections Braylon Kidd, J’mere Hairston, Amari Thomas, Ethan Stockton and all-district running back JJ Spriggs. But, Magna Vista is known to always have quality players waiting in the wings. The Warriors start the fall with 18 seniors, including all-state receiver Torian Younger and William & Mary football commit Caleb Martin. They also return Piedmont District Player of the Year, quarterback/defensive back Simeon Moore and Martinsville Bulletin Defensive Player of the Year Ethan Dukes, both juniors.
With so many returners and depth at all positions, expectations are high in Ridgeway.
"They just compete in practice. That’s something that I think has been huge for our team is the depth we have," said Warriors coach Joe Favero. "These guys can’t just come to practice and go through the motions because there’s somebody right behind them that probably just hasn't had the opportunity on Friday night to show what they can do. So these guys as starters have to push themselves everyday because the guy behind them is pushing them everyday in practice, and that competition spreads throughout the team and the culture and just improvement on the season, because competition Monday through Thursday is going to push into Friday."
Can youth carry the Bengals?
Bassett finished 5-6 last season, and reached the Region 3D playoffs before falling in the first round.
Bassett graduated 19 seniors off of last year's team, including their entire front seven, four of five starting offensive lineman, and dynamic players in the backfield at running back and slot receiver.
Bengals coach Brandon Johnson said, "we’re very young this year. Very young, but talented."
Bassett has 11 seniors this fall, five of which were starters a year ago. Beyond that, they'll be starting a lot of juniors and sophomores, including at quarterback. Johnson said they have two sophomores battling for the starting QB job. Both running backs and the entire front seven are up from the J.V. team.
It will be a youthful squad for the Bengals, but Johnson is excited about what he's seen.
"We’ve seen a lot of growth this offseason," Johnson added. "Guys have been bought in, dedicated, and we’re excited about the crew we have.
"In my time as an assistant and playing football, building the young guys is very important. You're making J.V. important, making your eighth grade team important. That has really done well for us. Those guys come in and are ready to play.
"We had some great seniors who played a lot of football. The guys behind them were hungry and excited for their turn. We weren’t pleased with the outcome, the record of last year, but I feel like we were in most ballgames. The fourth quarter was a battle every game."
Can Martinsville improve in Year 2 under Fielder?
At this point last season, Martinsville head coach Joe Fielder said he was still learning a lot of his players names. Fielder was hired just over a month before the season began, so he didn't get a chance in the spring to recruit players and work on installing his system.
Martinsville is coming off of a disappointing 0-10 season in Fielder's first fall. He said it was a tough few months for everyone involved, but he's feeling much better heading into Year 2.
"They lost 16 kids from the year before, very high-quality kids. That matters," Fielder said. "But we’ve had a full offseason. That’s made a difference. We got to lay our standard out. We’ve got a new system in place. They know what we want to do and how we want to do it. We really wanted to focus on fundamentals.
"Everything was kind of a cluster last year. The fundamental part of it, the scheme, everything. We’re way ahead of the game now with that... Our numbers are low, but we have the right guys and that matters. We have the right guys that are buying in and working hard. No nonsense. We’re not putting up with a lot of junk. And they get that and they’re buying in, and I think the guys are invested too, and I think that's made the biggest difference."
Will confidence carry the Cougars?
Patrick County coach David Morrison was quick to say he never wants to go into a season overconfident, but added "I feel like this squad has got a lot of potential."
The Cougars finished 5-6 last fall, and had their best regular season record since 2019. Even though they graduated 14 seniors, they have 13 this fall as they reload looking to go deeper in the playoffs this year.
"They've got a lot of opportunity in front of them," Morrison said of his returners. "It's just going to be up to them to reach out and seize it because at the end of the day I really feel like this is one of the most talented teams that we've had in a while.
"I could be completely wrong, but I really feel like these guys, they've got the ability. It's just going to be whether or not at the end of the day they step up to the challenges that we're going to see, because it's going to be a lot of tough competition out there. If they will rise to the occasion like some of the teams in the past, that was one of the biggest things that we had going for us last year. The guys, it seemed like we never backed down. We continued to just fight to stay in games, and we won a lot of games late. I feel like if these guys right here stay in that situation and are able to continue fighting and staying in games and working hard to finish out some of these games, I think that's going to go a long way for us fulfilling our potential. That's the biggest thing, I think, is if these guys will just step up and seize the opportunities. I'll say that's that's the biggest thing."
How special is Bassett's special teams?
Bassett's all-state selection last fall was Cole Byrd, who as a junior was named First Team All-State for VHSL Class 3, First Team All-Region 3D, and First Team All-Piedmont District as both a kicker and punter.
Byrd isn't on the field as much as his teammates, but Johnson has seen the senior take on a great leadership role.
"Our senior class is led by Cole," Johnson said. "I feel like most people would be like, what? But he’s a game changer for us. You’ve seen it. he’s a game changer."
The senior is out to improve even more in his final high school season, and he wants to make the Bengals special teams a force and a gamechanger.
"On a personal level, I would say I really want to focus on my punts, but it's also as a team," Byrd said. "My punt team has done exceptionally well at getting down there. If we can get a fair catch every time, that's going to be very beneficial for the team, and I'll be very proud of it.
"Special teams matters," he added. "A lot of people overlook it, but this group of guys, you can change games on special teams. We lost games last year on special teams. That’s what it does. Now I feel like I have the voice to not only special teams but the whole team. People listen to me and respect is given to me and to them in return. It’s going great, really good."
Can Patrick County's multi-sport athletes convert on the football field?
The Cougars have more than a dozen seniors this fall, but many of them are new to football.
"We always end up getting a few guys who are seniors that are first year guys," Morrison said. "Guys that have been wanting to come out but for one reason or another were unable to. Usually it's a situation where it just takes a little bit of convincing to get them out here."
Even if they've never played Cougar football, Morrison said he's excited about the great athletes new to the roster.
"That's one of the biggest things that we've seen out of the guys that are new for us is just a great amount of athleticism," he said. "They're multi-sport athlete guys, so they're guys that can stretch the field, they're guys that can run, they've got fantastic hands, great speed, good agility. So they offer a little bit more athleticism than what we've been seeing. We've got some guys that can really just add to the guys we've already got. They really are going to bolster our athleticism."
Will the Warriors front line lead the veterans in the backfield?
Magna Vista averaged nearly 41 points per game last season, thanks to proven weapons at QB, running back, and receiver. But getting yards and touchdowns is easy when the offense runs behind a giant and talented offensive line.
The Warriors front lines on the offense and defense include Martin, coming in at 6'3" and 280 pounds, Christian Holland (6'3", 310), Amare Thaxton (5'11", 200), all-state wrestler Jerelle Carter Jr. (5'11", 260), and Will Mabe (5'11", 250).
"I'll be honest with you, I feel like we're very strong up front," Holland said. "Especially one of the juniors, Jerelle Carter Jr., he's a new guy up front coming to the defense. I feel like he's fast, picks up the ball, gets back there. Amare Thaxton, he's a new guy to the defensive line. Caleb Martin, everybody knows him. He's a great player. And me. We just want to go out there and run over some people."
Favero said having depth on the lines is important because they can practice against one another and make each other better.
"Sometimes you get a guy with Christian's size and there's nobody else really to line up in practice to really give him a look," Favero added. "But... we can give them good looks in practice to make them work. They can't just come in and lean on people and expect that to work on a Friday night. That competition in practice every day, we do a lot of one on one stuff where there's a winner and a loser and there's competition and there's punishment for losing. And the kids take a ton of pride in it and they love it. It's a big, big part of our practice is just that one-on-one competition, making each other better. An 'iron sharpens iron' kind of mentality."
A preview of local high school football this fall
Piedmont coaches looking for improved district; Patrick County ready for Year 2 in Three Rivers
Piedmont District football coaches spoke about the challenges they'll face in the district this fall.
Magna Vista looking to play for more titles in 2024
The Magna Vista football team played for two championships last season, and with a ton of returning talent expectations are sky-high in Ridgeway this fall.
Bassett coaches, captains preaching 'standards over feelings'
Bassett football coach Brandon Johnson was expecting some growing pains this fall, but through two scrimmages he's pleased with how well his youthful group is coming along.
Underclassmen showing leadership as Martinsville looks to rebuild
The 2024 season was tough for Martinsville, but second year coach Joe Fielder is confident in his young players and has seen improvement already this fall.
Patrick County hoping small changes lead to big improvements this fall
Patrick County is coming off of its best season since 2019 last fall, its first season playing in the Three Rivers District. Here's what coach David Morrison had to say about each phase of the Cougars team this fall.
Cara Cooper is the sports editor for the Martinsville Bulletin. She can be reached at cara.cooper@martinsvillebulletin.com.