THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 31, 1995 TAG: 9508310238
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 21 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: High School Football: Kickoff '95
SOURCE: By KEVIN DOEPP, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COURTLAND LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
The 14 players and coach of Southampton Academy are confident about winning as they head into their season opener at Parrott Academy on Sept. 1.
Southampton Academy, the only Virginia eight-man football team in the Colonial Carolina Conference, was going to lose its football program altogether unless it switched to the eight-man format in 1991. Its head coach, Dale Marks, feels that there isn't much difference between eight-man and the standard 11-man.
``We teach our kids to run, catch, block and tackle the same way they do in 11-man,'' Marks said. ``Everything is the same. Our kids want to win. Winning is the same on all levels whether it is public school or private school.''
Entering the 1995 season, Marks has a small mix of players and says that this year's team has the best attitude of any he has coached.
``This has been the best summer camp that I have ever been associated with,'' Marks said. ``The guys have worked real hard. Hopefully that attitude will transfer over into the games.''
Leading the way for Marks on offense will be tailback Brian Hobbs. Marks believes that the Raiders will go as far as Hobbs can take them.
``He has been a little injury-prone in the past,'' said Marks. ``But we do run to setup the pass. We run a lot of play-action stuff, and we need to establish our running game to be successful at the pass. We may run into trouble if we have to pass all of the time.''
At quaterback will be senior David Applewhite. Joining Applewhite and Hobbs in the backfield will be fullback Jeremy Everett.
Brandon Applewhite, a junior, and Jesse Redd, a senior, will be the starting offensive ends.
On defense the Raiders lineup in a 3-2. According to Marks they were burned quite a bit last year by the pass in the 4-3 look. Thus, the switch.
The linebackers are the key to the defense. Michael Beale, Brandon Applewhite and Jared Webb will fill the spots. Stunts, according to Marks, will be a necessary part of the defense.
Last year's conference champion, Hobgood Academy, is still one of the teams to beat. A couple of other tough opponents for the Raiders are Wilson Christian and Wake Christian.
``We are going to have to play a very good game to beat these teams,'' Marks said. ``We gotta keep the ball off of the ground and we can't afford too many interceptions against these teams.''
The fact that the Raiders only field a team of 14 has many downsides. The first being that they cannot scrimmage one another in practice. The coaches also have to be careful with the players in practice.
``We cannot afford to hit a lot in practice.'' Marks said. ``The law of averages says that the more you hit the more someone can get hurt. If we lose one player we lose two spots because most guys go both ways.'' by CNB