By Jessika Morgan / Sports Editor
Published: Sunday, May 10, 2015 at 12:21 AM.
Scott Sanderson may have been one of the first to arrive at Bethel Christian Academy’s church sanctuary Thursday night.
He was joined by dozens of fellow students and their parents to talk football.
Among the messages at the player interest meeting, something spoke directly to Sanderson, who will be a freshman when Bethel fields its first football team since the 1970s this fall.
The school board cleared the move to bring junior varsity football to the school last week.
Brick Crowder, who will be the head coach of the program, spoke about the excitement, the expectations and the vision of the Bethel football. Sanderson sat in the front row, listening to Crowder assure rising ninth graders the possibility playing home games under the Friday night lights by time they are seniors.
If the junior varsity program is successful, the Bethel coaches and administration hopes to add varsity.
Students between the sixth and ninth grades are eligible to join the new team.
“I’ve always wanted to play football, since I was a kid,” said Sanderson, who had big-time goals for a possible varsity team. “Hopefully, (playing on JV) will lead us to, in the coming years while I’m still here, a state championship or two.”
Bethel will compete in the Colonial Carolina 8-man Football Conference, joining fellow Kinston private school Arendell Parrott Academy.
And that’s what started it.
Parrott coach Matt Beaman, who attended Parrott with Crowder, recently asked the Bethel youth pastor to attend a league meeting in Greenville.
“We left that meeting very encouraged, saying it was a real possibility to have football,” said Crowder, who after the meeting drafted a football manual and started pricing items to build the program. A 2006 Parrott graduate, Crowder was an eighth grader when Beaman was the starting quarterback for the Patriots. Crowder played at Greensboro College, where he graduated in just three years and was the Pride’s all-time tackling leader with 264 until 2011.
His connection to the sport became the driving force in bringing it to BCA.
On May 3, Crowder said Bethel’s school board voted unanimously in favor of bringing the sport back to the Trojans.
Crowder, his coaching staff and the school’s administration team held the player interest meeting Thursday, ending it with a pledge of commitment from the soon-to-be players. Parents were given handbooks, outlining required payment, workout plans and fundraising opportunities. One of the last pages was an agreement, signed only to indicate the families’ commitment to Bethel football.
There were 33 players ready to go by the end of the interest session.
Since, two more have joined.
“So far, you can see how (Brick) has taken it and its just taken off,” BCA athletic director Bert Potter said. “To me, North Carolina, Kinston, we’re a basketball town, but I’m finding out people really do enjoy football. I’ve never been involved with it on any level, but we’re just blessed to have Brick be that go-to football guy. He’s got collegiate and high school experience, he’s trained in the weight room. Being around the sport, you pick up the inner workings of the sport.”
FROM THE GROUND UP
Although Bethel is laced with excitement, building a program from scratch doesn’t come without its challenges.
More than three dozen Trojans have committed to playing, which eliminates the question of whether the school will have enough players to field a team.
But, it’ll cost money: outfitting the players and converting the current soccer field into a football field.
Crowder estimated it would cost between $3,200 and $3,500 to host a home football game, which he plans to do for the regular-season finale after six away games. A scoreboard would cost nearly $10,000 and it’ll cost $300 to outfit the players, as BSN Sports, a sporting goods distributor, will come to the school on May 15 to size the players’ equipment.
"We’re going to need help to get this thing off the ground,” said Crowder, who allotted several days for fundraising on the summer schedule he passed out on Thursday. The calendar also included the strength and conditioning program.
REALIZING THE VISION
Logan Pike attending to the meeting clad in a Carolina Panthers shirt and hat, wearing his interest.
He’s never played football, but wants to join the team as a wide receiver and said the buzz around campus has been loud over the last week.
It’s awesome,” said Pike, a seventh grader. “They’ve always talked about wanting a football team, and they finally got it.
“Everybody’s really excited.”
Crowder played in the same 8-man conference when he was in high school. When BCA joins, it’ll have the fifth largest enrollment among the league teams, so the Trojans look to be immediately competitive.
The rising head coach also sparked even more thrill when he described the uniforms: royal blue pants with a white stripe down the side, white jerseys with royal blue numbers and a royal blue helmet.
But the addition of football, as great an inclusion that it will be for the Trojans, doesn’t come without a meaning.
“We believe (football) will help our school spirit,” Crowder said. “For me, it would help me with ministry. It gives me 8 hours a week with boys that might not play another sport, that might just go home in the afternoon. When I came to Bethel, I never thought we would have the opportunity to have football.
“We are just so excited.”
Published: Sunday, May 10, 2015 at 12:21 AM.
Scott Sanderson may have been one of the first to arrive at Bethel Christian Academy’s church sanctuary Thursday night.
He was joined by dozens of fellow students and their parents to talk football.
Among the messages at the player interest meeting, something spoke directly to Sanderson, who will be a freshman when Bethel fields its first football team since the 1970s this fall.
The school board cleared the move to bring junior varsity football to the school last week.
Brick Crowder, who will be the head coach of the program, spoke about the excitement, the expectations and the vision of the Bethel football. Sanderson sat in the front row, listening to Crowder assure rising ninth graders the possibility playing home games under the Friday night lights by time they are seniors.
If the junior varsity program is successful, the Bethel coaches and administration hopes to add varsity.
Students between the sixth and ninth grades are eligible to join the new team.
“I’ve always wanted to play football, since I was a kid,” said Sanderson, who had big-time goals for a possible varsity team. “Hopefully, (playing on JV) will lead us to, in the coming years while I’m still here, a state championship or two.”
Bethel will compete in the Colonial Carolina 8-man Football Conference, joining fellow Kinston private school Arendell Parrott Academy.
And that’s what started it.
Parrott coach Matt Beaman, who attended Parrott with Crowder, recently asked the Bethel youth pastor to attend a league meeting in Greenville.
“We left that meeting very encouraged, saying it was a real possibility to have football,” said Crowder, who after the meeting drafted a football manual and started pricing items to build the program. A 2006 Parrott graduate, Crowder was an eighth grader when Beaman was the starting quarterback for the Patriots. Crowder played at Greensboro College, where he graduated in just three years and was the Pride’s all-time tackling leader with 264 until 2011.
His connection to the sport became the driving force in bringing it to BCA.
On May 3, Crowder said Bethel’s school board voted unanimously in favor of bringing the sport back to the Trojans.
Crowder, his coaching staff and the school’s administration team held the player interest meeting Thursday, ending it with a pledge of commitment from the soon-to-be players. Parents were given handbooks, outlining required payment, workout plans and fundraising opportunities. One of the last pages was an agreement, signed only to indicate the families’ commitment to Bethel football.
There were 33 players ready to go by the end of the interest session.
Since, two more have joined.
“So far, you can see how (Brick) has taken it and its just taken off,” BCA athletic director Bert Potter said. “To me, North Carolina, Kinston, we’re a basketball town, but I’m finding out people really do enjoy football. I’ve never been involved with it on any level, but we’re just blessed to have Brick be that go-to football guy. He’s got collegiate and high school experience, he’s trained in the weight room. Being around the sport, you pick up the inner workings of the sport.”
FROM THE GROUND UP
Although Bethel is laced with excitement, building a program from scratch doesn’t come without its challenges.
More than three dozen Trojans have committed to playing, which eliminates the question of whether the school will have enough players to field a team.
But, it’ll cost money: outfitting the players and converting the current soccer field into a football field.
Crowder estimated it would cost between $3,200 and $3,500 to host a home football game, which he plans to do for the regular-season finale after six away games. A scoreboard would cost nearly $10,000 and it’ll cost $300 to outfit the players, as BSN Sports, a sporting goods distributor, will come to the school on May 15 to size the players’ equipment.
"We’re going to need help to get this thing off the ground,” said Crowder, who allotted several days for fundraising on the summer schedule he passed out on Thursday. The calendar also included the strength and conditioning program.
REALIZING THE VISION
Logan Pike attending to the meeting clad in a Carolina Panthers shirt and hat, wearing his interest.
He’s never played football, but wants to join the team as a wide receiver and said the buzz around campus has been loud over the last week.
It’s awesome,” said Pike, a seventh grader. “They’ve always talked about wanting a football team, and they finally got it.
“Everybody’s really excited.”
Crowder played in the same 8-man conference when he was in high school. When BCA joins, it’ll have the fifth largest enrollment among the league teams, so the Trojans look to be immediately competitive.
The rising head coach also sparked even more thrill when he described the uniforms: royal blue pants with a white stripe down the side, white jerseys with royal blue numbers and a royal blue helmet.
But the addition of football, as great an inclusion that it will be for the Trojans, doesn’t come without a meaning.
“We believe (football) will help our school spirit,” Crowder said. “For me, it would help me with ministry. It gives me 8 hours a week with boys that might not play another sport, that might just go home in the afternoon. When I came to Bethel, I never thought we would have the opportunity to have football.
“We are just so excited.”
