When all four Burke County high school football teams opened practice for the 2026 season on Wednesday, one team had a particular chip on its shoulder.
And it’s not hard to guess which one.
After all, it’s not often that a coach leaves a program with under two months to go until the regular-season opener, and does so in order to take a job at another program in the same conference.
But that’s what Chris Cogdill did at East Burke, accepting the East Rutherford job in late June after just one season with the Wild Bunch.
It was a good one season, however, as the Cavaliers ended Burke County’s longest NCHSAA state playoff drought in the sport at the one-decade mark.
“There’s some things they’ve got to figure out with (me as) a new coach,” said Jonathan Winkler, an EBHS 2000 alum who had served as Draughn’s defensive coordinator for the previous four seasons.
“I feel bad for these seniors, I understand where they’re coming from too. They’ve had four coaches in their four years. When I was here, we had three coaches in four years. I get it.”
One of those seniors, lineman Jaxson Wiley, said the EB players were hurt by Cogdill’s departure but have turned that pain into fuel for their fire to succeed.
“I was pissed,” Wiley said. “We had all heard rumors. … I thought at least he could do it at the end of a week so we could get somebody else in here and keep working, but he did it on a Monday. It lit a fire under us, and I think we’re all ready for Week 9 and East Rutherford. We’re looking forward to it. We gave them a good run for their money last year.”
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East Burke running backs coach Brandon Bethel (left) illustrates
to two of his players how to perform a drill during Wednesday’s
practice.
Winkler said that East Burke was missing a few players at its opening practice but had around 50 out. Practice started at 8 a.m.
“At the start, we had a little bit of first-practice blues,” he said. “The warmup was a little quiet for me. But then we did team tackling circuit, and they picked it up and got loud and rowdy. The energy level after that was really good. And that’s what you want out of an East Burke team. We’re called the Wild Bunch for a reason.
“Our defense stays fairly the same with (Allen Wittenberg) as coordinator, just a few things we may try to do on offense but that’s it. Right now, we just want good energy. If we can get that, get people moving in a hurry, we’ll be ahead of the game.”
Winkler noted that even when EB didn’t have a head coach, the program had “a core group of about 30 to 35 kids here every day in the summer.”
“This coaching staff, their ability to keep the kids together through some very tough circumstances was unbelievable,” he said. “And the kids worked their butts off. They didn’t care who the coach was, they just knew they were going to play East Burke Cavaliers football and try to win some ball games. And that’s what you want, a player-led team.
“That’s one of the biggest things that make successful programs is that accountability, drive, and leadership that upperclassmen can provide.”
Wiley is one of the Cavalier seniors who never missed a summer workout, and he’s certainly one who hopes to provide a great deal of leadership this fall as well.
“(Practice is) always mandatory to me because I’ve played football my whole life, and I like being here. It’s what we do,” he said. “Every day, I think you can get 1 percent better. We’re out here trying to do that. And we’re not asking people to be perfect, but if you give 100 percent effort every play, you can be pretty dang close to it. … When we go up to Ashe County (for an Aug. 7 scrimmage), we will be ready.
“(Good senior leadership) is important. When I came in as a freshman, Brady Bostain was here, and he really took me under his wing and showed me a lot of stuff. I saw from him what it meant to be a leader of a team. I eight-quartered my freshman year, played a couple (varsity) games as a sophomore, and last year started and made all-conference and all-county. Being a leader is showing these younger kids that one day, they can be in this role.”
Of note, East Burke athletic director Chip Watts, the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Tom Brown when the Cavs advanced to the third round of the 2AA state playoffs in 2015, has returned after several seasons away from the sidelines and will coach QBs.
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Freedom’s Julius Dominguez carries the ball on a sweep play
during a team drill in Wednesday’s opening practice at Freedom
Park.
PAUL SCHENKEL photos / THE PAPER
Freedom lights fire of sorts
While the other three county teams had wrapped up day one by noon, Freedom didn’t start until three hours later, practicing in the middle of the afternoon under as much heat as Wednesday’s sun would provide.
“We could have beat the heat by going in the morning, but we wanted to put them in a situation where they can face a little bit of adversity to compete and see who really wants it,” said third-year Patriots coach JK Adkins. “We’ll be kicking off at 7:30, so if we can practice and get what we need at a high level at 3 o’clock, I think we can do it at 7:30.”
“It’s definitely hot,” senior receiver Julius Dominguez added, “but we love to be out here.”
Freedom was also missing a few players on day one, but Adkins anticipates north of 70 total Patriot football players this fall.
“We’re a little rusty right now on day one after taking a week and a half off, and we need to knock some of that off,” Adkins said. “But I think we’re ahead of the game versus even where we were this time last year in terms of what we’re doing. We’ve got a lot of kids out here and flying around, which is a good sign.
“I’m just enjoying getting started back and want to make a little progress at a time. That’s what practice is all about, just making progress every day, and I think that’s what we’re going to do.”
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Freedom quarterback Ryder Huffman (left) eyes a receiver
downfield during a drill on Wednesday.
This year’s Patriots must replace, among others, the production of 2026 graduates Kaden Davis at quarterback and Kobe Johnson at receiver from last year’s 10-win squad. Dominguez believes the team is ready to do so.
“I don’t think our team would necessarily say it was a Kobe and KD show,” he said. “Ryder (Huffman) is definitely ready to play quarterback for us. And we have a lot back too. We want to go out and win a bunch of games again for sure.”
Dominguez said he feels like “we’re there physically, but I think we can get a lot better mentally.”
“We can get better camaraderie,” he added. “Everybody has to want it. There can’t be a few pulling in a different direction, we all have to be together and stay together if we want to accomplish what this team is capable of.”
Freedom may also have an addition to the staff as Tim McMahon, who won a modern county-record 94 games as Patriots head coach from 1995-2005, was on hand in a consultant role on Wednesday, Freedom AD Rob Scott said.
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Patton head coach Billy Whisenant (right) instructs one of his
quarterbacks during Wednesday’s practice.
Patton aiming higher this fall
Patton started day one before anyone else locally, taking the field from 7:30-10 a.m. with 38 total players out. The early wakeup call was nothing new for the Panthers.
“All summer (we practiced early),” Patton third-year coach Billy Whisenant said. “If it’s 90 degrees on the heat bulb, then we lose (the ability to do) everything outside.
The Panthers walked through plays in 11-on-11 offense vs. defense fashion to open the morning.
“The main thing is just continuing to prepare,” Whisenant said. “I want to see fewer mental mistakes, even though it’s just the first day. We’ve spent all spring and summer learning, so now there’s a little more intensity, a little more fire, a little less patience, to get it right on the field. We’re just refining stuff we’ve been doing now.”
Senior Alex Ryan, who played running back and receiver for the Panthers last season, said he believes the groundwork is in place for a program revival this fall after winning just once in 2025 and not fielding a varsity team the year before.
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A Patton player makes a cutback during a team drill on Wednesday
morning in the Panthers’ opening practice of the 2026 season.
“We’ve been putting the work in during the offseason, putting in effort, showing up, and now we want to go out and win some games,” he said. “No one is getting in trouble, no one quit, and I feel like everyone is focused on what we have to do as a team to be successful.”
Ryan said that a number of the current Patton players played youth football and travel ball together even before their success at Liberty Middle and now their days at PHS.
“That helps a lot because we know how each other plays,” he added, “and we can help each other if anyone makes a mistake. We can help bring each other up.”
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Draughn head coach Chris Powell (left) explains blocking
strategy to members of the Wildcats’ offensive line on Wednesday
morning in Valdese.
Draughn building from ground up
Draughn also won just once last fall and welcomed 36 players out on the opening day of practice Wednesday, fewer than ninth-year coach Chris Powell’s hopes, though he said the team was missing three or four players.
“Ideally, about 45 is where we would like to be given the size of our school,” said Powell, who has won 46 games with the Wildcats.
Draughn went from 8-11 a.m. with a focus on getting younger players some individual attention.
“We went varsity defensive individual work with JV offensive individual work, then went teamwork, then flipped it with varsity offensive individual work and JV defensive, and at the end we worked with the varsity offense as a team,” Powell said. “We want to get our young guys as many reps early as they can get because we’re going to do our best to field a JV team for as long as we can depending on numbers, injuries, and how many eight-quarter kids we burn up quickly. We want to teach those young guys from early on.”
Powell said this year’s August teaching focuses on the fundamentals.
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Draughn assistant coach Chris Cozort walks some of the team’s
linemen through a drill on Wednesday.
“It’s funny, you can go helmets and shoulder pads during the summer, but on week one here, you’ve got to have three days of just helmets,” he said. “So, you’re really restrained on what you can do. These first few days, we are just teaching the basics: stances, starts, alignments. We’re getting our defense on the same page as Coach (Gian Marco) Tamburi, who has come in and done a great job simplifying things, just letting them play fast. Them just learning the terminology is big.
“And then from an offensive standpoint, just getting lined up. Knowing what formations we are gonna use, what our assignments are, and making sure that we’re secure on that before we even get into anything else.”
Draughn senior lineman Hunter Abee, a first-team all-county selection last season, brings some quality experience to the trenches this fall.
“I’m definitely trying to lead, helping the young guys with their form, their footwork,” Abee said. “And I try to lead the older guys too, just being a three-year starter already and having a good amount of knowledge with what we do.
“Today was just about getting in the flow of how we should get off the ball and how we should come as a team together to play.”
