KENLY — Journalists are nothing if not food motivated, and so I found myself at Lowell Mill Restaurant at Big Boy’s Truck Stop today for the Neuse 6 Football Media Day.
I ordered a cheeseburger, if you’re wondering, and it was excellent.
As for the business at hand, Princeton was picked first in the preseason coaches poll, followed closely by Beddingfield.
Here’s the breakdown:
Neuse 6 Preseason Coaches Poll
- Princeton 23 points, four first-place votes
- Beddingfield 21 points, 1 first-place vote
- Eastern Wayne 18 points
- North Johnston 12 points
- Goldsboro 11 points
- Spring Creek 5 points
“Everything changes so much,” Princeton coach Travis Gaster said. “Especially in small classifications and you really don’t have an idea what you have until you can hit somebody with another color helmet on. And, right now, we haven’t been able to do that yet.”
First-year North Johnston coach Kyle Schenk was unfazed by the poll’s results, focusing instead on building the culture for his new team.
“I don’t pay that much attention to it, honestly,” he said.
The three top vote getters finished in a three-way tie for first last season in the Neuse 6 with each having a 4-1 conference mark. Princeton earned the league’s top playoff seed last year based on its MaxPreps ranking.
Beddingfield is coming off a 7-5 mark in 2023, and the Bruins reached the second round of the 2A playoffs before falling to eventual Eastern champion, Clinton.
Eastern Wayne was also a playoff team last fall, finishing 6-5 after a first round defeat against East Duplin.
North Johnston is coming off a 4-7 campaign, and a first-round playoff loss at Northeastern, as it slides into the fourth spot in the poll.
Goldsboro (1-9 in 2024) and Spring Creek (0-10) round out the poll results.
The season gets underway on August 23.