Rodgers leads small school to big things|Creswell mentor is WDN Football Coach of the Year

Published 1:56 pm Saturday, January 2, 2010

By By KEVIN TRAVIS
Sports Editor

Creswell mentor is WDN Football Coach of the Year
By KEVIN TRAVIS
Sports Editor
CRESWELL — Wayne Rodgers has been walking the sidelines at Creswell High School for some 30 years. He’s enjoyed success and suffered heartache during his tenure. But a season like the one the Tigers had in 2009 keeps the veteran coach smiling.
Creswell, with just 111 students, is the smallest football-playing school in the state. That didn’t stop the Tigers from achieving some big accomplishments.
Creswell went a perfect 10-0 in winning the Tideland Conference championship for the second straight year, and advanced to the second round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A state playoffs.
“I didn’t expect to go 10-0,” Rodgers said. “Of course, any team’s goal is to do undefeated, but I certainly didn’t think we’d go 10-0. Once we got cranking, especially playing teams like Southside and Northside, teams that are a lot bigger than we are, we wanted to compete but didn’t know we’d have that type of success.”
Because of that success, the affable Rodgers was named the WDN Coach of the Year.
“This is great,” Rodgers said. “This is something I’ve never thought about. This is a high achievement for me.
“We have a good area of football and to be named Coach of the Year, with the fine coaches that are in this area, I really appreciate that. It’s a great accomplishment and I think it’s one of the highest things to have as a football coach.”
While the wins were nice, Rodgers said the highlight of the 2009 season was the crowd support.
“The highlight was the fans,” Rodgers said. “Our fans this year were just great.
“This was the first year we had cheerleaders in maybe ten years and that was great to see.”
The fans and cheerleaders certainly had plenty of reasons to cheer. The Tigers dominated the competition during the regular season, outscoring the competition, 382-56 (42.5 points per game to 6.2 points per game). Creswell won one game by forfeit.
With standouts like Danvonta Phelps, Jaquan Bryant, Timell Sawyer and Garry Blount on the offensive side of the ball, and standouts Xavier Owens, Shaton Basnight, Timothy Roughton and Justin Phelps patrolling the defense, the Tigers put together a splendid campaign.
Rodgers said it all started in the summer.
“We stressed coming out in training camp and working hard, and we stressed getting in shape,” Rodgers said. “We knew we weren’t going to be very big, so we had to work on our quickness. We tried to take advantage of our speed on special teams and on defense.”
Of course, the man putting everything together deservers some credit as well.
“Coach Rodgers is a very good coach,” defensive end Xavier Owens said. “He know what he’s doing out there. He’s a big factor in why we went 10-0.”