Update: Madison names new head football coach

The Sports Blog reported last week that Avery's fellow Western Highlands Conference member Madison High School's head football coach and athletic director Darren Ponder had resigned from the school. Last week, the Patriots found a replacement when they hired Eric Schneider, who coached the Madison High junior varsity football team to a 7-3 record last year, as its new head coach.

The announcement appeared last week in an edition of the Asheville Citizen-Times as follows:

The Madison County Board of Education approved the hiring on Friday night after a lengthy school board meeting.

Several football players stood outside the board office awaiting word on who would be hired, and the players presented board members with a letter asking them to hire Schneider.

“Coach Schneider has been the most consistent and loyal coach that the Madison County football program has had for a number of years,” the players wrote. “Coach Schneider has mentored many of us as players, students, and young men since seventh grade. This consistency and personal interest has created a mutual trust that is necessary to any successful team sport."

The move came less than a week after the resignation of athletic director and football coach Darren Ponder, who had been at Madison High School for one year. The varsity team went 0-11 in 2007, playing several games at the end of the season with several junior varsity players after about a dozen varsity players were suspended for improper activity.

Schneider, who said he played high school ball in Chicago and college ball in Washington State and in Chicago, has never held a varsity coaching position.After the vote to hire Schneider was announced, players and parents hooted and grabbed their cell phones to spread the news.

James Taffer, a football parent who attended the meeting, said Schneider “has worked with them for so long. The values he’s instilled in them in the seventh and eighth grades are showing right now,” he said.

Also interviewed for the coaching position were Madison native Mark Gosnell, who has coached at Erwin High School and in Georgia, and former Northwest Cabarrus High head coach Mike Helms, who led the Trojans to the playoffs in six straight seasons.

Non-Conference Gauntlet to Test Vikings Football in 2008

The 2008 edition of the Avery Vikings varsity football team looks to improve upon consecutive 5-7 seasons in 2006 and 2007 and continue its streak of six consecutive years of playing in the postseason. Although more emphasis is placed on conference play as teams prepare for playoff competition, the Vikings must still wish to improve upon two straight seasons of winning only 1 of 5 games in out-of-conference matchups.

This year the Vikings have the exact non-conference foes they faced a year ago, with the switching of weeks between Robbinsville and Cloudland. Rather than open the schedule with the Black Knights, the Big Red will kick off 2008 with the Avery Journal-Times Border Battle Classic showdown against the neighboring Landers from Roan Mountain, following by an endowment contest a week later to open the schedule on the new turf at MacDonald Stadium. Avery will travel to Boone to tangle with Watauga in the Battle for the Bucket, and will host both nearby Johnson County (TN) and a former conference foe in the West Henderson Falcons.

Here’s a brief look at how each of these games break down:

Avery at Cloudland (August 22nd): Avery travels to nearby Orr Field to take on a Cloudland club that finished last season with a 7-4 mark, falling in the first round of the TSSAA playoffs. Cloudland’s three defeats came to its closest foes, as Avery defeated Cloudland 35-14 last August, along with wins from Mitchell and Hampton (TN).The Landers and its spread offense lost one of the best quarterbacks in the region to graduation in Jordan Hughes, but a young nucleus of returning players plan to anchor the team for continued success.

Robbinsville at Avery (August 29th):

A year ago the Vikings opened the season with the Endowment game at Robbinsville. The Black Knights under head coach Gene Boley surprised some, using a 41-34 shootout win against Avery last year to springboard themselves to a 7-5 campaign and advance to the second round of the NCHSAA playoffs. Boley left the helm of the Black Knights after just one season, and was replaced by former Hayesville High School assistant coach Dee Walsh. A Robbinsville alum, Walsh was offered the head coach position last summer, which he accepted and quickly changed his mind due to a perceived lack of school board support. Robbinsville returns experience at the running back position, but it is unknown if the squad will continue to employ the Double-Wing offense it used to success last season, or if the new coach will change playbooks.

Avery at Watauga (September 5th): The annual border war between these rival teams will continue to provide a powder keg of excitement. Gone from the Watauga lineup is graduate and Wofford enrollee Eric Britenstein who torched the Vikings for 386 yards and six touchdowns in his final two seasons at Watauga. Also gone from the Watauga sideline is head coach Adrian Snow, who left Boone to accept a head football coaching position at his alma mater West Forsyth High School. Key returning players like Cam Steury, Devan Corum, and Baine Martin will provide leadership to the Pioneer ballclub.

Johnson County at Avery (September 19th): After a bye week, Avery will play host to the Johnson County Longhorns. The neighbors across the border handed the Vikings a discouraging 21-7 loss in Mountain City a season ago en route to a 7-4 record in 2007. The Longhorns and 12th year head coach Mike Atwood utilized a strong offensive line and powerful running game on a muddy night last season to win the line of scrimmage battle. Johnson County rushing threat Tyler Leonard, who sealed last year’s win with a fourth quarter, 48-yard touchdown run, graduated and has an opporunity to walk-on at Carson-Newman College, but return all-conference selections QB Austin Phipps and WR/K Christian Prudhomme.

West Henderson at Avery (October 3rd): Avery hopes to erase the thoughts of last season’s 14-0 shutout in Mills River at the hands of West Henderson High. The Falcons took advantage of two long touchdown passes by QB Zach Corliss to provide the only scores of the night. The blanking was the first for Avery in a total of 75 games, a span of six full seasons.West will look to replace their veteran signal-caller Corliss, and may rely more heavily on the wing bone offense the team has employed in past seasons.