By DAN BISER
Sports Editor

Don’t look now, sports fans, but the 2007 high school football season is fast approaching.

Pre-season drills will be getting underway in two weeks, and season openers are just a month away.

All four of Columbus County’s football teams advanced to the North Carolina High School Athletic Association playoffs last season, but all suffered losses in the first round.
The 2007 season again looks interesting for Columbus County gridirons.

The 2006 Whiteville High team won its first Waccamaw Conference championship since 1993 and posted its first win over South Columbus since 1994, but saw key players on both offense and defense lost to graduation.

Coach Mark Little’s Wolfpack returns its two top rushers from last season, Jarrod McKinney and Tyson Wilcox and an experienced offensive line that includes Lloyd Enzor, Bradley Lee and Zack Williams.

The Wolfpack finished with a 9-3 record last fall and McKinney surpassed the 1,000 yard rushing plateau.

Since becoming WHS head football coach in 2002, Coach Little has guided the Wolfpack to a 41-20 record.

Whiteville lost to North Brunswick 24-20 in the first round of the state 2A playoffs last fall.

South Columbus closed out the 2006 season with an 8-4 record and fell short of the conference championship for only the second time since 1997.
Coach Joey Price heads into his 11th season as Stallion head coach with 104 victories under his belt and he has a strong nucleus of last year’s team returning.

Running back Dakota Piver and linebacker Andrae Jacobs will both be seniors and both have started attracting the attention of Division I College schools early last season.
Fullback Justin Smith returns to the fullback spot after having to sit out virtually all of last season with a broke ankle. Quarterback Justin Duncan returns after playing a strong back-up role last season. Donovan Watts and Buster James are two more senior Stallion players returning for their third years as starters.

The Stallion offensive line is expected to be stronger this year after going through a rebuilding stage last season.

SCHS dropped a 14-13 heart-breaker to Jacksonville Northside in the opening round of the 2006 state 2A playoffs.

West Columbus limped to a 2-10 record last fall after going 8-5 in 2005, but Coach Vernon Brigman still had one of the area’s most exciting players in multi-talented back Travis Leggett.

Leggett, who was a main cog in the Vikings’ 2005 success as a sophomore, was counted on for much of the Viking offense last season, lining up at quarterback and leading the team in rushing and passing.

Leggett has been on the recruiting lists of several Division I college programs for over a year.

Tyrale George, Timothy Brown and Torres Newkirk lead the list of other returning Viking players.

The Vikings bowed to eventual state champion Elkin 48-13 in the first round of last year’s 1A playoffs

East Columbus fashioned a 3-9 record last fall after going 0-11 in 2005.

Coach Travis Connor’s Gator offense should again be capable of moving the ball well behind the “spinner-option” play of quarterback Alex Williamson, who rushed for over 1,100 yards as a junior.

Jolly Jacobs is back to help lead the Gator defense while Demetrius McKelvie, C.J. Ganus, Petey Graham, Zack Ward, Kevin Richardson and Gerard Bullock are among other key returnees.

The Gator varsity will also be bolstered by products from last year’s conference junior varsity champion.
Connor heads into his third season as Gator head coach. East Columbus has experienced only one winning season in varsity football since the school was formed by consolidation of Hallsboro and Acme-Delco in 1992.