Though Mike Setzer and Taurius Baker each have about two decades of high school football coaching experience, excitement was palpable from both as a new season began.

The fresh start always brings great energy and excitement, momentum and motivation, whether in one’s 20th season as a head coach, like St. Pauls’ Setzer, or entering a first season as the leading man on the sideline, like Lumberton’s Baker, or as players entering a senior season, a first varsity campaign or a JV season.

The first day of official practice kicked off the 2024 high school football season Wednesday, in Robeson County and around the state.

“I’ve been feeling that way since (being hired as head coach),” Baker said. “I’ve been this type of guy because I’ve always coached football, I look at it the same way. With this many years doing it, it’s always exciting this time of year, but no nerves, I do what I do.”

Baker presided over the official kickoff of his first season leading the Pirates, his first head coaching position in an 18-year coaching career. He was hired in May, later in the offseason than most coaching changes occur, leading to a somewhat truncated offseason program. That’s all done now, though, as the season starts in earnest with scrimmage games just over one week away.

“I always have a high expectancy level, especially this time of year, having the fact that we had our offseason and training, which I’m very impressed with the young men because we had to put together spring ball and an offseason all in one, so we’re talking about installs and getting them in shape,” Baker said. “I think they did an excellent job considering with that. … All in all a pretty good day; it’s day one, I don’t get too high, don’t get too low, but I have a high spirit of expectation and we’re just going to pushing to our goals.”

Baker’s players were ready to go Wednesday as the team practiced in the early evening.

“It was really exciting to get on the field today,” Pirates junior wide receiver/defensive back Reggie Bush said. “We’re just ready for this jamboree, getting ready for the season, the first game against Fairmont, we’re ready for them. … I feel like we’re more prepared this year, and we’re just ready for the season.”

Week 1 games are lurking on Aug. 23: Fairmont at Lumberton, Purnell Swett at St. Pauls and Douglas Byrd at Red Springs.

About few hours earlier and a few miles north at St. Pauls, there was less novelty for Setzer, the Bulldogs’ veteran head coach, as the team took the field Wednesday morning — but that doesn’t mean he was less eager to see his team’s first official practice.

“Blessed to be doing this, now 22 years … 20 as a head coach,” Setzer said. “I’m just excited, man, excited for our kids. Our numbers are down with JV and things in the program; we’d like to see more numbers, that comes and goes, but we’re very excited. We didn’t have to do too much coaching today; we had a lot of experience come back, so we’re very excited about that.”

The Bulldogs return 15 of 22 offensive/defensive starters, meaning their practices have a strong sense of familiarity with players who don’t need to be told what practices in the program will be like.

“I think that comes with experience, and then as experienced coaches sometimes you’ve got to understand when to get out of the way,” Setzer said. “Today, with this group now, it’s time for us to get out of the way a little bit; they’ve been babies long enough. We just get out of the way, watch them practice and they did a tremendous job today. The first day sometimes is a good day, but sometimes it’s after that first day of hitting and a lot of pads and stuff like that. But I’m very excited about this group, I think this group has got a lot of bright spots.”

“We’ve been waiting for this, working all summer to get to the first practice,” Bulldogs senior quarterback Theophilus Setzer said. “I feel like overall we did really good, we’ve just got to fine tune some things, so I’m feeling good about the season coming up.”

The first day of practice is the first in a series of lasts for seniors, with graduation now just 10 months away.

“I guess it’s kind of bittersweet, because I feel like I’m ready to get to that next chapter in my life, but at the same time I’m ready to finally enjoy my senior year,” Theophilus Setzer said.

At Purnell Swett, 27 Rams began their senior season with Wednesday morning’s session.

“Those boys were kind of, they’ve kind of been leading us all summer, into the spring and summer,” said Purnell Swett’s Josh Deese, who enters his second season as the Rams’ head coach. “They’ve been doing a really good job leading this group, holding other boys accountable, holding themselves accountable, so nothing’s changed. They came in day one, they knew the expectations, they knew how we were going to do things, and that made our practice run a little bit smoother with those guys.”

After strong participation at summer workouts, Deese said, his team was ready to hit the ground running, making the first official practice more of a continuation than a starting point.

“We got on the field; they’ve been here all summer, so we didn’t have to dial it back any, we just made sure to review what we had to review, and we just moved forward,” Deese said. “We didn’t take any steps back on the first day, and to me that’s a big thing. If we can continue what we’ve done all summer, and we did that today, I think we’re going to be even more prepared for game one and that’s the goal.”

As those preparations continue, each coach knows his team is a work in progress in the opening days of practice — but that incremental improvement began as teams got better in their hours on the field Wednesday.

“You never get to your pinnacle on day one. It’s never as bad as it seems, never as good as it seems,” Baker said. “With that, understanding that we’ve got plenty of work to do, but keeping it in perspective, we’ve gotten a lot of good things done.”