Lumberton’s Isaiah Whittington (21) runs the ball during a scrimmage against E.E. Smith as part of the Lumberton Jamboree on Aug. 9, 2023. This year’s Lumberton Jamboree is scheduled for Friday.
                                 Chris Stiles | The Robesonian

Lumberton’s Isaiah Whittington (21) runs the ball during a scrimmage against E.E. Smith as part of the Lumberton Jamboree on Aug. 9, 2023. This year’s Lumberton Jamboree is scheduled for Friday.

Chris Stiles | The Robesonian

LUMBERTON — For decades, area teams have often made their first competitive appearance of a new football season on the field at Lumberton High’s Alton G. Brooks Stadium.

Six varsity teams will compete in preseason scrimmages as part of the Lumberton Jamboree, which is scheduled for Friday — though that schedule is uncertain due to the possibility of inclement weather from Tropical Storm Debby.

The varsity portion of the event is slated for 7 p.m. Friday with Fairmont facing Hobbton. Purnell Swett will take on E.E. Smith at 8 p.m. before the hosts from Lumberton will cap off the night at 9 p.m. against Southern Lee.

“I’m happy welcoming the teams that are participating, thankful for that, and ready to get it going,” said first-year Lumberton coach Taurius Baker. “Ready to see the season going, see our kids in competition and hitting for the first time, and seeing what we do good and bad, and seeing what we’re working on, and excitement from the community, the whole deal. It’s an awesome day to prepare for and anticipate.”

Purnell Swett coach Josh Deese participated in Lumberton Jamborees while playing in the Rams program about 20 years ago. Now he keeps his Rams teams coming back to support an event that’s a big part of the Robeson County football community.

“I like it, just supporting the hometown guys,” Deese said. “Anytime that Robeson County has something, I want to be involved with it. I played in it when it was North Carolina-South Carolina, so I want to continue this.”

The fact that three of the county’s programs compete in the same place on the same night provides the opportunity for much of the county to see each other compete in a comparatively low-pressure environment ahead of the more-intense regular season.

“We’ve got a lot of cousins, aunts, uncles, a lot of family that get to see the other kids from other schools as well,” Fairmont coach Jeremy Carthen said. “It’s always exciting, it’s like a family reunion. That’s the reason why we like to come back year after year.”

For the players, the chance to see another opponent after competing for weeks against only their teammates is a welcome sight.

I’m ready to get out there with my boys, because it’s been a long time, it’s been a hard summer going through it,” Purnell Swett senior linebacker Charles Wilkes said. “And this is our last first Jamboree so I’m really excited to do it.”

The primary objective for every team scrimmaging at the Lumberton Jamboree and other preseason events is learning more about themselves and improving, with Week 1 games just two weeks away.

“We’re really just focusing on coming together as a team, as a whole, and really seeing what we’ve got this year and visualizing the whole field, seeing what we’ve got on the offensive side and the defensive side of the ball,” Fairmont sophomore defensive back Tariq Leggett said.

The host Pirates have a new head coach for the second straight season as the program enters Baker’s debut campaign. For any team having undergone a coaching change, the preseason becomes that much more important as the team

“It’s definitely different throughout the years, so you’ve got a whole new coaching style each year, so you’ve got to work and you’ve got to adapt to that,” Lumberton senior offensive lineman Chris Britt said. “It takes a lot to be able to adapt and be able to keep your composure and keep you how you are; you’ve got to stay in that weight room and stay strong and you’ve got to get out there and you’ve got to work. We’re going to show out and show what we’ve been learning the whole offseason.”

Lumberton’s jamboree isn’t the only preseason event in Robeson County, with Red Springs scheduled to host its own jamboree for the second straight year on Tuesday, Aug. 13.

Red Springs will take on South View at 6 p.m. that evening, Gray’s Creek will face West Columbus at 7:15 p.m. and Purnell Swett takes on East Columbus at 8:30 p.m.

“We just kind of wanted to do something separate from the Cumberland County (Jamboree), bring some teams in our area together to compete,” Red Springs coach Tim Ray said. “We look forward to everybody getting better. That’s the biggest thing, we just want to get guys here to get better and correct some things on both sides for everybody.”

Other preseason scrimmages involving local teams include:

— Fairmont will face Lakewood in the Sampson County Jamboree on Friday, Aug. 16.

— Lumberton will play an opponent to be determined in jamboree at Smithfield-Selma on Wednesday, Aug. 14.

— Red Springs is scheduled to play Friday, weather-permitting, in a round-robin jamboree at Marlboro County including the Red Devils, Marlboro County, Anson County, Atlantic Collegiate Academy and Trinity Christian.

— St. Pauls will face Westover in the Cumberland County Jamboree on Friday, Aug. 16 at Pine Forest. A Bulldogs scrimmage against Seventy-First that was scheduled for this week has already been canceled due to the anticipated impact of Tropical Storm Debby on the area.

Sports editor Chris Stiles can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at cstiles@www.robesonian.com. You can follow him on X/Twitter at @StilesOnSports.