Lexington football hopes new field is part of revival for once-proud program

Just before kickoff of Lexington Senior High School’s first game of the new football season, Joe McIntosh leaned against the railing above the home side bleachers at Philpott Memorial Stadium.

A few feet to his right, the press box is lined with 12 signs, one for each year the Yellow Jackets were state champions.

During McIntosh’s time with Lexington in the late 1970s and early 1980s, it was one of North Carolina’s powerhouse programs. In the two years after he compiled over 3,600 yards as a running back at N.C. State, his alma mater added its final two titles in 1985 and 1986. He kept track of the Jackets every step of the way.

“We need to get that back,” McIntosh said before Friday’s game.

NEW TURF: Lexington Senior High spends $1.5 million on stadium renovations

NEW COACH: Lexington football hires former assistant Charles Morman as interim head coach

SCHEDULES: Davidson County 2022 high school football schedules

Decades later, Lexington has struggled to replicate its past success. It hasn’t won a game in nearly three years, including Friday's 42-0 loss to Central Davidson. But in the coming years, McIntosh and others who support the program hope to see it be revitalized.

This offseason, Lexington hired an interim head coach, Charles Morman, added a new turf field that it debuted Friday night, and brought back its JV program for the first time in over two years.

“Hopefully (the new field) will increase membership on the football team,” McIntosh said. “We don’t have that many kids coming out. I think just having this is going to make them proud.”

Both Morman and McIntosh noted the importance of bringing back the JV program to build a young core of players before they hit the field on Friday nights. The JV team played on Thursday and has eight more games scheduled for this fall.

“Our young core is going to be key, that’s key for us,” Morman said. “We’ve got to get our young kids lots of reps, we’ve got to keep fighting, stay together and we’ll be OK.”

Longtime Lexington fan Shando Perkins said he hopes the recent changes within the program can help.

“I’m hoping that the public will come out and support the kids,” he said before kickoff. “For us community wise, we’ve got to get the kids and everybody focused to get the program back up to where it used to be.”

After a competitive set of series in the opening minutes on Friday, Central Davidson slowly started to overpower the Jackets. The end result was clear by the time the second half began, but most fans returned after getting up at halftime.

JV players walked around in jerseys they wouldn’t have had the last two years. Fans continued to groan at missed opportunities well after the game had been decided. The student section cheered for touchdown-saving tackles when Lexington was in a double-digit hole.

“I’m hoping we can turn this thing around,” Perkins said. “It isn’t going to be one day, one week. It’s going to take some time.”

Morman mirrored Perkins’ sentiment of striving for gradual improvement.

“It’s been great support from the community,” Morman said. “The kids know and I know that it’s going to take some time to get it back. And we will, we will get it back. So we’re going to keep fighting, we’re going to keep working throughout the week and we’ll get it turned around."

This article originally appeared on The Dispatch: NC High School Football: Will new field change Lexington's future?