At this time last year, Sylva Bay Academy – under first-year head coach Terry Underwood – was looking for its first win. By the end of the season, only three games made their way into the win column.
How things have changed in 2018.
Friday night Sylva Bay Academy hopes to match its win total from a year ago in Week 3’s contest vs. Newton County Academy at home.
“We’ve been pretty resilient,” said Underwood, whose Saints are 2-0 on the season in as many games. “We’ve played two good football teams. I think we’ve improved a lot regarding our mental toughness as much as anything.
“We’re playing a more physical brand of football than we were a year ago. The biggest thing is we had a lot of 10th and 11th graders last year. We were young, and I used the term ‘we’ve got our nose bloodied.’ We’ve grown and matured a lot.”
Sylva Bay upset two programs (Tri-County Academy and Winston Academy) by narrow margins in Week 1 and 2, teams that beat the Saints by 37 and 21 points in 2017.
“Mentality we’re handling everything much better,” Underwood added. “Our kids invested themselves [in the process] during the offseason, and it’s showing. I give our kids most of the credit. The same guys making big plays for us this year are the one that was getting their nose bloodied last year.
“Now we have had some new kids that have moved in this year that’s helped us a lot, and we’re glad to have them.”
Depth was a concerning issue in 2017. With the arrival of players like Broderick Magee, Tariq McCoy, Austin McKinley, Wyatt Polk, Ty Crosby and Cameron Smith, from other schools like Raleigh and Taylorsville have solved the depth issue for Underwood this year.
“Those guys have provided great depth for us in a lot of areas,” stated Underwood. “Depth was something we did have at all last year. We’re 10-12 deeper than we were last year.
“We still have a lot of kids having to play both ways, but were able to give them a break every once in a while, something we couldn’t do last year. We had to roll the same kids out there play after play.”
Other additions, players like River Thomas and Raymond Morales, have “come out of our hallways.”
“Thomas has played excellent for us not to have played football since the fourth or fifth grade,” said Underwood. “He starts every down for us and plays both ways.
“Morales hasn’t kicked or done anything for us in recent years, but he’s come out and helped us in the kicking game.”
A large part of Sylva Bay’s early success has been the offensive production of senior quarterback Phillip Anderson. Against Tri-County in Week 1, Anderson tossed the game-winning touchdown and accounted for 15 of the Saints 17 total points. Last Friday night he scored the only touchdown of the night in a 6-0 win over Winston Academy.
“The truth is just this – how Anderson goes, we go,” Underwood noted. “Phillip, if he’s not our best athlete, he’s one of the best athletes. That is why we have him at quarterback.
“If he has a good game, we have a good game. But if he has a poor game, it hurts us. Phillip is a competitor. He wants to win. He had a problem holding on to the ball last week but had it not been for his toughness in running the ball; we wouldn’t have won the game either.”
Turnovers were a dark spot of Sylva Bay in Week 2, committing five in the contest, but Underwood says that’s an area that can be improved immediately.
Kickoff against Newton County Academy is set for 7 p.m.
