PN/Photo/Mahala Treish / UNCP Athletics
By Zackari Ciboth, Sports Editor
A new era for Braves football will begin on Friday Sept.1 at 3pm when the Braves host rival Fayetteville State in the “Two Rivers Classic” at Grace P. Johnson Stadium. It will also kick off a new era for first year head coach Mark Hall.
“Yeah, I’m excited to see the guys play. You know, we put a lot of work for nine months, building the team, just kind of changing the culture and the mindset of the group. Its our first chance to really go into a game together.” Hall said. “It’s going to be a challenge. There’s going to be some ups and downs, looking forward to seeing how we respond to not just the good moments but when our backs against the wall a little bit.”
As a 18-year collegiate coach, he becomes just the third head coach in the modern- day era for the Braves football program. Hall coached for 15 years at Chowan University with his last two years as the head coach for the Hawks. At Chowan University he put together a 14-7 record and brought the program’s first CIAA Division Title and an appearance in the CIAA championship where he faced off against Fayetteville State. Hall and the Broncos have a familiar history with each other, so Friday will be no different for him.
Hall will look to do what he did for the Hawks for the Braves and build on a successful offseason and recruiting class and translate that into winning football games for the program this fall.
“We’ve had a great recruiting class. We’ve got a nice group of transfers that come in and assigned a lot of good high school players as well. We’re going to have some freshman that play on Friday night and were looking forward to that.” Hall said. “But I think our first recruiting class here , I think we’ve done a great job as a staff,” Hall said.
The Braves begin that journey by looking to avenge a 15-13 loss to the Broncos last season and reclaim the Two Rivers Classic Trophy Friday afternoon.
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