Buccaneers Build Off Of Leadership And Underdog Mentality

CHARLOTTE, NC. – In 2018 Charlotte Country Day football claimed their first and only state championship under Buccaneer alumni and head coach Drew Witman. In his third season at the time after taking over for his father after a storied career.

Since the pandemic the Bucs’ have only won six games, a statistic they use as a chip on their shoulder.

“I’d say we are underdogs. A lot of teams will be like ‘Oh we are playing Country Day, it’s gonna be a cakewalk,’ There are no cakewalks here. This is a different team this year a different mentality we want it all,” said London Rogers-Hicks, a senior wide receiver on the Bucs’.

“I love that role for us. I like it and use it to our advantage this year. I want teams to underestimate us, I want to prove them wrong,” said Oscar Hydrick, a senior

For these seniors, the reasons behind the losses are more important than the frequency.

“I think the biggest thing we failed on last year was the little things, just coming down to the big stretches at the end of the game and just not executing our game and we just need to focus in in those moments and learn how to complete the little things day in and day out,” said Hydrick.

This mentality becomes hard to maintain in a stacked conference.

“We are going to take licks. No game is going to be perfect, it’s never gonna be perfect. We are gonna take licks we are gonna take ‘L’s’ (losses). They are gonna score, how you recover, how you get back, that is what matters,” said Rogers-Hicks.

This offseason, Coach Witman and his senior class will utilize a love tough mentality. Leaning on leadership to lead the Bucs’ to the postseason. And he believes there is no better time to do so.

“We’ve gotta learn eachother. We gotta care about eachother and it’s nice when things are nice in the air conditioning we are all friends. But when things get hot you start to see when guys get frustrated and that’s when the rubber hits the road. That’s when you know in August, in September and October, when you do reach those tough points guys are gonna lean into eachother. When you start leaning into eachother good things happen, when you lean out bad things happen,” said Witman.

The Buccaneers kick their season off on the road against Swain County on Friday, August 18, 2023.