Friday Night Football Fever Preview: Prattville Christian Academy Panthers

PRATTVILLE, Ala. (WSFA) - We are just over a week out from the start of the high school football season, and our Fever Country teams continue to get ready for opening week. We head to Prattville Christian to check in with the Panthers about the upcoming season.

2020 was a tough year for PCA as the Panthers went 1-10 last season, the only win coming from a forfeit from Ellewood Christian. But a change in the coaching staff has the guys amped up for the first game.

“I just think our seniors have been through so much in this football program and so much adversity that it helps us honestly,” said senior tight end Brooks Bius. “It supplies kind of an anger from what has happened in the past, and helps us grow as a team because we’ve been through so much together. Two 0-10 seasons, we just want to win so bad, and that helps our motivation.”

“As far as last year’s season, our kids there, they did some good things last year so let’s learn from that, let’s learn from our mistakes and go to the next play,” said first year head coach Norman Dean.

Dean will make his head coaching debut with the Panthers after spending the last few with Trinity; he brings more than 26 years of coaching experience to the purple and white, including a ten year stint with Elmore County where he was a two-time Metro Coach of the Year and a two-time AHSAA All-Star Coach.

“I’m new, the kids are new, and we’ve brought it several new coaches, so we’re learning each other now and getting things going,” he said. “I’m real pleased with the kid’s work ethic as far as coming out to work hard this summer, and I’m really looking forward to the 2021 season.”

The players have already taken a liking to Coach Dean, and are buying into the new culture he’s instilled this summer.

“Whenever Coach Dean came in, it was like a whole new world,” added senior defensive lineman Coleman Hunter. “Workouts are intense, practices are intense and fast. He doesn’t like any walking or none of that, so we’re always at a fast pace, and we get stuff done. He’s changed the culture a lot.”

”Effort and execution,” said Dean about his goals this season. “We want to give great effort in whatever we do, give our best effort and of course execute what we’re asked to do.”

Prattville Christian will host Billingsley on August 20 to open the 2021 season.

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