It’s still early in the 2024 high school football season, with Robeson County’s five teams just three or four games each into the campaign, and no conference matchups having been contested just yet.

So while there is still plenty of time for each team to change the story of its season — for better or worse — we’re also a couple of chapters in at this point.

I’ve seen all five teams play in person at least once, and have developed ideas and opinions about each. With Lumberton and Purnell Swett set to open United-8 Conference play this week and league play just over the horizon for Fairmont, Red Springs and St. Pauls, this is a good time to look at what those early impressions look like for each team.

St. Pauls is the real deal

St. Pauls (3-1) has been Robeson County’s best program over the last few seasons, something that has become a self-described standard in the Bulldogs’ program. After six-win seasons the last two falls, dominant wins the last two weeks including a 55-0 victory Thursday at West Columbus suggest that the Bulldogs are on an upward trajectory that could see them have a more successful season this year.

The Bulldogs have been more explosive offensively, scoring 37.0 points per game through their first four contests. Yoshua McBryde has run for 659 yards and eight touchdowns thus far, with Theophilus Setzer throwing for 546 yards and seven touchdowns while rushing for more than 200 yards; Setzer has frequently found receivers Jakhi Purcell, Malachi Locklear and Jaden Bethea.

Defensively, St. Pauls held West Columbus to 41 total yards of offense and has shut out the opposition in three of its last four halves played.

One point of concern through the first three games was that the Bulldogs had struggled in the third quarter each week; the Bulldogs, however, outscored West Columbus 14-0 in that period on Thursday.

After traveling to Charlotte Latin to finish their nonconference slate, the Bulldogs will begin Southeastern Athletic Conference play as the clear favorites in the league, hoping to win the program’s first conference championship since the fall 2021 season.

Lumberton is greatly improved, but will it continue?

Lumberton is off to its first 3-0 start since 2014 and has won five of its last six games dating back to last season, a first in any six-game span since 2011 for the Pirates.

Lumberton has beaten Fairmont, Clinton and Red Springs, teams that are a combined 0-12 on the season. A critique of the Pirates’ strength of schedule is therefore valid.

But it is absolutely indisputable that the Pirates have vastly improved from previous seasons. In playing the schedule they were given, they’ve won each game by 35 points or more; while that’s come against struggling teams, other recent Pirates teams would not have blown out this opposition, and may have even lost a game or two in the stretch.

They’ve done it with a balanced offense — proving that they can score both through the air and on the ground — and a defense which has allowed just 14 points thus far, proving to be far more physical than in seasons past.

The big question is how will the Pirates’ improvements translate when conference play starts — especially as this week’s conference opener is against Cape Fear, a 3-0 team itself who finished second in the league last season.

Lumberton was 2-5 in conference play last year, with four of the five losses coming by 38 points or more. While I don’t think it’s reasonable just yet to consider the Pirates as one of the league favorites, I wholly expect they’ll be far more competitive against those same teams and may even upend one or two of them.

Defense will lead Purnell Swett

Purnell Swett (2-1) has rebounded from a Week 1 loss at St. Pauls with consecutive wins over Fairmont and Red Springs, and after a bye enters United-8 play this week at Gray’s Creek.

The Rams’ offense has shown flashes but hasn’t yet proven it can be consistently strong. A case in point is a 21-point outing against Red Springs, which has allowed 40 points or more to its other three opponents; 14 of Purnell Swett’s points came on short fields after Red Devils turnovers in the first quarter, and the Rams only scored once more.

Defensively, though, they’ve been more consistent. After allowing 19 points in the first half to St. Pauls, they’ve allowed seven in the second half of that game, 12 against Fairmont — six of which were on a Golden Tornadoes’ defensive score, not an offensive touchdown against the Rams’ D — and seven to Red Springs.

Charles Wilkes is a vocal leader for that unit and has compiled 26 tackles, while Ethan Sampson has four tackles for loss and Nicolai Lambert has two interceptions.

As the Rams begin conference play, it’s clear which unit is the strength of their team — and this is something coach Josh Deese expected before the season. With their biggest games upcoming, that unit will have to continue its strong play for the Rams to be successful.

Despite record, Red Springs has some promise

Even as they prepared to face four United-8 Conference teams to start the campaign, before the season I wouldn’t have guessed Red Springs would sit 0-4 at this point. But even as they’ve struggled through those games — losing three of the four by 26 points or more — they’ve actually shown some promise that could play out in the results moving forward.

For a 2A program, playing United-8 schools means you’re the little guy, with the opposition tending to have more depth and often bigger bodies too. That’s been the case for Red Springs in each of the first four weeks.

But there’s nuggets of encouragement if you know where to look. The 14 points scored Thursday against Lumberton were the first scored by any Pirates opponent. The Purnell Swett contest was an evenly-played game for the last 3 1/2 quarters, ending 21-7 after two early Rams touchdowns that resulted from Red Devils’ mistakes, something that is fixable. Wideout T.J. Ellerbe is one of the area’s most dynamic players, with 20 receptions for 330 yards and four touchdowns, while Jakelsin Mack has rushed for 521 yards and two scores.

The Red Devils face 1A program Lakewood this week to finish nonconference play, finally playing a school that’s not a good bit larger. They’ll then enter league play in a Southeastern that has a clear favorite in St. Pauls but far less clarity below that, with Red Springs one of the teams that could contend for second (and perhaps more should the Bulldogs stumble).

Fairmont’s growing pains can help its future

Fairmont entered the 2024 season having graduated nearly all its statistical production from last season, when the Golden Tornadoes struggled to a 2-8 record. It stands to reason, then, that this year was always going to be a struggle, with younger players stepping in to fill those holes in a program that’s already not been particularly strong, winning six games in the previous three seasons.

Those growing pains have been quite evident, with the Golden Tornadoes at 0-4 with each loss coming by 30 points or more, though like Red Springs they’ve exclusively played larger schools thus far. But coach Jeremy Carthen says he believes his team has improved each week — and while I’ve only seen the Purnell Swett game live, I tend to agree. And with nearly the entire team expected back next season, this core has another season to build towards.

After failing to move the ball at all against Lumberton, they’ve scored two touchdowns or more in each of the last three games. While a couple of those have been defensive scores, that bodes well in itself as the defense has taken advantage of the opposition’s mistakes.

Running the ball has been a profound struggle, but Fairmont has opened up the passing game more effectively than I would have imagined they could, with sophomore Jamarion Brown throwing for nearly 500 yards.

Looking at the rest of this season, this week’s bye gives Fairmont a chance to get healthier before heading to Northside-Pinetown and then starting conference play — which will provide some comparatively easier games, in a league in which three of their five opponents currently have either one win or none. Looking ahead, the lessons learned through this season should help the program improve down the road.