CHOCOWINITY — Around this time last year, the Southside football team was discounted, underappreciated and overlooked as a contender for the Coastal Plains Conference title. Coming off a 3-9 season, critics claimed the team neither had the size nor speed on defense to keep pace with the high-powered offenses of a Lejeune or Pamlico County.

But by the end of last season, there were few doubters left. The Seahawks had pieced together one of the most impressive 180-degree program turnarounds, going from 3-9 to 10-4, even with an injury at quarterback, and winning two playoff games for the first time in a decade.

Now, in the place of uncertainty is anticipation. Southside returns three of its four go-to running backs — a stable that combined for over 4000 yards on the ground — and has the luxury of defensive size and strength.

“It’s a little bit different feeling,” said third-year head coach Jeff Carrow. “Last year, coaches knew what we had potential wise, it was just the kids learning how to win. We were able to learn a little bit last year. This year, the guys have to adjust and learn that they’re not so much under the radar as they were last year. People will be gunning for us, but we need to step up. On paper, it looks ok, but we have guys who need to step up in key roles and that will determine how good we’ll be. “

The atmosphere surrounding the program has certainly changed in a year’s time, tenfold, but the coaching staff isn’t ready to utter the words “state championship” just yet. With two weeks until the start of the 2015 season, the Seahawks are taking it one practice at a time, addressing deficiencies and familiarizing younger players with a multi-look offense.

The wing-T lives and dies by the offensive line. Players are required to be quick on their feet and work laterally in unison to create space for a host of wingbacks. Right now, after the graduation of standout Austin Jordan, the O-line is the biggest question surrounding the Seahawks heading into the season.

Despite the area of concern, Southside seems to be in good shape entering what’s expected to be an improved Coastal Plains Conference this season. Pass-heavy East Carteret, earning a No. 17 preseason rank by CarolinaPreps.com, returns a strong core of seniors and has a new coach with three state championships on his resume, Caleb King, who spent the last seven season under head coach Jim Bob Bryant at Havelock. Coming off a 10-3 season, defending conference champion Pamlico County is also expected to be formidable.

“Every year it’s a shootout one way or the other in this conference,” Carrow said. “It’s going to be interesting conference wise. And of course the Northside rivalry game is always a big game. It’s definitely a better conference this year with new faces, so we’ll have to learn new schemes and stuff like that.”

Southside comes in at No. 19 in the preseason rankings and will look to standout Lawrence Brown to carry about half of the offensive load this season. Brown rushed for a team-best 1271 yards and 16 touchdowns. Supplementing Brown in the offense will be guys like Matt Baxter, who ran for 989 yards on 120 carries, and Dylan Lewis, a power back who spent the second half of last season sidelined with an injury.

Southside enters the season with 13 seniors on its roster and a collection of underclassmen with proven experience at the jayvee and varsity level. There’s no shortage of athleticism and Carrow will have plenty of offensive weapons at his disposal.

“You always want to top the year before’s expectations,” he said. “We don’t look ahead around here. We look at the game in front of us. Right now we’re preparing for the jamboree and we’re preparing for North Duplin, always a great game. All I can say is expectations from the whole coaching staff are high. I won’t go into details on what they are, but they’re extremely high.”

Southside opens the season on Aug. 21 at home against North Duplin.