Richard Bailey’s seventh year at Scotland was perhaps his most challenging season yet.
His team entered the last week of the regular season with a losing record, but the Fighting Scots played well enough to earn a spot in the 4A state playoffs. And suddenly, the team that lost its starting quarterback and several other key players to early-season injuries seemed to return to its usual position as a perennial powerhouse.
In the first round, the 10th-seeded Scots snuck past No. 7 Durham Jordan 26-25 on a muddy field that was better suited for an ATV race than a football game.
Facing an even tougher test at No. 2 Cardinal Gibbons, the Scots pulled off an other close victory, 7-6. That set up a third-round matchup with No. 3 Pine Forest. That ended with a 27-21 victory for the Scots.
And after a 28-0 win over Sandhills Athletic Conference foe Seventy-First in the East Region finals, Scotland lost by a touchdown to 4A state champion East Forsyth, a team that entered the title game 14-0 and was winning games by an average of 31 points.
Just eight seniors took the field for the Scots in the state championship game, and many of them were feeling the effects of a long season. Running back Syheam McQueen, who wasn’t playing at full strength due to an MCL injury, left the game in the second half. Senior offensive lineman Austin Norton, who earned all-SAC honors this season, played the entire game with a separated shoulder.
Many spectators had dismissed the Scots as a playoff team, let alone a state championship contender, midway through the regular season. After losing 32 seniors from last year’s team that also finished as the 4A runner-up, the Scots were consistently hampered by inexperience and injuries.
That’s what made Scotland’s playoff run so remarkable. The team that juggled two sophomore quarterbacks, fielded another sophomore as its best wide receiver and played portions of the season without its best player somehow managed to prove that it could compete with the best teams in the state.
And while social media erupted with support for the Scots after the championship loss, a handful of individuals seemed to forget the journey, focusing instead on its bitter conclusion.
They focused on Bailey, who fell to 0-6 in state championship games. And they came to the conclusion that a change might be needed at his position.
As he said after the loss, Bailey is not a proponent of moral victories. His teams play to win regardless of the circumstances, and they expected to walk away from Wallace Wade Stadium with a first-place trophy on Saturday night.
Scotland County expects the Scots to win as well. That’s why this year was an anomaly for the Scots (9-6), as they suffered more than two losses for the first time since 2010.
After the first game of the season, a 47-19 loss to Matthews Butler, Bailey said several members of the community reached out to him, asking if he was OK. The Scots had dropped a combined nine games in Bailey’s first six years with the program, so losing had become some sort of phenomenon.
But the Scots managed to pull through the adversity and accomplished more than most people thought they were capable of.
Bailey joked that this season took several years off his life. He referenced the often-frustrating play of his young team, but there was also matters off of the field that had to be addressed. Those issues stemmed from characteristics that you’d expect out of a young team — immaturity and selfishness, to name a couple.
Even at the lowest points of the season, Bailey reiterated his commitment not only to developing his athletes as football players, but as young men as well. The football aspect of that development was evident throughout the year, as certain mistakes became less common and the general flow of Scotland’s schemes became smoother.
But personal development, a process which is seldom visible to fans, took place as well. And Bailey’s staff did a good job of managing that process.
I’ll let senior running back Joseph McKoy explain how.
“Coach taught me everything I know,” McKoy said after the loss. “I love him for everything. I wouldn’t trade it for nothing. I really grew up — he really helped me grow up as a man. In ninth grade I wasn’t like this. I really had to grow up.”
“He was a little bit of a knucklehead,” Bailey said with a smile.
McKoy continued talking about his experience with the Scots: “I really had to figure out if I didn’t get my head right, I wouldn’t be going far. So I knew I had to do what it takes, and pulled through.”
Bailey’s influence is just as strong off the field as it is under the Friday night lights. And although the state championship continues to evade the Scots, the team has a chance to do remarkable things under the leadership of Bailey’s staff in the next few years.
