Year No. 3 of the Dan Pippin era will begin at North Augusta High School in two weeks.

When The Yellow Jackets' football coach arrived in 2006 he was given the keys to the team. After two years of trying to turn around a losing program, he's getting a hand.

"Last year the town rallied around us," Pippin said. "Obviously, it took awhile. People want to rally around a winner."

Pippin has been slapped with the title of a football program fixer after turning around South Aiken High School's team before being hired by North Augusta for the same reason.

In his first year in charge of the Yellow Jackets, he discovered how broken things were. North Augusta went 1-10.

"It was tough for everybody; tough on the team, tough on the program and tough on the town," Pippin said.

But last year's squad went 6-5 with a series of emotionally charged, program-changing wins over Strom Thurmond, South Aiken and region champ Irmo in the final game of the regular season.

The three-point upset of Irmo gave the Yellow Jackets a playoff bid. It also gave Pippin and his program something else.

"People in our town now take pride in our team," he said.

"I didn't do a good job my first year reaching out to the community. Now we have that. Now we tell our guys every day about the great tradition on North Augusta football."

Pippin's program is experiencing things typically associated with rural, one-high school counties. Car washes and other fundraisers have popped up.

The Yellow Jackets are preparing for a year with dramatically higher expectations.

Running back Tidy Johnson, who rushed for more than 1,200 yards last season, will be key on offense.

Linebacker Brett Johnson, who made 143 tackles last year, has bulked up in the off-season and will once again anchor the defense.

"We're getting stronger and faster. We don't have a lot of big kids, but we're more mentally tough," Pippin said. "I don't know if that will equate into more wins, but I know we've got the town behind us now. It's a good feeling, and I'm proud to be a person who lives in North Augusta."

NORTH AUGUSTA YELLOW JACKETS

COACH: Dan Pippin (third season; 13th season overall)

CLASSIFICATION: SCHSL Region 5-AAAA

LAST YEAR: 6-6, lost 35-21 in the first round of the Class AAAA playoffs to Westside-Anderson.

STARTERS BACK: Seven on offense, eight on defense.

NOTABLE: North Augusta will play host to Richmond Academy on Sept. 19. The former rivals haven't met since 1983.

BOTTOM LINE: Could be a breakout year for the Yellow Jackets, who return an entire offensive backfield and have two game-changing linebackers. But the schedule and the region are relentlessly unforgiving, which means improvement on last year's six wins could be a chore.

TWO-A-DAYS

Previewing area high school football teams:

AUG. 17: Evans, North Augusta

AUG. 18: Greenbrier, Midland Valley

AUG. 19: Lakeside, Aiken

AUG. 20: Augusta Christian, South Aiken

AUG. 21: Burke County, Silver Bluff

AUG. 22: Glenn Hills, Strom Thurmond

AUG. 23: Richmond Academy, Westside

AUG. 24: Laney, Josey

AUG. 25: Aquinas, Harlem

AUG. 26: Jefferson County, Thomas Jefferson Academy

AUG. 27: Cross Creek,Hephzibah

AUG. 28: Thomson,Lincoln County

From the Sunday, August 17, 2008 edition of the Augusta Chronicle

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