Lexington’s football team is preparing for its new season under first-year head coach Stewart Young.

Young joins the Wildcats’ sidelines after serving on Saluda’s staff for the past 21 seasons, including 11 as the team’s head coach. Young is credited with turning the Saluda program into a regular contender in 2A, and he is seeking to do the same at Lexington.

“It’s been a good big challenge, but I knew it would be,” Young said.
“You get somewhere new, and you have to learn people. We have to learn the processes of how things operate within the building and in the athletic department and all those things. So, that’s the thing I had to do, just learn a lot of this stuff, and I’m still learning to this day.”

Like Young, his team is also still learning. They’ve had to balance get- ting used to a new system and focus on improving their skills.

Young wants his teams to be disciplined in all facets of the game, as well as tough and prepared. He also wants players to avoid beating themselves up.

“I think that’s something we emphasize a lot,” Young said. “Then, of course, the main thing, probably the most important, is to come together as a family and be more than just a team and more than just a coaching staff. We want to make this thing family-oriented and make sure the kids, at the end of the day, love each other.”