The Royals opened the season by hosting and defeating the Clover Hill Cavaliers by a score of 28-24. 2016 is a completely new season for the Prince George Royals football team and with new years comes new changes such as coaches.

The varsity team is a predominantly young team with around 20 seniors on the 53 man roster. The team has enlisted the help of five new coaches who focus predominantly on the defensive side of the ball. Each coach has a different coaching style and with that comes different opportunities for players.

“It is definitely a different style then they were used to,” said Coach Matthew Weston, “They have kind of embraced, we work hard but have a good time while doing it.”

Coach Matthew Weston is a Hopewell High School graduate and former football player. Weston played Fullback, Running back and Linebacker predominantly. He played his freshman year at Chowan College, which is now Chowan University, before he injured his rotator cuff. After college Weston went back to Hopewell High to continue coaching. He coached football for eight years, tennis for seven years, and wrestling for three years. 2016 is Weston’s first year coaching the defense in Prince George. He has helped change The Royals defense from a one tier defense to a three system defense that can change at will.

The defensive coaches have made it a noticeable effort in teaching the players better technique and training them to adjust in the middle of a game or middle of a series more freely.

“We’ve made a lot of growth” said coach Weston, “The guys have said in the past that there were they weren’t able to do in the past.”

Coach Daniel Hamlet started playing football for Prince George his eighth grade year where he played running back for the Junior Varsity team. Hamlet’s sophomore year he started for the Varsity team as a cornerback and tailback. His junior season he made the All district first team as a running back and the second team as an inside linebacker.
After graduating from Prince George high school hamlet went on to play two seasons for the Virginia State University Trojans.

Every coach, no matter what sport, has goal for their players and themselves. These goals drive the whole team to perform at their peak levels. A coaching goal for Hamlet is to make the young men and women he makes as great as possible to earn scholarships so that they may attend college and not have to pay for their schooling or get a full ride scholarship and go to college for free. Another goal for hamlet is to win, plain and simple, he wants to make the playoffs and take his teams as far as their talents can take them.

Coach Weston wants to help his players become more confident in their positions so they can own the position when on the field. Weston also wants to make improve the careers of his players by making the rest of their time with the team enjoyable because he doesn’t want his players to look back and regret the things they have done with the team or in high school.

High School football helps shape the lives of many young men across America by keeping them off the streets and motivating them to do well in their academic lives as well as their personal lives and it would not be as effective without the coaches that motivate their players to be the best they can be and chase their dreams.