By Randy Capps
American Leadership Academy has made quite an impact in its first two years as a varsity program. A 7-3 mark in 2024 as a non-affiliated member of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association laid the foundation for last year’s 4-7 record as a member of the Quad County 2A/3A/4A.
It resulted in a playoff berth for the Patriots, who fell to Rosewood in the first round of the 2A bracket, and set the stage for year No. 3.
“We obviously want to be better than last year,” head coach Nate Blackburn said. “That is always the goal. We will be extremely young. However, with an influx of young players, it allows us to grow together and build continuity. We lost several players to other schools in the area, but we feel as a staff that, sometimes, it’s addition by subtraction. It allows us to reset and reestablish the culture.”
ALA will return seven starters from an offense that averaged almost 29 points a night, including Carter Donovan, Grant Bazemore, Josh Avery and Noah Ennis from the offensive line.
This should help soften the blow of the loss of Anthony Jimenez (1,652 rushing yards, 17 TD) and quarterback Ian Wands, who transferred to Willow Spring.
Sophomore Ronnie Cattelona will get a shot to earn the starting spot at quarterback.
“He can read defense really well as a young guy, is really accurate, has great leadership and pocket awareness,” Blackburn said.
Defensively, senior tackle Josh Williams, junior end Kyle Connolly, senior linebackers Howard Williams-Smith and Helaire Trahan and sophomores Tyler Worthington and Nick Massey provide starting experience for a unit that blew hot and cold last season.
Connolly (tight end) and Williams-Smith (running back) will also contribute on offense.
“Our young guys so far have bought in 100 percent this spring/summer, so we are hopeful that translates to on-the-field,” Blackburn said. “As the smallest school in our conference, we know that there are obviously going to be challenges each week, but we have always felt like we do more with less, and we will continue to work to try and help kids get better.”
The Patriots kick off the 2026 campaign at Lejeune on Aug. 21.
