Coach King has a Confident Outlook for the Season

By: Scott Chancey

Special Contributor

MULLINS  – The first half of Friday’s season opener did not go according to Pee Dee Academy’s plan.

“Early on, it looked like we had not played a game yet and had not gone against anybody since the jamboree in Week Zero,” said Jonathan King, PDA’s coach. “We couldn’t get lined up right at times and made several mistakes.”



Pee Dee Academy’s Judson Martin scored the Golden Eagles’ first touchdown Friday after Florence Christian built a 20-0 lead. Then, FCS pulled back away.

“When you are playing a team that is that well-coached and has a really good program, they don’t really need many advantages at all because they’ve got so many advantages,” King said. “They caught us early and made some big plays on us.”

King still found plenty of positives after the 33-14 loss to Florence Christian.

One was his team’s resilience.

“Trailing 20-0 on our home field in Week 1 could have gone sideways for us, and it didn’t,” King said.

That resilience is based on an expectation to win. After all, PDA has won two state championships since 2022.

“We continued to fight,” King said. “We might not always have the fastest players. But our kids play hard. We continued to battle until the very end.”

King certainly praised Martin (5 feet 9, 208 pounds), whose nickname is “Mongo.”

“He’s our dude; he’s a senior and he has played a lot of football for us,” King said. “He is the one who really shows up on film. He looks like a football player, and he IS a football player. He runs hard and he is tough to tackle. He has big, strong legs and catches the ball well. He makes good catches out of the backfield and certainly made a couple of them on Friday. He’s a rambler, for sure.”

As the Golden Eagles progress after star QB Tristan Heckman’s graduation, PDA is trying to solidify that position after starter Jesse Smith suffered a sprained ankle in the second scrimmage. He has not practiced since.

Wide receiver Miles Wiggins, meanwhile, has been to the rescue at quarterback.

“He has been a starter all over the field for us since his freshman year,” said King, whose team plays at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Carolina Academy. “He’s our best defensive back and wide receiver. He was a backup quarterback for us last year, and I can’t say enough good things about him.”

Looking ahead, King is confident.

“We’ve got to get more in game shape. But I think right now our goal is to stay the course,” King said. “Week 1 was not a region game. Did it go the way we wanted it to? No. But the sky’s not falling.

“We’re not treating it like that.”

Helping in the process are offensive linemen Gavin McGill, Holden Lane, Walker Trussell, Cadyn Price and Cayden Elliott. And defensive linemen McGill, Lane, Trussell and Rivers Tucker. And also, Brayden Lewis (special teams/linebacker/running back).