With high school football two months away, opinions will soon be forming about what kind of season the Atmore area’s three football teams will have in 2011.

Last season, the Escambia County Blue Devils and the Northview Chiefs each went three rounds deep into the playoffs, while the Escambia Academy Cougars ended with a losing season.

As each team prepares for the upcoming season, they each have their minds set on different goals, but they all have one in common: Win a state championship.

Escambia County and Northview are each looking to reach the playoffs and push farther than they did last year, but for the Cougars of Canoe, the goal is to make it back to the playoffs.

The question for each of the coaches is what is harder for a program? Rebuilding after a losing season or building on the success from a winning one?

Cougars head coach Heath Gibson said that in his opinion building on success is a taller task.

“After you have a great season, it can be tough to build on that success,” he said. “Sometimes, players get complacent and used to doing well, so they might slip up or let the success get the best of them.

In terms of bouncing back from a losing season, the Cougars are looking to return to the success they had in 2009.

Heaton said there are specific things a coach does to get his players back on the winning path.

“A coach always wants to emphasize the same things,” Heaton said. “There isn’t a magic ingredient. There’s an old saying, ‘that the secret to success is work, there is no easy way.’ What that means is that if it’s football, academics or life, you are going to have to work your tail off at it and make sacrifices. If you do that then you will be successful. You try and get the kids to make sacrifices to pick up their intensity level and make them work harder. If you do that then typically those things help find success.”

With the Chiefs and Blue Devils ending their seasons with tough losses in the playoffs, the focus for the coaching staffs has become how to push further than they did last season.

Heaton said that the games that don’t sit well with successful teams are things that can be used for motivation. He added for his team to push further this season, they have to be at their best every week.

“Teams that have good seasons have losses that don’t sit well with them,” he said. “We had a lot of big signature wins last season, but the ones that keep me up at night are the embarrassment that I felt when I walked off of the field at UMS-Wright. Those are the things that really hurt me. When we didn’t play at a consisten level. We know how to win,but I want to teach our kids how to be consistent each week. Those are the teams that persevere and make it all the way in the playoffs.”

As the players at Escambia Academy prepare for the upcoming season, they remember what it was like to be in the playoffs, but at the same time know the taste of defeat even better.

For Gibson having a “hungry” team with leaders will be the difference in how far his team comes this season.

“A lot of it has to do with the character of the kids,” Gibson said. “You have different groups with different personalities. This season, I have been pleased with the players we have. They don’t like losing. They had a taste of it last year when they fell off, but they are hungry. I like a hungry team. I remind them of what last year was like, and that really motivates them. They hate hearing about it, and it makes them work that much harder.

Northview head coach Sid Wheatley could not be reached as of presstime.