CREEKSVILLE – Northampton County High School – East Head Football Coach George Privott has always liked a challenge.

He’ll find exactly that in his second year at the helm of the Rams’ football club as he takes on an almost entirely new non-conference schedule to go along with the always tough Tar-Roanoke Conference slate.

The Rams will take the field for the first time in 2011 on August 19 when they host Granville Central for the first time.

“They will come in prepared,” Privott said. “We were looking to stay within the 1-A and 2-A ranks for our schedule and they were available and it seemed like a good fit.”

The second playing date (Aug. 26) will see Northampton-East start a three-game road trip as they travel to Plymouth. That will be followed by short junkets to Northampton County High School – West and South Creek.

“Plymouth plays in a tough conference and we know it will be a good game for us,” the coach said. “We have to be prepared for their Wing-T.”

As for the non-conference date with West (which comes two weeks before the conference affair), Privott said it was a good fit for the two schools.

“With all the talk of a merger, it seemed like a good idea to try to get in a few games between us before that happens,” he said. “The kids know each other and it will be a good game for us.

“The next week we’ll be looking at South Creek,” he added. “They have looked very good in the 7-on-7 league we’ve been in.”

The next week, September 16, two Northampton County public schools (East and West) will meet for  the second time with a league win on the line.

A week later, Northampton-East starts their second straight three-game road trip as they make the junket over to Gates County High School. That will be followed by trips to North Edgecombe (Sept. 30) and Weldon (Oct. 7).

Northampton will then return for home games with KIPP Pride (Oct. 14) and the season finale October 28 against Southeast Halifax.

“The conference won’t change a lot as far as what people are running,” Privott said. “We will open up with West, which is always a tough game, and then we go to Gates County, who is the defending conference champion. I think they’ll be young, but will still finish strong.”

He said the next week at North Edgecombe is a little bit unknown as the squad rebuilds, but still has a lot of quality players. Weldon will then be in rebuilding mode, according to Privott, but will still be dangerous.

“KIPP will be hard to tell,” he said. “They are a prep school so they can draw kids from almost anywhere and then you’ll have them playing for Coach (Diego) Hasty and he’ll have them ready.”

He said the closing week with Southeast Halifax will be one in which the Rams must be prepared for anything.

As for the Rams, Privott said they will be a more spread team while still running the option.

“Our biggest asset is our speed,” the coach said. “Going into the season, we’ll have 10 wide receivers so we are going to go spread and no huddle and keep people on their toes.”

As for concerns, Privott said changing the blocking schemes of the offensive line and getting the running game in will be the biggest challenges.