Countdown to Kickoff (Edition 10) Sissonville looks for success under coach Michael Hughes

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SISSONVILLE, W.Va. (WCHS) -- The Sissonville football program has suffered back-to-back winless seasons, butut with each new season brings hope for success.

The newest of football seasons for The Ville brings a fresh face as Michael Hughes takes over as the program's head coach.

"I've been looking forward to it. When I was first brought on I've wanted to be a head coach for a long time," Huges said. "I've been lucky to be around some great programs. It's extremely exciting to me."

Hughes, a Poca graduate, has coached for his alma mater, Nitro and Herbert Hoover. His first Sissonville team features a two-year starter at quarterback in Maddox Balog.

"He's one of the smartest kids I've ever seen. He boasts a 4.8 or 4.9 GPA," Hughes told Eyewitness Sports. "He's one of those kids you say, 'Hey, I need this from you.' It's 'Yes sir, no sir.' There hasn't been a thing I've asked him to do that there was any kind of difficulty."

Balog is ready to go for his junior year.

"The last two years I learned a lot," Balog said. "We may not have won a lot the last two years but it was definitely a lot of learning and I grew as a quarterback. I'm very excited for this upcoming season."

Balog will be surrounded by several other talented skill players.

"Some ones that stand out are definitely Brody Scott and Connor Pritt," coach Hughes said. "They're going to play a lot of wide receiver. They're great kids who really stretch the field. In the backfield we've got a bunch of kids I'm really excited about in Kyson Ston and Malachi Holtzman. Guys like that are really going to push us to be better."

Hughes also feels good about what will in front of Balog this season.

"I've got a lot of young guys I'm really confident in," he said. "Sophomores like Charlie Swain. We've got Sam Dyer and Holden Skeen. Those are a lot of guys that have been working and doing a lot of work for us. The anchor of our line is going to be Nick Slate, a senior. He's been here. He's a tough kid."

Rome wasn't built in a day, but Hughes feels things can get turned around quickly for a program that has enjoyed postseason play through the years.

"We've learned a lot of what not to do and a lot of what to do," Hughes said. "We've had successes, but we've had a lot more failure. We're just looking to turn those failures into growing points and start winning games."

"I feel like success is right there. It's right there in front of the kids. We've just got to get them out there and grasp it," Hughes added. "The biggest things we've been working on is trying to into the right mentality and understand that we can win and we can win right now if we put in the work, put in the effort we need to."

The Indians open the season on the road Aug. 29 at Sherman.