{"id":475,"date":"2026-05-21T16:04:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T16:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=475"},"modified":"2026-05-21T16:04:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T16:04:53","slug":"heres-how-palisades-plans-to-become-the-next-nc-prep-football-power-from-charlotte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=475","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s how Palisades plans to become the next NC prep football power from Charlotte"},"content":{"rendered":"

The high school football season is still a few months away, but the players at Palisades High School know exactly what they want to do this fall.<\/p>\n

Read more NASCAR star Kyle Busch hospitalized ahead of Charlotte\u2019s big race. What we know<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, we just want everybody to respect us,\u201d quarterback Cole Hough said before spring practice recently. \u201cWe have a lot of confidence, you know, just to show that (the past two years) were not a fluke and to show that we\u2019re really an above-average team in Charlotte.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hough then thinks about what he just said. Then he explains he didn\u2019t mean just \u201cabove average.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we\u2019re one of the top programs in Charlotte. I feel a conference championship is absolutely a must, and I feel like that\u2019s something we can definitely get done, plus an extremely deep playoff run,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just the confidence I\u2019ve got to play with. If you don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to beat every team, it\u2019s like, what are you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n

This fall will be Year 5 for the Pumas, who were 1-9 in 2022 and 3-7 in 2023. But in the past two seasons, Palisades was 8-4, fighting with some of the middle-tier teams in Charlotte, hoping to jump up with the big dogs.<\/p>\n

And last year, the Pumas \u2014 who won the second playoff game in school history \u2014 were really, really<\/i> close.<\/p>\n

Consider:<\/p>\n

Three of Palisades\u2019 losses last season were by a combined 15 points, and Palisades led late in each of those games:<\/p>\n

\u2014 Against S.C. power Clover, for example, the Pumas lost, 21-19, after giving up a 97-yard drive in the final two minutes. Clover scored with 11 seconds to play.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Palisades led 20-13 over N.C. power Independence with less than seven minutes left. Independence scored twice to win, and eventually the Patriots reached the state playoff quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

\u2014 And Palisades, closing in on an outright league title, led Providence 28-7 last October but lost 34-28 in overtime. Providence won the conference championship and was a second-round playoff team.<\/p>\n

So to reach their goals, to become that true regional power, the Pumas know none of that can happen again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to finish,\u201d Palisades coach Jonathan Simmons said. \u201cWe\u2019ve progressively made strides, so now it\u2019s about finishing. If you watch the games, we\u2019ve been right there, so that\u2019s kind of our emphasis this offseason and this spring. It\u2019s just finish, finish, finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons said 15 lettermen and 10 starters are back from last season\u2019s team, including Hough, who threw for 2,100 yards and 17 touchdowns in his first year as a starting QB. Also back is starting left tackle Ephraim Holmes, a 6-foot-4, 290-pound 16-year-old who is fast rising up the recruiting rankings.<\/p>\n

Holmes has offers from schools including Appalachian State, Buffalo, East Carolina and Temple, and he\u2019s not yet begun his junior season.<\/p>\n

Read more Rare undeveloped section of NC barrier island transferred to state, officials say<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic,\u201d Holmes said of his recruitment. \u201cFeels nice to have someone other than my family and friends to want me to play at their college and put trust in me. So it feels amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holmes said he feels that 2026 Palisades will have even better player leadership than last year\u2019s team did. He said winning is a great teacher, and said that he and his teammates are determined to build something Mecklenburg County has never really seen: a consistent state power on its southwest wing.<\/p>\n

In the past 40 years, the public school state powers produced here have been near the center of the county (West Charlotte), in the north (Chambers, Hough, Mallard Creek) or the east (Butler, Independence).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first two seasons here weren\u2019t really good,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cWe were a newer school. Now we\u2019re, you know, starting to get even. This is our fifth year. People just always want to hate on a new school, but we\u2019re showing them we can hang with the big boys. No matter what side of town you\u2019re from, we\u2019re showing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palisades was ranked in The Charlotte Observer\u2019s \u201cway too early\u201d Sweet 16 poll at No. 9 last month, a ranking that would make them the de facto favorite in the Southwestern 7A\/8A conference race.<\/p>\n

All of this is new territory, but according to Simmons, it\u2019s all part of the plan.<\/p>\n

He very wants to make his school a destination spot on his side of town.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just the belief that it can be done,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily about whether we physically have the talent or not. We\u2019ve seen for years that Olympic would pop up with teams every now and then. It\u2019s just about consistency, and sometimes that\u2019s beyond a coach\u2019s power. But for us, we\u2019ve been 8-4 two years in a row.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we just want to take it a little step further.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons is from Five Towns, New York, a community of about 50,000 people on the south shore of western Long Island. It\u2019s 17 minutes from John F. Kennedy International Airport.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s as brash and as confident as any high school coach that\u2019s come through Charlotte in recent years. He played college football at Johnson C. Smith and coached, as an assistant, at several Charlotte stops \u2014 Berry, Hopewell, Chambers and Hough.<\/p>\n

In June 2021, he posted a tweet:<\/a> \u201cLate night manifestation. I will be a high school head football coach within the next 18 months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Less than a year later, in May 2022, he got the job at Palisades.<\/a><\/p>\n

His latest manifestation? He\u2019ll make Palisades a year-in, year-out power and his 2026 team will finish the close games his \u201825 team just missed out on.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople know what I\u2019m about,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to say I\u2019m in the same breath as some of those coaches, more recently, who people have been talking about. But people know I\u2019m going to coach my kids hard. They\u2019re going to develop, and they are going to play physical and to the whistle. So I don\u2019t think we\u2019re a sleeping giant. I think, if anything, people don\u2019t give us our just due, at least on Fridays.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, I don\u2019t know about in the media, but on Fridays, we\u2019re going to get our just due.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Helicopters, rain, faith: Legge and her \u2018military operation\u2019 attempt The Double<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 5:00 AM.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Palisades football is aiming higher after two straight 8-4 seasons. 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