GREENSBORO, N.C. – For a lot of high school football players, the last game of their senior season is usually played in November as their team either closes the books or prepares for a postseason run.
But the case was different for now-graduated Richmond Senior High School football player Chase Coulthard, as he capped off his high school career by playing in the North Carolina Coaches Association East-West All-Star game on Wednesday, July 18, at Robert B. Jamieson Stadium on the campus of Grimsley High School.
The senior-exclusive game, which started in 1949 by former NCCA director Robert Jamieson, brings together top-notch players from all across the state each year to battle it out on the gridiron one last time. Coulthard, who represented the East team and who is set to leave for football camp at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke on Friday, Aug. 3, noted it was a “great experience” from start to finish, despite the East team falling 23-21.
The East-West matchup is more than just a one-day affair, as Coulthard reported to Greensboro on Friday, July 13, to start preparing for the game. He explained that in order to get acclimated with his 36 other teammates on the field, the East team ran two-a-day practices on the Saturday, Monday and Tuesday leading up the the 8 p.m. start on Wednesday.
“We were there for six days, and I first got there Friday (July 13) at 1 p.m.,” Coulthard, an offensive lineman said. “I got my athletic gear, game pants and jersey and we had a quick practice. The team had a bunch of players from all over the state, and some of them were from schools I’ve never heard of — there was a guy from a 1A school, and five total (future) Pembroke players. But both teams had the best kids from all over.”
Coulthard was one of the three incoming freshman Braves were on the East team, while two represented the West team. Coulthard said he bonded really well with Josh Jones (Hoggard High School) and Josh King (Wake Forest High School), as they were both on the East team. King was a member of back-to-back 4AA state championship teams at Wake Forest. The other two UNCP commits on the West team were Max Cudd (Crest High School) and McKinley Nelson (Monroe High School).
“In practice, we’d break into position groups, and the offensive line only had six guys on it,” Coulthard explained. “After stretching and warm ups, we just tried to walk through our plays, and there was a lot of rotating because there were only six of us. The plays were pretty basic, and we just worked on sliding and blocking left and right.
“We really got to learn what each other’s strengths and weaknesses were,” he added. “And I thought we blended pretty well.”
During the game, which featured fireworks at halftime, Coulthard got the start at left tackle, and played every single offensive snap during the game except for one after he was required to leave the field for having his helmet pop off.
“The game was different than what I’m used to because there aren’t really any strengths or weaknesses — these were the best guys from their schools,” Coulthard said of his game experience. “We all conformed to the max, and there really wasn’t a mismatch — it was a pretty even playing field.
“It was a fun experience,” he continued. “One play you might ring someone’s bell and then on the next play, you would get your bell rung. It was back-and-forth all game and it was nonstop.”
When asked what his favorite moments were during the game, Coulthard said there were two that stood out to him. The first was his team’s cohesive effort to march down the field on its opening drive to score a touchdown, which Jones hit Justin Harrington (Southeast Raleigh High School) for a 22-yard strike. Coulthard said it was “pretty awesome” to go out and do exactly what was expected of them.
The other moment was a little bit more personal — and dealt with a former high school rival player, Chris Williams, a middle linebacker from Scotland High School.
“One day in practice, we were running offense and defense drills,” Coulthard smiled. “And then I high-fived Chris, and we both paused for a minute because it was really weird. We’d been raised not to like each other because we were rivals, but in that moment we were teammates. He also looked at me and told me when we were down during the game to play like I was playing him (like in high school).
“The entire game was a lot different than what games were like at Richmond,” he continued. “I didn’t have have the same kind of trust in my teammates like I do at Richmond, and the crowd atmosphere is different, too. In high school, I had pride within me to win every game of the season. And during the All-Star game, the pride was different, as we just tried to win the night.”
Off the field, Coulthard also enjoyed getting the chance to spend time and get to know his teammates. At the team hotel, Coulthard and his offensive line pals would play video games “for hours” and he credited that as the reason why they were “brought together” in such a short amount of time. He also said it was fun to hang out by the pool with everyone and not worry about football, saying it was cool to “just be kids hanging out and not focused on football.”
Prior to the game, the East-West All-Star banquet was held at the Koury Convention Center on Sunday night. The teams were introduced, and so were the individual players. RSHS head coach Bryan Till joined Coulthard and his family for the event, as Coulthard was also recognized as an Academic All-Star for having a high school GPA above 3.0.
Coulthard will now begin his transition to college football, as he leaves for UNCP camp in just over a week. He explained that he’s been working out, conditioning and lifting with Richmond this summer, and says he feels pretty good about starting a new four-year career as a Brave.
“We got our knee braces in last week, so I’m excited to be able to break those in,” he said. “I’m also excited to play at Pembroke — and it’ll be different because this is the first time in my life when I won’t know who’s going to playing alongside me. Growing up and playing at Richmond, I knew everyone.
“But one of my favorite parts of the (East-West) game was hanging out nonstop with Josh (Jones) and Josh (King),” he concluded. “We’re going to go in prepared together.”
