Coming off a season they know they underperformed, the Fairhope Pirate seniors simply want to score more points and win more games this year.

“It’s been different,” said tight end Harrison Cook of the offseason at Gulf Coast Media Day. “After last year’s losing season, everybody wants to switch that around and go back to how everything was and get the wins back up.”

“We’ve got to light the scoreboard up. I feel like we averaged like 20 points a game last year and that’s just not Fairhope football,” said quarterback Jackson Robertson. “Me and Coach (Vaughn) Maceina have been working at it every day and we’re expecting to score 35-plus a night, that’s my goal.”

The 3-7 record in 2023 marked the first losing season in Fairhope since 2016 and was only the third time in head coach Tim Carter’s nine previous years that the Pirates missed the playoffs. This year, they’ll look to a new offense, run by offensive coordinator Vaughn Maceina, to do just that.

“It’s new words and verbiage, it’s nothing I invented it’s just new to them but I’ve seen a clear progression each week,” Maceina said. “Getting better at what we’re doing, very coachable guys for sure and it’s been exciting to watch.”

Fairhope was able to get some trial runs under its belt in the 7-on-7 circuit and Robertson said he learned a lot about his team through that period.

“We fight. We’re not going to be the most athletic team when we get off the bus, we’re not going to scare teams getting off the bus, but we fight harder than anyone we’ll play against,” Robertson said. “I think that’s what makes Fairhope so special because it’s always been like that, if we’re having a losing season or if we’re winning we’re always going to fight the same and I think that’s very important.”

Pair that with the effort that Maceina has been preaching to the unit and some of those games that came down to the wire might just turn into more wins than losses.

“We’ve got to compete and finish to the very end and that starts with effort. We talked about that first-thing when I met with the offensive guys, effort,” Maceina said. “When we walk on the field, we’ve got to have effort, that gives you a chance to win. At any position, no matter what, we’ve got to have effort.”

The athletes both mentioned their teammates have been putting in the work this offseason to help the team in the fall.

Junior receivers like Andres Hunt and Fisher Southall will look to catch Robertson’s passes along with classmate and running back Bryon Martin. But Maceina said a key piece will be the offensive line that he has challenged to step up this year.

“Our O-Line is mostly juniors, but we’ll actually look like a 7A O-Line this coming year, we’ve got three dudes that are 6-2 and higher,” Maceina said. “Billy Eriksen, Brady Nelsen (senior), Caden McCartha, Parks Glaze and Wesley Sandefur. A lot of them are juniors and we’re asking a lot of them to step up and be a 7A football player this year, they can’t wait any longer.”

“Julian Weber is starting to turn into an athlete and Blake Westry, he’s showing he belongs there,” Cook said of defensive players who have stepped up this offseason.

This year’s schedule will include one new face in the Class 7A ranks, but Robertson said that the Pirate players are familiar with the Robertsdale Golden Bear players. From the coaches’ perspective, Maceina agreed it’s more fun to play teams in your neck of the woods.

“It's fun to play teams in the county, there’s a lot of pride here. That’s one thing I love about Baldwin County is that community-based,” Maceina said. “Our guys are very proud to be from Fairhope, just like Robertsdale they’re very proud, Baldwin County very proud. We take a lot of pride in that with homegrown kids so it’s great to get back to local competition, it should be a great game both ways.”

Check out the Pirates' full interview as part of the third-annual Gulf Coast Media Day here.