The only Green Hope athletic program to not make the NCHSAA postseason last year was football, and the team lengthened the longest active losing streak in the 4-A class to 26 this year.

But there's no reason the guys on the gridiron should be the only ones left out of the athletic success at GHHS. A turnaround could be just a year away with the right steps.

The blueprint is already out there for how one of the state's largest schools can elevate football to the level of its other more-recognized athletic programs.

About 50 miles south of Morrisville is a school that has been through this before.

Southern Pines Pinecrest, much like Green Hope, has widespread athletic talent. Both schools produce some of the best cross country, soccer, volleyball, baseball, tennis and golf teams every year.

The schools are ranked No. 25 and No. 26 largest in the state, according to the NCHSAA. Green Hope has about 2,002 students, compared to Pinecrest's 1,999.

It wasn't all that long ago that Pinecrest and Green Hope had something else in common: A football team known for losing.

Pinecrest went from 2001 to 2006 with eight wins. It had 56 losses.

In 2006, the Patriots played with 20 juniors and seniors. The lack of interest on and off the field led school officials to consider abolishing the school's football program.

But the community rallied, determined to do something to turn the program around.

That something came in the form of new coach Chris Metzger. Metzger showed up from Florida, where he turned a school with one win in two years into a playoff team for the next three seasons.

Like Green Hope, Pinecrest didn't lack winners or talent. But it managed to shift talent from other sports.

My cousin was a senior at the school the first year Metzger arrived. After three years in the soccer program, he hung up the shin guards after hearing Metzger give an impassioned speech. Metzger spoke with confidence and enthusiasm -- two emotions that hadn't been applied to the school's football team in years.

Basketball players tried out for the team. So did wrestlers. The gym class standouts signed up.

With a full roster of athletes, Pinecrest won its first two games of 2007. The next year they started 7-1, including one over eventual state champion Richmond County, and went to the playoffs for only the second time since its inception in 1969.

This year they won 10.

Green Hope has just as much potential talent and support as Pinecrest to turn around its football program, and has been even more successful more recently than the Patriots. In one glorious season in 2004, the Falcons went 13-2, losing in the East Regional final to Hope Mills' South View High.

Yet the program fell from grace with a resounding thud. They went 3-8 the next year. And they haven't made it off the mat, having gone a staggering 5-50 since.

But what Green Hope lacks is that breath of fresh air. Something to invigorate the program.

I'm not talking about a coaching change. Steve Katz has been taking a knife to a gun fight for his entire tenure.

The culture must change, and it can start in the community.

At Pinecrest, boosters funded plans for a new playing surface and upgrades to equipment.

Metzger and Pinecrest's passionate fans were determined to give their players something better, something to get excited about. They didn't wait for excitement to strike -- they created it.

Green Hope doesn't lack athletic passion. I've seen hundreds of Falcon fans travel from more than an hour away to Pinecrest for boys' soccer games.

The necessary ingredients are there to make a similar turnaround to respectability and competitiveness.

If everyone becomes as invested in the program's success the way Pinecrest did, there's no reason to think hope can't be put back into the school name.