In just one year, one without a full preseason, the work that Hobbton head football coach Adam Scronce accomplished netted him a state honor.
The North Carolina Coaches Association recently announced Scronce as one of the head coaches in the 2027 All-Star East vs West football game. Under Scronce’s guidance last year, he led the Wildcats to a 7-5 record, an improvement over the 3-8 finish the team had in 2024.
“I’m a little surprised, a little shocked, but very honored and grateful for the opportunity,” Scronce recalled during a recent interview. “Going into my second year as head coach, a lot of times it’s the guys that have been a head coach for a while, they get the nod, so I was a little surprised.”
Scronce began his high school coaching career in 2005 as a junior varsity offensive coach. He stayed at Wallace-Rose Hill High School for two years, up until 2008, then he moved to Harrells Christian Academy, working as an assistant coach with legendary coach Jack Holley. The Crusaders won a state championship in Scronce’s first year and made the state title game in 2009 as well. In 2010, the team lost in the state semifinals. Following Holley’s retirement, Scronce worked under Brian Aldridge and Kevin Johnson for a year each before returning to Wallace-Rose Hill to learn under Joey Price’s coaching staff in 2013.
Under Price, the success continued for the Bulldogs, as the team won three straight state championships from 2014-2016. When Price left, Scronce coached under Kevin Motsinger, who helped lead Wallace-Rose Hill to another title, this time in a 35-28 overtime win over Reidsville.
Scronce continued to be an assistant coach until 2025, when his first shot as head coach came with Hobbton.
“I tell people all the time, there’s a big difference in making suggestions and making decisions,” Scronce said about the transition to head coaching. “It’s easy to make suggestions; it’s hard to make decisions. When you’re an assistant, everybody’s got suggestions of what we need to do. (As head coach) when you’ve got the final decision to make, things are a little bit more difficult. I think that’s probably the biggest thing.”
Scronce’s preparation for making big decisions was shaped by his head coaches before him.
“I was fortunate with coach Holley, Battle (Jack’s son coached Wallace-Rose Hill in 2007, Scronce was on staff), Price, Aldridge and Motsinger; they never told me what to do or how to do it,” he explained. “I got to do the offense; they just let me go. I was basically in my mind the head coach of the offense. I was in charge of game planning and what we did, when and how. I was very fortunate to be around guys that didn’t micromanage me and let me coach. Sometimes, in end-game type situations and fourth downs, I’d have a choice to see if we were going for it or if we were punting. They trusted and believed in me.”
The Wildcats head coach credited his players for the success last year that helped land Scronce the All-Star nod.
“It was good for the kids, and they worked hard,” he emphasized. “Everything goes back to them and all the kids I coached everywhere else. You can’t be successful if you don’t have good players and kids that buy in every year and trust you.”
As the 2026 season approaches, Scronce and the team are only focused on the goal of improving every day.
“We come in, put our heads down, lift weights, and go to work,” he said. “Whatever we do, we’re just working hard. Our thing is, you’re either getting better, or you’re getting worse. We don’t really get into (what’s upcoming); we set a standard and expectation, and that’s to be our best on every play. Every play and every rep, we’re trying to get better. If we do that, everything else will just take care of itself. We don’t worry about wins, losses, and championships; we just do our best on each play and continue to get better on the next.”
Being able to represent Hobbton as the all-star coach means something for Scronce.
“This community, they’ve been great,” he expressed. “They know what it was like to be successful. They know what it was like to win consistently going into the early 90’s, and they’re hungry to get back there. The kids understand that, and they’re putting in the work every day to try to bring that back. The community doesn’t belittle or talk down to the kids when things don’t go right; they cheer for them, tell them to keep their heads up and work hard. That doesn’t happen elsewhere, everywhere. The support of the games has been great, and everything we’ve asked for we’ve gotten through their support.”
Scronce will lead the Wildcats into a week one road matchup against Midway High School on Friday Aug. 21 at 7 p.m.