Just last year, the Green Hope football program finished its season with a record of 0-10. Since that point, the team has defied all expectations and broken records to finish the 2025 regular season with a 6-4 record, just seven points shy of being 8-2. Head Coach Mitch Johnson has turned the team in a completely new direction, focusing on building and maintaining a brand new, positive culture within his young team.
As he was only introduced to the program in 2024, Coach Johnson has made massive strides to inspire the Falcons to be more than just teammates and foster a brotherhood. This brotherhood has been in the making since the last season concluded, as Johnson said that “last year, starting right after Thanksgiving break, we started doing meetings during lunch. It was attributed to building a culture, talking about character, and really teaching the guys the game of football.” Turning the team into a family, Coach Johnson has inspired the boys to push themselves beyond what they thought was possible through the support of the football family. He emphasized that “With all the time that we spent together, it allows these guys to be comfortable being uncomfortable and willing to push themselves past that comfortable point, and willing to go harder than they probably ever would.”
The players have truly found family in the football team, as senior Hutson Catullo (‘26) cited the team culture as the driving force behind the team’s success and shared that the brotherhood has helped keep the team going as “the most important thing [for us] is just being there for your brothers whenever they need you. Whether that be, they make a bad play and you’re there to pick them up, or keeping them accountable at practice, making sure they’re doing the right thing and making sure we’re staying ready for Friday nights.”
When asked about his favorite memory with the team, Catullo didn’t describe any specific personal achievements but instead said, “I remember after a hard week, after Apex Friendship, we were having a bad practice and we were looking for a way to really just bring it back together and bond with our teammates. We all ended up going to Moe’s; the whole football team was there, pretty much. It was a really positive experience overall.” Catullo’s experience with the team serves as proof that Coach Johnson truly has developed a family and helped the boys form lifelong friendships.
From a coaching standpoint, the team’s success has been a testament to Coach Johnson’s management and the confidence that he gives his players to go out and succeed. But beyond the product that he puts out onto the field, Coach Johnson says that seeing his players happy is the biggest indicator of his success. “Every Friday when we meet before the game, that’s the part that gets me kind of choked up, seeing how excited they are to win, because we hadn’t been doing that ever before.” On and off the field, Coach Johnson and the boys have inspired each other to love the game of football and cherish every moment together.
Players have also found the success to be something they hold close, as Catullo said, “Making the playoffs is tangible evidence of all the hard work that we’ve been putting in, and although we haven’t seen results in the past, I think it’s all coming to light now.” As a member of the program throughout all four years of his career, Catullo has been through all of the ups and downs that have come with playing Green Hope football.
Since opening in 2013, the Rolesville Rams have built themselves a reputation for their strong football team, including winning the state title in 2022. Considering this, Coach Johnson shared his thoughts going into the game. “Everybody knows the brand of football that they are. And so our guys, we’ve been more prepared mentally, focusing on us and talking about how the game’s going to go, and talking about what we can take care of.” Keeping what they can control in mind, the Falcons are hopeful to manage the game and perform to the best of their abilities.
Having achieved so much already this season, Coach Johnson still believes that the team has not yet reached its true potential. Looking forward to next year, Coach Johnson said, “So we think that we can continue that success next year as we’re talking about 8-2, 9-1, 10-0, you know, competing for conference is going to be our goal.” Finishing fifth in the conference this year, Coach Johnson emphasized that the team was just seven points off of finishing 8-2, and with 27 currently rostered players with at least another year of football in the future, the team’s ceiling will continue to be raised higher and higher.
