WOW!! Very similar coaching starts:
Padgett started in the weak Coastal Plains 1A and Dempsey jumped into the tough East Central 2A for his first 2 years and has been in the weak Coastal 8 2A/1A the last three. Neither one could control what conference they were in and both took care of business in the weaker conferences, as they should. After starting out 7-4 and 4-2 conference his first season, Padgett won 4 straight Coastal Plains titles in his 2nd-5th seasons, winning 24 straight conference games. Dempsey won 3 straight Coastal 8 titles in his 3rd-5th seasons, winning 21 straight conference games. Padgett won 5 playoff games in his first 5 years, despite losing his first playoff game 51-8 to North Duplin in 1988. Dempsey won 8 playoff games in his first 5 years, despite not making the playoffs his first season in 2015 in the East Central Conference.