For the second consecutive year, East Gaston High School will have a new name leading its football program.

According to Joe L. Hughes of the Gaston Gazette, Nate Medici was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach in December. He is taking over for Bret Story, who was hired last offseason.

Medici is a class of 2020 East Gaston graduate. When he played for the Warriors, he was an offensive lineman. He is turning 23 years old in January. East Gaston athletic director Haley Stewart was hired when Medici was a senior.

East Gaston finished with a 4-7 overall record and 3-3 mark in the Southern Piedmont 1A/2A in Story’s lone season. The Warriors made the N.C. High School Athletic Association’s 2A west playoffs, in which they fell on the road at Randleman in the first round.

The school had an average daily membership of 917 students when the enrollment numbers were taken at the start of the 2024-25 school year. With that enrollment number, East Gaston is set to become a 4A program once the NCHSAA realigns into eight classifications earlier this year.

In the initial conferences proposal, the Warriors were placed in a 3A/4A league with 3As Lincolnton, Shelby, and West Lincoln as well as fellow 4As Burns, Lincoln Charter, and Stuart Cramer. The conferences are subject to change following the appeals period.