Consistency and continuity.

South Kitsap coach Eric Canton believes those are two of the biggest factors toward the Wolves achieving more success in 2015.

In addition to youthful roster, South had five new coaches last season.

“A lot of times the new coaches don’t necessarily know exactly how you want things done,” Canton said. “It takes time. If we can get everybody back next year, it’s a huge advantage. The kids know them, each of us as coaches know each other and how to work together.

That includes Canton.

After the Wolves’ 48-7 loss Oct. 31 that eliminated them from playoff contention, Canton said, “We’ll figure out what’s going on” in terms of his future after the season. South then lost its finale, 36-26, at Shelton to finish with a 3-7, which tied 2010 for the program’s worst record since 1977. The Wolves also finished with losing records in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1976-77.

Canton, who has a 13-17 record in three seasons at South, said it has been difficult at times. He added that he knew there would be challenges from his previous experience, though. Canton guided Bremerton to a 3-24 record from 1996-98.

“Originally, when I left Bremerton, I said I would never 0be a head coach again,” Canton said. “That was kind of how I wanted it. Some of the garbage that takes place outside of the locker room … you get the parents involved and all that garbage and that’s not what I wanted. I didn’t want to deal with that anymore.”

Canton has dealt with some of those issues this offseason, including an uprising against him on social media.

“I cannot comment due to advice from attorneys and higher ups,” Canton said.

Despite those issues, Canton said it is his “plan” to return next season.

Perhaps the greater challenge will be restoring the Wolves into a perennial contender in the Class 4A Narrows League. South advanced to state each year from 1980-2002 — a Washington high-school record. But Canton, who inherited the program when D.J. Sigurdson moved into an administrative role in 2012 at the high school, said the last decade provides a large enough sample size to access the program’s talent. Since 2004, South has a 51-50 record when the 2009 season (10-1) is excluded.

“We don’t have Tony Coats, Benji Olson and Ryan Cole,” Canton said. “They’re not walking the hallways. I don’t know why that is. Our enrollment has been declining and it has been for a while. I think that has shown its effects, as well.”

It did not help that three players — Peninsula quarterback Robert Kvinsland and offensive lineman Cody Kanouse and Chiawana wide receiver Corey Bell — all attended the South Kitsap School District at certain points before helping their programs reach state this year.

“You can’t go out and recruit those kids,” Canton said. “It hurts.”

Canton said not all of the Wolves’ woes can be attributed to a talent deficit, though. Outside of multiple center-quarterback exchange issues, South played well in its 21-3 season-opening win at Central Kitsap.

“Defensively, I think we at times just got too complicated,” Canton said. “In the CK game, we were very simple. The kids played like it because they knew exactly what to do.”

Some coaches prefer simplistic schemes with a focus on mastering fundamentals, while others diagram exotic plays in an effort to keep opponents off-kilter. Canton, a 1986 South graduate, prefers the former. He cited the success of legendary Wolves’ coach Ed Fisher behind that.

“We could tell guys what play we were running and they still couldn’t stop us,” Canton said. “We need to get to that point.”

It did not happen on the offense side last season. South averaged 14.8 points per game, which was the second worst figure in the seven-team 4A Narrows League.

“When we would get into the red zone we couldn’t finish,” Canton said. “We couldn’t put it together and score. Something would happen with a penalty, turnover or field goal.”

He said the loss of senior wide receiver Brayden Maynard, who was injured Oct. 17 against Emerald Ridge, was a significant factor in the offense’s struggles to end the season.

“I don’t think anyone fully understood the impact Brayden had,” Canton said. “We just didn’t have that threat. Everybody knew Marshaud could run and everybody knew Brayden could catch the ball. You could throw it in traffic and he would go up and get it. He attacked the football. He was just a fantastic receiver. Not having him really made us one-dimensional.”

Canton said he was a little less surprised about the defense’s struggles — the Wolves surrendered more than 40 points in four games — because senior linebacker Ramon Marin was the only player with significant starting experience before 2014.

That also provides Canton some optimism when looking toward next year. South started four sophomores on the offensive line last season.

“I’m looking forward to next year because how young we were this year,” Canton said. “Hopefully, we can get the other pieces to step up.”

None more so than a quarterback. Canton’s son, Cooper, who was South’s first two-year starter at that position since Gordy Anderson in 2008-09, will graduate in the spring. He described the competition to fill that position, along with DeWalt’s, as “wide open.”

Inexperience at key positions would not appear to bode well in a competitive 4A Narrows League. If Yelm had not surrendered a last-second touchdown in a 20-19 loss Sept. 26 against the Wolves, five teams in the league would have finished at least .500.

“I think our league is a lot better than people think it is or give us credit for,” said Canton, reflecting on his playing days at South. “It’s not the old Narrows League.”

The Wolves can break through that, Canton said, and reach the playoffs if they solidify a few areas.

“If that happens, that means our defense has gotten better and matured and we had a quarterback step in that protected the football,” he said. “We’re going to have to have a quarterback come in and make some plays because we can’t run the ball against eight in the box.”