Wins have been hard to come by of late for Nelson County.

The Gorvernors have won only four games total the last three seasons and haven't made the playoffs since 2000.

"It's really hard," senior center Danny Ellis said. "You wake up every Saturday morning after losing a game thinking 'why am I still doing this if we keep losing' but you just try to stay positive."

But Nelson stayed positive and their fortune finally turned.

The Governors won their last contests of 2011 over William Campbell and Chatham to propel them into 2012.

"After winning those two games, this year a lot of people have gotten up and have been thinking we're definitely going to win this year," said Ellis.

"One of the things we've been trying to do over the last couple seasons is change the culture of the program," Head coach Mark Wells said.

"It gives the kids a chance to become part of something that's positive and that's what we teach all the time here is being positive, being a team and that's worked itself over to the beginning of the season."

One of the players hoping to lead the turnaround at Nelson County is senior quarterback Tyler Vest. The multi-threat option would love nothing more than a winning season in his final year.

"I want to have a winning season," Vest said. "This is my senior year, I just want to go all out and that's what I'm going to do. We're not trying to be negative we're just trying to be positive. I know we haven't had good football seasons in past years but we're just trying to improve on that."

But the road, literally, will be a tough one as Nelson has seven games away from home this season, including the first five.

But those final two wins last year have Wells and his bunch confident going forward.

"Win more games, that's one. But make the postseason. And that's our goal. Not just one or two more wins and our kids are buying into that and that's what we want to do."