Fighting Falcons Hit the Road Again
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[It's been a good week for Eldorado High School football, with freshman and sophomore team wins over Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton.
Watching that success has made the varsity Eagles hungry to add themselves to the winning ledger at Boz Adams Field, and they'll get a chance Friday night when they open their home schedule against Elverado.
"We've had a great week of practice, the guys are ready to get out there, and it's time for the varsity to get a taste of what victory's like," said EHS coach Brandon Hampton.
In addition to overall program momentum, there's also the positives from last week to build on - and they were plentiful, despite the 34-20 loss at Christopher.
Hampton highlighted his lines - both offensive and defensive - and their physicality in the opening week.
"Our linemen on both sides of the ball were very physical and played very well. We gave our runners and our quarterback holes and time to throw, and we're looking for our offensive line to continue to develop," Hampton said. "Many of them were taking first-time varsity snaps, even if they're upperclassmen, and it's amazing the progress they've made since the first day of camp this summer. They were a huge bright spot."
In fact, with the exception of some troubles holding on to the ball, the offense as a whole was a positive for Eldorado. Quarterback Lucas Weir completed 5 of 8 passes, including a 30+yard hookup with Ben Genet. Backs Nick Stewart (107 yards) and Deshawn Turner (92 yards) both had impressive games - and Hampton said that even more work has been done with them this week in recognizing and hitting the holes the line opens up.
The matchup with Elverado is developing into a bit of a rivalry, with former EHS coach Duffy Sanders at the Falcons' helm. Sanders is running a triple-option at Elverado - an offense that will test the Eagles' work this week on defensive concentration.
"We talked a lot this week about finishing plays, and tackling well," Hampton said. "Against this offense, it's very important for people to do their jobs…we'll have one guy assigned to the fullback, to the quarterback and so on, and it's important to maintain that concentration."
Hampton said Elverado sophomore quarterback Alex McGill provides a threat that's spread between him and two fullbacks who could play for any BDC program. "And when you focus on them, that's when McGill can beat you."
"We've really focused in on the things they do well, and what we needed to fix," Hampton said. "We know you can't prepare for everything, but we're improving and excited about getting out there in front of our home crowd."