At the end of the night Friday an eight-man football team will have notched its first win of the 2012 season.
Whether it be the Saints of Clarendon Hall or the Eagles of Richard Winn Academy remains to be seen.
The Saints have suffered lopsided defeats in each of their three contests this season, but don’t think that the Eagles are taking this team lightly.
The Eagles are hungry for a win and coach Kenny Atkerson feels like one is close to being within their grasp.
“We have faced a very tough opening part of our season and we are improving. I was concerned with King and having to stop their option game and also the pass. They are very good at both and are averaging around 60 plus points a game,” he said. “All of us, players and coaches have to continue to work hard and remain positive.”
The Saints base their offense from the I-formation but also will spread the field to try and find favorable match ups.
On defense they play a four man front.
Atkerson feels like his team is coming around. “Last Friday night, we were able to throw the ball better and at times we ran the ball well,” he said.
Atkerson acknowledged that the team has to improve its pass coverage and its open field tackling.
Last week they were led it tackles by freshman linebacker John Coleman. He may be a star in the making if he can continue to repeat efforts like the 10 tackles, 2 assists and one quarterback sack that he notched against the Knights of W.W. King.
The Eagles are banged up at this point of the season. Last week they lost Corey Davis to an injury and running back Sidney Edenfield continues to have shoulder problems. There was a bit of good news on the injury front as Alex Scott returned to the lineup on Friday night. Scott had been held out of practice that week and had missed time the week before due to an infection.
“I believe good things are going to happen for this bunch if we can get healthy and stay healthy,” Atkerson said.
He has scouted the Saints on film and believes the Eagles will find favorable match ups to run and pass from on Friday night.
Kickoff is about 7:30 p.m. at Richard Winn Academy.
The middle school game against Northside precedes the varsity match up, kicking off at 5:30 p.m.