Eagles improving despite slump

Published 12:00 am Friday, October 11, 2013

Despite going through a little slump in terms of a three-game losing skid, Pleasant Home head football coach Cody McCain said his players have improved.

The Eagles sit at 1-4 overall, and 1-3 in Class 1A, Region 2 going into tonight’s region contest against Geneva County at home.

PHS had an open week for its fifth game of the season, with it coming after a 34-24 loss to rival Florala.

Geneva County is a different bunch all together, as the Bulldogs enter the contest after being ranked for the better part of the season. GCHS was knocked out of the poll after third-ranked Brantley beat them 42-21 last week.

“It’s a big challenge for us,” McCain said about tonight’s game. “Geneva County is very talented. They’ve got a lot of speed on offense.”

McCain added that the Bulldogs (4-2, 2-2) have a balanced attack on offense.

“They have a couple different running backs they distribute the ball to between (Nicholas Carroll and TJ Green). They find ways to get them the ball.”

At quarterback, GCHS has Skylar Pensyl, who threw a TD to wide receiver Sawyer Peterson last week in the loss.

At practice this week, McCain said the Eagles have worked hard to try and replicate the fast attack GCHS will bring tonight.

When asked what the deal is regarding the three-game losing streak, McCain said a lot of the earlier losses were due to injuries and inexperienced players; however, the team has gotten better.

“We feel like we’ve improved each week from week one to where we’re at right now,” he said. “We’re healthy across the board. We have a lot of young guys and inexperienced guys, and we’re asking them to come and win on varsity. They’ve given us good effort the whole way through.”

As of right now, the Eagles may be 1-3 in the region, but aren’t out mathematically of the playoff hunt, McCain said.

“We’ve got to win out to have a chance,” he said. “With some of these games coming up, there may be two or three teams who will finish 4-3. Right now, we just can’t be concerned with all of that going on. We’re trying to win one game at a time. If we can get one win, that would be really great right now.”

Kick off tonight at PHS is at 7.