The future looks ‘bright’

Pleasant Home hopes to use 1st win to boost morale

By Andrew Garner (Contact) | Andalusia Star-News

Published Monday, September 28, 2009

Pleasant Home coach Robert Bradford said Monday that getting the first win of the season last Friday night against Coffeeville will help his team succeed in the second half of the season.

Last week, the Eagles ran their way to a 28-6 win over Coffeeville when Tyler Barbaree carried the ball 135 yards to score three touchdowns to help lead his team to the win.

In addition, Pleasant Home only allowed 54 total yards on defense, most of which came in the last 40 seconds of the game.

“Defensively, we played really well,” Bradford said. “We had the second string in late in the game and with 20 seconds left, Coffeeville broke an 86-yard touchdown on our back-ups.

“If you erase that, than they were actually in the negative before that last play,” he said.

Bradford said his team’s first win has helped with “morale.”

“These kids have kind of been down on themselves because we’ve been down in a lot of close games and ended up falling short in a lot of them,” he said. “They finally got the monkey off their backs, as you would say. Now, we can push on and try to accomplish our goals for the reset of the year.”

Pleasant Home’s region schedule for the rest of the season includes three home games and one game on the road.

The sole away game is against Kinston on Oct. 9. The home games are against Brantley on Oct. 2, Providence Christian School on Oct. 16 and Florala on Oct. 23.

Bradford said the win last Friday was essential for the team because, starting this week, the schedule looks a little “brighter.”

“The second half looks brighter for us,” he said. “We have Brantley this week and, after that, I don’t think we play a team that has a winning record.

“If was really tough on us schedule-wise in the beginning,” he said. “We were definitely hoping for a different outcome finishing the first half of the season. If we could have gotten one of those first three region games, then that would put us in a good place to end up winning the last three and have a chance (at the playoffs).”

With that first win, the Eagles improved to 1-4, 0-3 in Class 1A, Region 2.

“You’ve got to have success to keep your confidence up,” Bradford said. “Winning fixes a lot of problems in morale and the kids’ desire to excel. I’m proud for them.”