Eagles look to go to new heights in 2017
Published 12:00 am Saturday, August 12, 2017
- The Pleasant Home Eagles had good week of practice despite the rain. Josh Dutton/Star-News
The story of the first week of football practice has been the rain, and the Pleasant Home Eagles have been dealing with it just like the rest of the teams in the area.
“It’s just been wet all week,” Pleasant Home head coach Richard Mercer said. “There haven’t been many days that we haven’t ended up inside, but the kids have been working hard.”
Mercer said that the team has been working, but hasn’t been able to get everything put in place that they would like.
“We have installed some new wrinkles in the offense,” Mercer said. “We are a little behind, but you can’t do it all in one day, and the rain has really hampered what we have been able to get done.”
The team has been working on finding the right place for certain players, Mercer said.
“This week, we have been trying to find the right spot for our play makers,” Mercer said. “We want to do what we can to get them ball as much as possible.”
Mercer said that he has been pleased with what he has seen from his players throughout the summer and the first week of practice.
“We lost a lot on the line, and we are having to do a few new things,” Mercer said. “The attitude has been great, and these guys are carrying over the momentum of how we finished last year.”
Last year, the Eagles went 6-4 and ended the season by winning five of their final six games. The Eagles were 1-9 in 2015 and 0-10 in 2014.
“Their attitudes and having the feeling like they can win is a key to us being successful,” Mercer said. “Winning is contagious, and these guys don’t even remember the 0-10 season. They have confidence that they can win.”
Mercer said that next week the Eagles will focus on much of the same stuff that they did this week.
“It’s still going to be the basics next week,” Mercer said. “We won’t even worry about Fruitdale until the week of Fruitdale. We are starting to find our way a little bit. Our game planning will come in week three of practice.”