#HSFT16: Stop No. 50 – Eupora Eagles

EUPORA, Miss. (WCBI) — Don’t let the overall record from last year fool you into thinking Eupora may be going downhill.

This is a program that is reloading and ready to ignite a new fire in 2016.

The Eagles were 7-5 a season ago, but head coach Stephen Edwards has seen his team grow into a force that opponents will have to beware in the new year.

I think it’s a close-knit bunch,” Edwards says. “It’s a single-minded group. They have team goals and they’re putting the team above themselves. That’s what we try to preach. I think that’s the main thing about this team.”

The Eagles were young and still growing last year, but this year’s group has many of the names you saw from a season ago. Only they are a year wiser & a year stronger.

“We have a lot of talent coming back,” senior Connor Hood said. “I think we’ll be good but we’ll have to work hard every week. It won’t be easy.”

“I think we’re more disciplined than what we were last year,” senior Charvez Embry said. “We have a chance to make it really far in the playoffs.”

“I think we all know we have a chance to be great,” senior Claude Herard said. “We want a championship and a ring. We feel like we’re all together this year and a lot of experience coming back. We work hard together.”

In a loaded and rugged Region 4-2A, coach Edwards knows his team will have to be prepared mentally and physically for the grinds of a tough season.

But he sees his Eupora squad developing a sense of confidence and a motivation to prove those who doubt the naysayers wrong.

“We need to have a chip on our shoulder,” coach Edwards said. “We won’t play teams where we turn the ball over 3 times and win. We have to stay hungry and we have to protect the ball, play as a team to have a chance every Friday night.”