Chestatee football coach Stan Luttrell freely admits that explosive plays have been hard to come by so far for his War Eagles.
He also believes those plays are just on the horizon for a team that is still finding its feet just two games into the 2013 campaign.
"Against West Hall I can think of three plays off the top of my head where we were a step away from explosive touchdowns," said Luttrell, whose Chestatee is averaging 15 points per game while going 1-1. "The more comfortable this team gets playing with each other and the more they grind the more explosive plays we're going to have."
And the War Eagles certainly have no problem grinding. In fact physical, aggressive play is something on which Chestatee is already thriving this campaign, and the War Eagles hope to mash a number of Region 8-AAAA foes in the coming weeks -- knowing that the more they hit, the more chance for big plays will occur.
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"I think this team taken on the personality of our coaching staff," Luttrell said. "This staff loves to get after it, loves hard work and making this game a physical game. To see (our players) embrace that is encouraging -- and to continue to build on the success of last year but put their own identity on this year is a testament to program."
That identity right now is all about toughness, including a number of interchangeable players along both the lines of scrimmage and at the skill positions. But after Friday night, the War Eagles hope to include a big-game mentality amongst their strengths -- because they certainly face a key showdown as they travel to take on Eastside in Convington.
"Eastside has a team that most people are picking to be second in the region right now," Luttrell said. "They have an athletic team, a well-coached team. It's going to be a big challenge for us. I'm anxious to see how the guys respond."
Last season, Chestatee responded to the Eastside challenge with one of the most exciting contests in War Eagle history, outlasting Eastside (also the Eagles) 57-56 in three overtimes -- a victory that helped Chestatee to produce its best season in program history at 8-3.
Chestatee expects Eastside to try and replicate its offensive output from a season ago, relying on speedy playmakers that like to get to the perimeter, as well as a defense that gets to the ball en masse and likes to force turnovers.
"They're very athletic on offense, with an athletic quarterback," Luttrell said, referencing Eastside senior signal caller Demario Terrell (324 yards passing, 3 TDs, 1 INT; 79 yards rushing). "They do a good job of using their weapons, trying to make you defend the width of the field and creating seams and taking those seams. Defensively, they do a great job of running to the ball. They also do a great job trying to force turnovers and forcing you to run side-to-side."
Just don't expect the War Eagles to do much running away from defenders tonight. In fact Chestatee would rather run right at potential tacklers.
"It's going to be a real physical game," War Eagles senior defensive end/tight end Khalil Cantrell said. "We've got a lot of fast guys on line of scrimmage; we just want to play hard, be physical and make more plays than them."
And as far as the War Eagles are concerned, it doesn't matter who makes those plays.
Zac Cheshire currently leads the team with 144 yards rushing and two touchdowns, but the senior running back is just one of a number of options Chestatee can plug in behind an imposing offensive line
Friday
November 22nd, 2024
12:06PM
