Eagles Stay Physical, Need To Continue Trend In Season Opener With Commerce

The Canton Eagles took another step in the team’s preparation for the season opener against Commerce. The Eagles were in Mabank last Friday night for the final scrimmage, and outscored the Panthers in a "live," half of action.

"We made some progress from the first scrimmage," said head coach Lance Angel. "There are still some things we need to work on, but we made some improvements from the week before. Mabank was a good test for us."

The Eagle offense passed the test, moving the ball on limited chances during the live half.

"The defense had a fumble recovery for a touchdown, and that put the defense right back on the field, so the offense didn’t have a lot of plays," Angel explained.

The offense made the most of the limited chances, scoring once, and driving for another score when time ran out. The scoring play came on a fourth-and-two play near midfield when Chance Wallace hit Jonathan Huddle with a play-action pass.

The defense held Mabank to a touchdown and a field goal. The teams played to a 0-0 tie in the controlled portion of the scrimmage.

"We’re very pleased with the physical way we’re playing," Angel said. "We’ve played two physical teams in the scrimmages, and our practices have been more physical. We’ve got to continue that."

The Eagles hope to get physical with Commerce’s Jurace Brown when the Tigers visit for the season opener on Friday. Brown is a sophomore tailback with a lot of speed, according to Angel.

"He’s a guy that can take it 80 yards at any time," Angel said of Brown. "We’ve got to tackle him early. If he gets in the open field we could be in trouble."

In the scrimmages, the Tigers have lined up in the I-formation, and given the ball to Brown repeatedly, but the team has shown the spread formation as well.

"Being the first week of the season you don’t really know what to expect," the coach said. "They have a couple of tall fast wide receivers, so they could spread it out and try to throw.

"Special teams could be the key, though," Angel continued. "You can work on it in practice, but you never really go live on special teams, so a missed assignment on a punt or an extra point can come into play."

Canton will start the game with no players starting both ways, but certain players will see action on both sides.

"We’ve had some kids step up and play well," Angel said. "That’s going to allow us to start with 22 starters. Everybody has two positions, but we’re going to try to play one way as much as we can."

One position that Eagles fans can expect some two-way play will be at running back where senior Jacob Harris, a starter at linebacker, will take at least a few snaps. He will be in a rotation along with Tristan Lowrie and Travis Bearden.