Abilene High Eagles Week Zero

By
August 23, 2005

The great successes enjoyed by the Abilene High Eagles football team last season have been well documented. The season included 12 wins. They beat a talented team from Louisiana 19-14. They won a thrilling game against Midland Lee 20-17 to win the District 3-5A championship and cap off the regular season undefeated. Advancing 3 rounds in the playoffs, they were outscored 35-30 by the eventual Class 5A Division II State Champions, Southlake Carroll. The season will be remembered by the Eagle faithful for years to come because of an offense that was lead by an unsung quarterback seeing his first varsity action and a defense of which the likes may never be seen again led by the Class 5A defensive player of the year.

That was then and this is now. You see, that is how it is in football. For as good as the Eagles were last season and for all the fun we as fans had watching them, that now becomes the past and we must bring ourselves back to the reality of being 0 and 0. Two a days are behind us as is the scrimmage with Copperas Cove. Saturday night the Eagles begin a new campaign against an old foe, the Plainsmen of Lubbock Monterey. Yes, the Eagles face a new season and for those who choose to read the Eagle blog, you face a new blogger.

There are many positive things that will carry over from last season. The winning tradition that began with the 1999 season that saw the Eagles in the playoffs for the first time in 40 years is alive and well. I am told by Coach Warren that there were a total of 282 boys who made the trip to the scrimmage at Copperas Cove. That is the largest group at Abilene High in the Warren era. The actual playing time that the younger players received last season will be of particular benefit as they become the starters this season. The last but certainly not least carry over will be the Eagles opportunity to take the field as the defending district champions.

There are many people in the business of ranking teams before the season begins that think highly of this year’s version of Abilene High football. The Eagles are ranked from 18th to as high as 3rd in the state depending on who you are reading or listening to and therefore are picked by several to repeat as this years District Champion.

Not only did the Eagles graduate top players from last years squad, they also lost some outstanding coaches which included both their offensive and defensive coordinators. Head coach Steve Warren has filled those positions from within the Eagle organization. Therein lies the questions about this group of Eagles. Will the players step up and fill the open positions caused by graduation? Will the returning starters play up to their potential? Will the players respond to the newly appointed coordinators on offense and defense? Does the chemistry exist between the players and coaches? The word I hear is yes. We will know a good deal more after we get the first real game under our belts. Come out Saturday and support the Eagles at Shotwell.

By the way, don’t forget that this weekend is the first annual Champions Classic at Shotwell. You can see Clyde and Ballinger square off on Friday night at 7:30 PM. Saturday afternoon at 2:00 PM you can see Southlake Carroll and Midland Lee in Class 5A action. The AISD is preselling tickets to the SLC/LEE game. General Admission tickets are $6.00 for adults and $2.00 for students. That should be a real treat for area fans no matter what classification you normally watch. The Eagles and Plainsmen will play at 7:00 PM Saturday.

Don Hardin

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