that seems to always be close . The Eagles blocked a PAT and stopped a Bobcat two-point conversion in the final seconds to hold onto the game .
The Eagles found their answers to some of their questions early on with sophomore Luke McKendree seizing the quarterback job in non-district , throwing for 1,933 yards and 17 touchdowns with only 8 interceptions on the season . Sophomore Trenton Harris became the leading rusher for the Eagles , rushing for 1,249 yards with 16 touchdowns . Harris became part of a great onetwo punch with senior Ashton Frye .
Frye was a jack-of-all-trades for the Eagles rushing for 1,171 yards with 13 touchdowns while catching 40 passes for 395 yards with three touchdowns and completing three passes for 107 yards and two touchdowns . Frye also had a fumble return and two interceptions for touchdowns .
Ashton Moore was the Eagles ’ leading receiver catching 46 passes for 631 yards and three touchdowns . Moore also moved positions from cornerback to free safety becoming a leader on the defense , snagging five interceptions .
As good as the Eagles ’ offense was , the defense and special teams were even better . At one point , the Eagles owned the top-scoring defense in the state in their division . The Eagle defense finished the season giving up a paltry 13 points per game on average and had three defensive shutouts . The Eagles finished with 24 sacks , 16 interceptions , 24 fumble recoveries ,
and four blocked punts .
The D-Line of Brennan Moore , Barron Tatum , Blake Pair , and Aiden Morgan were disruptive and aggressive while Justin Ovalle , Trent Harris , and Will Irvine were great at linebacker .
One answered question was the secondary . With Ashton Moore moving from cornerback to safety and graduation , the Eagles had to find two new cornerbacks . Sophomore Wyatt Firth stepped up to become a lockdown corner along with Mason Huffman who took over at the other corner late in the season , performing admirably .
In multiple games , the Eagles forced early turnovers and special team plays to put their offense in good positions to jump out to big leads before getting younger players plenty of playing time .
Both players and Coach Jeff Callahan give much of the credit to the assistant coaches . When playing young players in key positions , preparation was huge . Many times on the sideline , players exclaimed , “ They are doing exactly what we thought they would !” The coaches spent hours dissecting film and coaching up the players to have them in the right place at the right time and it paid dividends .
Credit also goes to the seniors . Some of them started as freshmen . They took their lumps on bad teams , but they paid their dues and lifted the players around them , investing in the younger players coming up behind them , helping to instill a culture where the players come into any game expecting to win .
The Eagles saw some success last season , making the playoffs for the first time in years before taking a leap forward this season .
In four years , the Eagles have gone from a team that hoped to just outscore the other teams , giving up 30 plus points per game to a team that expects to not only win but dominate their opponents from start to finish . The coaches and players have built not just a good team , but a good program that is winning from the top down with JV , and both Junior High teams dominating .
The Eagles put in the hard work , the preparation , and learning from past failures so they are now reaping the success on the field taking the program to new heights .
Spring 2025 | Explore Corsicana 21