Team looking to rebound on Friday vs. St. Vincent
Things didn’t go as planned for the Eagles in their varsity football season opener at Piner High School on Friday, as the Prospectors showed no mercy in a 55-0 shellacking in Santa Rosa.
The outcome was a rude homecoming for former Piner star and current Cloverdale head coach Greg Alexander, who still managed to find some positives in a tough 2019 debut.
“It was obviously not what we were looking for to start the year,” Alexander said. “However, the loss doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things as we played up three divisions.”
The Eagles will try to break into the win column this Friday, Aug. 30 when they play host to visiting St. Vincent de Paul of Petaluma in a 7:30 p.m. varsity kickoff.
The Mustangs will have a full head of steam following a 37-3 win over McKinleyville last week and figure to give the Eagles all they can handle on Friday.
“St. Vincent’s will be a challenge,” Alexander predicted. “Trent Herzog, their head coach, hired me for my first coaching job so I have a lot of respect for him and what they do over there. They’re going to line up in I formation and run power, counter and play-action. They’re very disciplined and play with a lot of energy so this will be a great challenge for us.”
Prospectors run roughshod
The Eagles had few offensive highlights on Friday, spotting Piner a 27-0 lead after one before trailing 41-0 at the half. With a running clock after intermission, the Prospectors found pay dirt twice more and kept the Eagles off the board en route to a 55-0 rout.
“The positives are for the most part we were in position, we just didn’t make the plays,” Alexander noted. “We won’t see another team that athletic all year.”