Football Preview: Eagles ready to take flight against rival Pioneer
The Skyline football team doesn’t have a football field of time to get ready for Friday night. But every team faced that challenge heading into their season opener in 2020.
However, the Eagles desire to get ready is hastened because of their opening-night opponent – crosstown rival Pioneer. It’s always one of those games you circle on the schedule even if your schedule has already been altered because of a pandemic.
“It’s a rivalry game and a big game to open our season with,” says Skyline Coach Andrew Sorgatz. “It will be different with no fans in attendance, but the kids are pumped to open up with a rival at home.”
It’s one of those games where people like to say you can throw out the records. Well, since it’s the opener there are no records to throw out, but Sorgatz has a good idea what to expect when they kick off 2020 on Friday at home against that team in purple.
“Pioneer is always a tough game that comes down to the fourth quarter,” he said. “It should be a great battle.”
Sorgatz begins his seventh season as head coach of the Eagles, who went a challenging 1-8 last season. But this is a new season with renewed optimism and new challenges.
“We have an experienced quarterback with a lot of talent at the skill positions,” Sorgatz said. “The offensive and defensive lines are physical and experienced. And we have great senior leadership.”
But with the lack of practice time this summer, the Eagles have had to speed up their scheme install with still some work to do.
“We have a great group of kids who are hungry and always ready to work,” Sorgatz says. “We need to continue to be consistent in our practice habits and continue to grow and improve with our technique and schemes.”
Skyline’s top returning players include senior QB Addison Taylor-Coquillard, senior Mitch Abrams (OL/DL), senior Jordan Wilson (WR/DB), senior Will Eliason (WR/DB), senior Marvin Cleveland and senior Gage Robinson (OL/DL).
Top incoming players include junior Will Gardner (TE/DE) and seniors Dinalli DeLoach (WR/DE) and Yannik Berg (WR/DB) .
