Prep Football: Maintaining The Momentum

With nine new starters it would have been really easy for the Eldorado defense to hang their heads after halftime.

Never mind the 22 first half points Eldorado gave up, it was a last second hail mary to the endzone that the Eagles watch fall into the hands of Chase Owens that bothered Hampton the most.

But as much as the early defense bothered Hampton, he couldn't have been more pleased with the offensive production led by junior quarterback Nathan Burnett.

"I really thought our quarterback made some great plays," Hampton said. "We ran the ball effectively in the first half. As the game went on, the sloppier the play became. Our team competed and when the defense struggled the offense came out and picked them up.

Hampton admitted after last week's Week 1 win over Sesser-Valier-Waltonville-Woodlawn that he lost his composure during his halftime speech. It might be a talk he'll want to bottle, as the defense pitched a shutout in the second half.

"I really thought (Payton) Price (sophomore defensive back) came back after a rough first half and played much better in the second half," Hampton said. "I thought our inside linebackers played much better in the second half. The major plus for us was how our three down lineman played, Dillion Parker, Logan Kannady and Logan Bowen, I thought they played really well."

The result was the most mental errors after grading film that Hampton has had in his tenure at EHS. he's hoping to be able to clean all that up this week when the Eagles travel to Carmi-White County.

"I've never been more excited to practice," Hampton added. "So many of our mistakes defensively are simply leverage and containing the football. Carmi is what you thought they were and there is a reason why they were picked in the top half of the league and I was impressed with the way Carmi-White County battled and competed against a Bismark-Henning team that came into the game ranked in the top-10 in state."

It's a strong senior class and a roster that Hampton knows very well. The coach has always talked about the familiarity between the two programs and the appreciation for the Carmi-White County coaching staff.

"We won't be able to survive making the mistakes we made Week 1 against Sesser-Valier against a good Week 2 team like Carmi. That's what we told our kids. You make that big jump from Week 1 to Week 2 and that's what our focus is right now."

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.