SALADO, Texas — Fresh on the heels of an historic run to a district title in 2020, the Salado Eagles hope a younger group of athletes can carry them back to a championship in 2021.
The Eagles bring back just four starters on the defensive side of the ball, but Head Coach Alan Haire says he hopes the new group of starters learned how to compete at the varsity level from the last group of seniors.
"I hope that helps them gain some momentum to see what it takes to be good, but we're working every day to see if we can't be better," Haire said.
The Eagles will be the hunted in a tough District 9-4A II that features perennial powerhouses China Spring and Connally. The Eagles enter the year picked to finish second in the district.
On offense, the Eagles are led by multi-year starting quarterback Hutton Haire. Hutton will be an integral piece in Salado's Slot-T offense, which wears down defenses and controls possession.
He says last season's district title and subsequent playoff run gave players an added sense of confidence.
"It gives us a lot of experience with some of our starters, but we also do have a lot of young kids coming up and we've got to give them some of that experience too," Hutton said.
The Eagles will kick off their title defense against Troy in a neutral-site battle at UMHB.
