The Centennial Eagles continue their long road back to the football field
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — The Centennial Eagles have been working hard to get back on the playing field after the team temporarily disbanded in 2017. Only a few years after the Eagles went 7-3 in 2013, the team suspended operations in 2017 due to the school not having enough players to field a full team.
The road back to playing football has been a rough one for coach Billy Martin and the Centennial Eagles. But the team has been playing their hardest, as they did manage a victory in 2021.
The Eagles had a 1-9 season in 2021, scoring 93 points while giving up 378. The Eagles managed to score some points in all but one of their games this year. There were various rough spots for the Eagles during the season, including a 57-12 loss to Atholton on Sept. 17 and a 28-0 loss to Long Reach on Oct. 9.
But the Eagles managed to get a victory on Oct. 29 with a 28-24 win against Marriotts Ridge. The home victory was a welcome change of pace for the team.
Getting back on the field has been a challenge for Coach Martin, as he knows that the team has a relatively minimal roster. The team鈥檚 roster is about half the size of a typical high school varsity football roster.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not like we have 80 guys here,鈥� Martin . 鈥淲e have to make every guy count.鈥�
The issues that Centennial has been bearing are signs of the ongoing concerns people have surrounding high school football. Various schools around the country have dropped their football programs due to a lack of participation triggered by worries about brain injuries.
Martin knows that there鈥檚 no reason for excuses surrounding what will happen. He feels that practice and hard work in making the team more interesting will be critical to helping Centennial develop a football program that can compete once more.
鈥淚n rebuilding a program, we need to find a way not to work around it but to appeal to more people,鈥� Martin about trying to go forward. 鈥淲e need to be there for each other. We need to make this work.鈥�
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