>> JOHN MILLEDGE ACADEMY
After shutting out the Pinewood Christian Patriots earlier this October 55-0, the John Milledge Academy football team turns its attention to the Stratford Academy Eagles for Friday’s region matchup.
Even though the Trojans are coming off a bye week, head coach JT Wall acknowledged how it wasn’t a normal bye week given the fact the team played on a Monday due to the inclement weather a couple of weeks ago.
“With the [Pinewood Christian] game getting moved to Monday, that kind of threw a monkey wrench in everything,” Wall said. “We were able to get a few good days in last week and healed up, because we know we have a tough next stretch of four games.”
Stratford Academy is 5-2 on the season and lost its first region game to Tattnall Square Academy 33-28 last Friday night.
They may not be as talented as the Trojans are in some areas, but Wall admits that there are some aspects of the Eagles’ team that could make them a formidable opponent.
“They’ve got great depth, team speed and size. They’re physical and offensively going to present problems because they run so many formations,” Wall said. “Defensively, they play hard. They play good, sound football and read their keys, and Chance Jones does a great job of coaching them up.”
Offensively, Stratford Academy has been impressive through seven regular season games.
As a unit, the offense puts up a little more than 34 points per game, and the success stems from their ability to run the ball. The Eagles have run the ball 267 times and are 50 yards away from eclipsing 2,000 total rushing yards on the season.
With 25 rushing touchdowns on the year so far, John Milledge Academy understands its defensive focus is playing physical and stopping the run while looking for the occasional pass play sprinkled in. The Eagles have added another 338 yards and five scores through the air, which makes its offense even more versatile.
John Milledge Academy trails in the all-time series 1-4, but the Trojans haven’t seen the Eagles since 2011, and neither program is the same as they were then.
Ultimately, Wall understands that traveling to play in any region game is a tough task and is curious to see how his team responds if the Eagles present issues on the field. “We know we’re going to be tested, and we know it’s going to be a four-quarter ball game,” Wall said. “That’s also in the back of our minds too – that we really haven’t had one all year, so it’s, ‘How are our guys going to react and what type of condition are we in?’ It’s hard to simulate that.”