After last year’s state title run, Stratford ready to run it back

After hoisting a state championship trophy, the Stratford Eagles are looking ahead to the upcoming season with hopes of catching lightning in a bottle once more. 

The Eagles were led by head coach Paul Carroll to an 11-2 finish on the season — not to mention the Class 4A State Championship trophy, which was the first state title for the team in 20 years. 

While many coaches would ride the wave of a win like that all the way to the first snap of the following season, Carroll is not going to loosen his grip on the reins. 

“Our kids just grinded it out the whole year and the coaches did too,” Carroll said. “It was a great feeling, but it’s over with now, that’s what we got to understand.” 

Carroll isn’t really asking for much here either, seeing that he is in a very unique position. The Eagles are going to bring back a huge majority of their championship team for round two, with the team only losing a handful of seniors.

Carroll knows how much that can really help the off-season processes — a lot of the basics are understood by the majority of his team, allowing for more time to focus on the specifics of their game.

“It’s time to rock and roll,” Carroll said. “We can speed up a little bit more and you don’t have to stay a week on just one run play, they know all of them.”

While knowing the plays and being able to really work on the minute details of the team’s gameplans, Carroll learned a valuable lesson from last season that he’s taking with him to the upcoming season. 

“Last year we didn’t find the correct practice schedule that we needed to have until a little bit later in the season,” Carroll said. “Especially when you’re dealing with a small football team, they’re going both ways, so I think we hopefully will find the recipe early.” 

With a big chunk of the team coming back, it can be easy for players to feel like they don’t have anything left to prove. Sometimes it can be a difficult task for a coach to lead their team to that same kind of hunger found within a young team without a championship. 

Carroll has this issue already covered. 

“They know the expectations of the coaches, they know what we expect and they know they can’t get away with nothing,” Carroll said. “My expectation is every single day, you better be jacked and ready to go, and if they don’t want to do that, they need to go home.” 

The players that have those instincts can be hard to come by. For the Eagles, they seem to be at every turn. 

Senior Jett Johnston was one of the first names that came to Carroll’s mind when he talked about players he is excited to see play. 

Johnston is a wide receiver that also plays free safety for the Eagles. Last season, Johnston collected 450 receiving yards through 34 receptions while also scoring four touchdowns in the process. Defensively, Johnston also garnered two interceptions with 28 solo tackles.

Then there’s Johnston’s brothers, quarterback Tucker and linebacker Tate. The sophomore twins are also solid athletes, with Tucker blossoming as a passer and runner out of the pocket down the stretch last season.

Carroll also named senior Josh Butts as another receiver to accompany Johnson in the receiver and secondary rooms. 

Butts averaged 16.4 yards a reception for the Eagles last season while also snagging two interceptions as well. 

In the running back room, Carroll named Sanford Horne as a player he’s looking forward to seeing take control of the backfield for the Eagles. 

With all of these weapons at the fingertips of Carroll, he is taking this offseason very seriously to make sure all systems are a go before their first game.

“It’s cliche, but you got to look at the first game,” Carroll said. 

Oh, and there’s one other thing about that season opener.

“It’s going to probably mean something a little bit more to me, because that’s my soon to be son-in-law,” Carroll said.

Windsor head coach Dylan Bass proposed to Carroll’s daughter on July 4, so Carroll is excited to go against the Knights.  While family matters are always a good time, Carroll has his sights set on winning the state championship once again. 

“That is one of our main goals is to repeat,” Carroll said. “If you’re not thinking that way then, you probably don’t need to coach anymore.”

 

Carroll has been preaching this mentality for some time now and it seems to be working for the team. 

The Eagles have been working over the summer to make sure the team is ready to go for the upcoming season with acclamation coming up soon according to Carroll. 

While only time will tell if a repeat for the Eagles is a possibility, the amount of effort and energy brought to the team from Carroll will not change. 

“I tell them either way, we’re going to work,” Carroll said. “I don’t care if we have 11 football players, we’re going to work and we’re going to win, that’s our motto.”