Extra Point Previews: Providence Christian Eagles

DOTHAN, Ala ( WDHN ) — After 12 years as a head coach, you’d think one would be settled into a pretty good routine, but the high school football landscape never makes it easy. Year 13 comes with a big change for Coach Kenny Keith and the Providence Christian Eagles.

“Obviously you know, we dropped back down to 2A,” said Keith. “So, we kind of left 3A making the playoffs, which was good, but we’re excited to be in the region we were in years ago. So it’s good to be back there.”

The Eagles are back to where they were in 2015 in 2A Region 2 when Keith’s squad rolled to second place in the region at 8-3 with a second-round playoff exit. The region looks very similar to how it did then, the only difference being Abbeville instead of Houston Academy. Coach Keith is familiar with this group of teams and knows not to underestimate anyone.

“You know, people ask me are you excited to be back in 2A and I say yes, and they say were you saying the competition is going to be easier? I said, oh no, I’m not saying that at all because I know who’s there because I played before like I said. But the numbers, numbers wise body wise you know it’s a little more comfortable for us. You know, like for example last year we’re playing we got our 35-40 and you’re playing 50 or 60 you know that makes a difference. But as far as talent, skill level 2A, no. Don’t quote me as saying that it’s easy because it’s not.”

The changes don’t stop there. As with any high school roster, there was some turnover in the offseason. The Eagles lost a lot of experience in the trenches but returned a lot of production at the skill positions.

“If I would say our strength is probably our skill guys,” said Keith. “Up front, we’re going to be younger because we lost a lot of seniors there. Don’t know how good we are there yet. We’ll find that out, but that would probably be not necessarily a weakness but just an unknown.”

Kyser Sims projects to be a leader for the Eagles offense this year as a three-year returning starter at tailback in his senior year. On defense, Keith will look to senior defensive back Calvin McClintock to set the tone.

“It helps to have good leadership, good quality kids,” said Keith. “And we got a lot of those.”

One of the biggest advantages you can have across any level of athletics is experience, and at the most important position, the Eagles certainly do not lack that with Craig Pittman at quarterback.

“He’ll be a junior this year, but he’s been starting since he was in 8th grade,” said Keith. “So he’s been there a while. Well, for one thing, he’s one of the strongest kids on our team. I mean, he kills it in the weight room. He loves that he does that. And there’s hopefully just because he’s been doing it so long, you know, we’re gonna have to rely on him for a lot of things. And we’re banking on that he can handle a lot. And we think he can just because he’s done it so long.”

The Eagles open their season hosting the Wicksburg Panthers. We’ll have that game here on the Extra Point August 23rd.

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