[mysonis55]

Well the Graves County Eagles are fresh off of a year that proved they could do what many thought they would never achieve. The word in Western Ky had until last year, always been that the Eagles would never be able to make it to the carpet in the big school classes of 4a in the 4 class system and either 6a or 5a in the 6 class system. That thought has finally been put to rest. The Eagles however will more than have their work cut out for them this year, to make it back.

The Eagles lost a ton. On Defense they lost 8 of 11 starters. They are Gray, Hayden, Coles, Carter, Day, Wiggins, Crider and Reed. On offense they lost 7 of 11 starters including the cog that made the offense work. They lost Reed, Crider, Gray, Holmes, Wiggins, Marshall and Day. Last year Crider alone accounted for 2,500 yards and 31 touchdowns. This had him ranked #1 in rushing yardage and #2 in scoring in the state in 5a. They also lost their qb in Reed. They also lost their backup qb in McKee. They also lost their 3rd qb in Bonstetter, as he transferred out of state. They also lost their big time kicker. This by any accounts would be a very large problem to replace all of these starters.

The names that still remain are Dakota Dixon and Hunter Grant. These 2 were productive for the Eagles on both sides of the ball last year. They do benefit a bit from the realignment though. That because they lost Hopkinsville from their district and picked up a team that hasn't been successful for over 10 years now, in Marshall County.

The road does look favorable for them to rebuild though, with a schedule that has some opportunities to pick up some wins to grow from. It looks like this for the Eagles:

Hopkinville home 4a, 4-8 last season with 3 of those losses due to forfeit
Trigg Co away 3a, 7-5 last season
Murray away 2a, 9-5 last season and semi finalist
Paducah Tilghman home 3a, 7-6 last season and district champs
Mayfield away 2a, 14-1 last season and 1a state champs
Apollo away 5a, 2-9 last season
Marshall Co away 5a, 2-9 last season
Christian Co home 5a, 4-8 last season
Owensboro home 5a, 12-3 last season and 4a state runners up
Calloway Co home 4a, 3-8 last season

This should be an interesting year for the Eagles to see how well their feeder program is working. The schedule looks to aide them somewhat in this growing stage.