CADDO, Ala. (WHNT) — Dalton Gay’s touchdown sealed it, but it was more than just a win for the East Lawrence Eagles.
Friday night’s win over Lawrence County meant something more for the program, as it was the first time they had defeated the rival Red Devils since August 27, 2010. The Red Devils had won the previous eight matchups.
Mac Hampton, an East Lawrence alum, says he knows what the rivalry is all about and that it was certainly a sweet victory. Since taking over, he has stressed the importance of building a winning culture at the school; the win marked the fruits of his labor.
“We work hard, we are really trying to get the culture, you know, a winning culture back here, so it can stay like this, we don’t want it to just stop right there, we want it to continue,” Hampton said. “We hope that game, especially with it being a rivalry game like that, first game of the season, you know, we hope that it takes us through the rest of the season, it’s a catalyst, it’s motivation to want to keep doing it.”
Gay says the win is big for the entire East Lawrence community.
“Getting that win, you know, we hadn’t beat them in 15 years, it’s just like bringing everybody together,” Gay said. “We are finally getting our attention we deserve after beating Lawrence County.”
While the team is off to a great start, both Gay and Hampton say there are areas to improve if they want to continue to win.
“I’d say being very disciplined because we had like a lot of issues, we had some flags on like unsportsmanlike conduct and stuff like that,” Gay said. “Just being more conditioned and then working on like everybody blocking, pursuing the ball.”
“I’d like for us to be a little tougher up front on both sides of the ball; we got to get more disciplined; we had more penalties than I would like to have, just staying focused,” Hampton said. “I can say we did good, we didn’t quit, we played for four quarters, which is something I’ve really been preaching all summer long.”
The Eagles will welcome in region foe, West Limestone, Friday night.
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