Eagles look to soar in second season with Coach Campbell

The Trinity Christian Academy Eagles are looking for their breakthrough season as they head into the second season of their new era.

Coach Scott Campbell enters his second season as head of the Eagles program. The TCA football program last made playoffs in 2020 and is hoping this is the season that can turn around some recent tough years .

One good thing going for the program is the team is up to 32 players this season which is always a positive sign for a football program. Campbell going through his first offseason with this group also brings more cohesion with the player.

A new thing coming into this season is a new defensive system, a 3-3 formation, features three down linemen, three linebackers stacked directly behind them, and five defensive backs.

“It creates more flexibility, we are able to move guys around,” Campbell said. “It is more of an attacking style defense.”

Junior linebacker Brogan Chapman will lead the defense from the middle.

“He’s the quarterback of our defense,” Campbell said. “He makes our calls and gets us in the right spots. I’m excited for him to have a big year.”

The offense is a similar style of last year, where the team will lean on senior running back Pearson Kuykendall and a more experienced offensive line led by junior Nic Williams and senior Luke Hernandez.

“It is the cornerstone of our offense, and we will build things off of that,” Campbell said.

The offense operates out of a power spread formation, which stretches the defense out with three- and four-wide receivers, but also utilizes an H-back for extra blocking at times.

With opposing teams gearing up to stop Kuykendall, Campbell has some quick throws to the perimeter to keep defenses honest and keep things simple for his quarterbacks. Heading into the season Campbell has a quarterback battle with senior Colt Brinkman and junior Noah Keyes looking to lead the offense. Campbell hopes one of them will emerge quickly so the passing game can look to get up to speed.

Senior Hank Nash is new to the team at receiver and defensive back while also handling punt and kickoff return duties as Campbell wants to maximize getting the ball into his hands as much as possible.

Despite the playoff draught, TCA is hopeful it can get enough good momentum going in its three non-district games before sinking its teeth into a much different district than previous seasons.

“Our goal is to make the playoffs,” Campbell said. “We want to be in playoff contention and qualify for one of those spots.”

While TCA hopes to foster success on the field, off the field is where Campbell hopes his players grow the most this season since that is what will serve them best in the long run.

“Our theme is SOAR,” Campbell said. “The S is for selflessness. The O is for ownership. The A is for attitude and the R is for resilience. We talk about how those things apply to football, in life, our families, our jobs. Those our things I want these young men to understand long after football.”