By Ryan Baker — Correspondent

The Sharon High School Football Eagles, led by head coach Dave Morse, have had a few years sitting at the bottom of the Hockomock League standings, but they believe the script can be flipped. 

Nine years after the historic state championship run from Sean Asnes, Brad Schiff, and the 2012 Eagles, the team is coming off of a one win season, and is bringing only a few players into the new season.

The losses of quarterback Kiran Chandresekaran and wide receivers PJ McManus and Owen Conway loom large, but senior captain and defensive end Jack Murphy says that the 2021 season will be better than the previous year. “I think we’re losing a lot of leadership in some areas, and I think that all in all, the new players that kind of fill out the roster are much higher quality than some of the players last year,” said the fourth year player.

 In addition to these quality players, the current team has one massive advantage compared to last season — The Independent League. 

After continuously losing to larger schools in the Hockomock League, Athletic Director Dr. Schlerif decided to withdraw from the league, and began to schedule the games himself. Senior wide receiver and captain Nate Yaffe says that the decision was long overdue, and he is excited to play a weaker schedule this year. “If [the team was] independent last year, I think the season would have been a lot different,” said Yaffe.

 “I think us being independent gives us a chance to win a bunch more football games and actually be competitive, you know, we got a group of guys that love to compete, love to win, and I’m just hyped to play with them,” added Yaffe.

Many sophomores and freshmen are stepping into huge roles in just their second or first years in the sport. Sophomores Liam Conway, Gabe Korn, and Duncan Seamen Jr. lead the gang of underclassmen who will play large parts on the team this season. “I think our weakness is that [our] depth is very young, you know, I think we have a bunch of sophomores that are getting thrown into starting roles that need to step up,” said Yaffe.

Youth, depth, and toughness are clear strengths of the Sharon High Eagles for the 2021 football season, and Coach Morse says that the culture can be changed for the better. “It’s a good group with mostly committed people that have a level of toughness that we haven’t seen in a number of years, and we are hoping that, mixed with skill, can get us moving in the right direction again.”