The varsity football team defeated Plainview in their non-district home opener Friday, Sept. 11. The Eagles will travel to Tascosa High School to take on the Rebels 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17 in another non-district game.

The district opener is set in early October, but the Eagles have already played three exhibition games and have a win-loss record of 3-0 with victories over Borger, Roswell High and Plainview. The Eagles’ score against Plainview is the highest of the season so far, with a final score of 41-28, holding Plainview to a scoreless first quarter. Junior strong safety Kagan Bradley was instrumental in making several stops on third and fourth down.

“Our offense was doing well and our defense was solid,” Bradley said. “Overall, the team did a great job.”

Although there will be several games before the district season begins, Bradley said the team is aiming for success.

“I’m expecting the rest of the season to be good,” Bradley said. “I think we have a good chance at going really far this year.”

Junior middle linebacker Dayne Douglass said  he saw improvements in the team’s performance on both offense and defense, even from last week to this week.

“I feel like this team is starting to work together more and more each game and Friday night showed that abundantly,” Douglass said. “We played defense well, we played offense well and if they scored on us, we scored on them.”

Although Canyon did answer all but one of Plainview’s touchdowns with one of their own, the first four scores of the game went to Canyon, one of which was a fumble returned for a touchdown by Douglass.

“I don’t think anybody was more surprised I scored in that game than I was,” Douglass said. “But all the credit goes to Landon Pasley. He’s the one that caused the fumble that led to our first defensive touchdown.”

Douglass, Pasley, Bradley and the rest of the Eagles will be returning to Kimbrough for the next home game Oct. 2 against Lawton Eisenhower, one of last season’s closest losses. Regardless of last season, Douglass said he is excited for another home game.

“Nothing can beat playing in Kimbrough with a huge crowd,” Douglass said. “My favorite part is the atmosphere. Fans yelling, teammates beside you, in front of you and behind you. Nothing can beat that.”