Burl getting to know Eupora boys

It’s a new era of basketball in Eupora this season as the Eagles turn the team over to young coach Austin Burl.

Burl is a newcomer to the coaching profession as he hasn’t been out of college at Mississippi State long, but he’s no stranger to Class 2A, Region 2. The former Calhoun City standout was a starter for the Wildcats for three seasons and he went head-to-head with Eupora on many occasions.

This year, he’s looking to help build up an Eagle program that has struggled to find wins in recent years. The coach is approaching his players in a way that he feels he would like to be approached during his time on the court.

“The biggest thing is teaching how I understood it as a player,” Burl said. “I try to do a lot of one-on-ones with each player to make sure they all understand.”

The biggest issue that Burl is dealing with currently is the fact that most of his team is still playing football. It’s a good thing that the athletes at Eupora are versatile and well-rounded athletes, but early in the schedule, it might take time to get things going.

The Eagles currently have just seven available players as they went to Houston last week and came up short against the Hilltoppers. Burl isn’t using it as an excuse, it’s just the state of things.

When football season ends, Eupora estimates to have around 20 players on the team and 15 of them will be either freshmen or sophomores. When everybody makes it in, the coach can really start to implement what he wants out of his program.

“I just want to try to build this program up,” Burl said.

“We have a young team so right now we’re just working hard and trying to be able to compete with everybody. I think it’s going to be a hard adjustment, but I think we can make it.”

Girls

The year before Cody Ramer arrived at Eupora, the Lady Eagles won one game.

Ramer was a first-time head coach but eager to help turn the program around and he did just that in his first season last year. The Lady Eagles weren’t just competitive with most of the schedule last season, they won most of them. Ramer led the team to a 9-6 record and the playoffs where they dropped a heartbreaking 40-38 result to North Side.

While he made tremendous progress, he feels like he has a brand new team this season.

“It almost feels like I’m starting over again,” Ramer said. “I lost three starters as seniors and one is out until the end of November, but our players were able to see the success we had on the team last year, so I’m hoping we can use that to our advantage. I look forward to seeing what we can do.”

Ramer is counting heavily on sophomores Katrelya Pratt and Alexia Johnson who were big parts of the turnaround last year. The chemistry that they have together is going to carry the team far in his eyes.

“I’m really excited about my point guard (Pratt) this year,” Ramer said. “This summer she was really good. After our first game, she didn’t come up and ask me about her points. She wanted to know about many assists she had which really says a lot about how much she’s grown and how big of a team players she is.

“I’m also excited about Alexia Johnson. She and Katrelya work really well together.”

The Lady Eagles lost the first game of the season at Houston 58-29 and were back in action on Tuesday against Ethel.