Eagles face tough Indians team to open conference

Cutter Morning Star has its toughest opponent to date this season as it opens its 2A-5 conference play against an undefeated Poyen Indians team on the road.

First-year Eagles head coach Matt Kinsinger said that the Indians (5-0) have plenty of talent to work with as well as a much deeper bench.

“I think they’re good,” he said. “I think they’re good up front. They’ve got good skill kids. I mean, holistically they’re pretty solid all the way around offensively, defensively. … They’ve got good numbers on their squad. I think I saw they had about 41 kids. So they’ve got a good team.”

Kinsinger said that with a limited number of athletes on his roster and a team that has outscored its opponents 188-40, the Eagles (0-5) will not be able to make many mistakes.

“We’ve got to play good, and we have to be perfect in our execution,” he said. “We have to minimize our own mistakes, and those are the things that we can control.”

One of the players on defense that will create havoc for the Eagles offense will be junior middle linebacker Anthony Nannemann.

“So their line’s going to be pretty tough,” Kinsinger said. “They’ve got a good linebacker. Their linebacking corps seems to be pretty solid, too. … (Nannemann is) a good inside linebacker, middle linebacker.”

Offensively, the Eagles will have to try to find an answer for several Indians.

“Of course, offensively, they’ve got multiple threats, you know, with Brandon Sanchez,” Kinsinger explained. “They put him out at slot now, and they have his brother (Christian) Rauls at running back. And then sprinkle in the Nate Simmons kid and some other kids there at wide receiver. So, you know, they’ve got some weapons all around. Of course, the quarterback, (Jaxon) Carter, he’s a difference maker. He can run the ball, throw the ball. So I mean, they’re pretty talented all the way around.”

Kinsinger said that the key is making sure to keep improving, week in and week out.

“We’ve been getting better every week,” he said. “We need to continue that process. We need to minimize our own mistakes. … When you play a team that’s good and talented, you can’t make it any easier on them, so we have to we have to control what we can control, which is our ability to play and execute as best as we can minimize the amount of self-inflicted wounds or mistakes that we make.”

The Eagles are no different from any other team when it comes to their health.

“I think overall we’re good,” Kinsinger said.

“Still the same kind of stuff, you know, guys bouncing back and forth, getting back in the fold, you know, from COVID tracing or you know, symptoms and just the normal stuff everybody else is dealing with, but health-wise, we’re good.”

Kickoff tonight at Indian Field is set for 7 p.m.