As the 2023 season heads into its home stretch, Hartland football coach Thomas Stevenson remains upbeat, despite this team’s 2-5 record.
“A 4-5 team made the playoffs last year in Division 1,” he said. “So if we win this week and can win next week, good things can happen with a little bit of luck.”
The Eagles will try to take care of the first requirement tonight when they play host to Canton (2-5) on the Eagles’ Senior Night in a game that will be broadcast on The Livingston Post beginning at 6:50 p.m. Click here for the link.
Hartland likely is facing an angry Canton team coming off 21-14 loss to Salem last week. It was Salem’s first win in league play since 2019 and its first win over Canton since 1999.
Canton’s only KLAA win this season was against Howell, 28-23, in the second week of the season.
“They’ve got a really good running back (Devon Pettus). They’ve got a really good receiver (Caleb Williams) they like to get the ball to,” Stevenson said. “We’re going to do everything we can to limit those two guys and make someone else beat us.”
The Eagles, meanwhile, are looking to shake off a 55-8 shellacking at Northville last week.
“That, obviously, was our worst performance of the year,” Stevenson said. ‘The compete level wasn’t anywhere (near) where we want it to be. We had some injuries early, but as a team we didn’t do a great job of overcoming the adversity.”
But that was last week, Stevenson figures. The important thing is now.
“I think the team understands it’s a 48-minute football game,” he said. “It’s not about winning every battle but about winning the war. We need to continue to play as hard as we can for all four quarters, and usually when you do that good things happen.”
The Eagles will honor one good thing at halftime, when the 2023 state softball champions will be honored. Stevenson hopes fans will have a win to celebrate on the way home.
“Senior night is something very special for these seniors,” Stevenson said. “They carried the weight in those two months when we didn’t have a football coach. We’re going to have an emotional football team because this is almost assuredly the last home game they’ll play. We 0nly have one more week guaranteed as a football team. So when it’s over, it’s over.”
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