LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — After the final whistle last Friday night, Baptist Prep senior Titus Yager couldn’t help but bask in the glow.
“Me, two other seniors, and the coaches just sat on the field for an hour after the game and just soaked it in,” he described.
Friday night’s win over Poyen was a long time coming for the Baptist Prep Eagles—— and Yager’s been counting.
“I haven’t won a home game since Week five of my sophomore year,” he said.
Nicolas Middlebrook can relate.
“It was a great feeling, cause it was the first game that I actually played in that we won,” he added.
Eagle alum Riley Perkins took over a program this offseason coming off a winless 2022. His goal was to turn any sense of hopelessness into hunger.
“Definitely had some guys who hadn’t seen a lot of success, but the exciting thing was that they wanted [success]. So they showed up this summer and worked for it, and the results are starting to pay off,” said Perkins.
Yager could sense the mentality change.
“Last year it was kind of like, let's try not to lose, this year we want to win," he said.
It all built up to last Friday night. The Eagles entered 0-3, but even before kickoff, this was something more than an average Friday night up Ranch Boulevard.
“This past Friday was the most people I’ve seen at a game since I’ve been at Baptist Prep,” said Yager. “There were alumni, people who drove and flew from hours away.”
The team was honoring Lucinda Clark, a beloved Spanish teacher and pillar of the Baptist Prep community who passed away in July.
“She was such an impactful person for Baptist Prep, for our football program, she was always there,” said Perkins.
“Everybody knew her, everybody would say hi, she would check in on everybody, she brought the community together,” added Middlebrook.
Yager took two years of Spanish with Señora Clark and said that she took a special interest in every aspect of the school, including the football team.
“She instilled in me that in order to win, you have to do something every day, string something every day, so we can get the outcome we want,” he said.
So, trailing 18-0 and staring down their 13th loss in a row, the Eagles turned to Señora.
“Ever play I remember talking to the guys saying this is bigger than us, we need this tonight we need this for the school,” Yager described.
“It was amazing,” said Middlebrook. “Having all the players bucking up those last two players, everyone saying do it for Señora, it’s not for us tonight, it’s for her.”
The Eagles aren’t content with just breaking a losing streak, they want to start a winning streak— just as Señora Clark would have expected!
“We got stickers on the back of our helmets for her, and we dedicated this season to her. So we go into every game knowing that, knowing that one win is not the goal. So we just take another step each week,“ said Perkins.
The Eagles start conference play and their hunt for a winning streak when they host England this Friday night.