The Ashland Eagles football team is ready to lift off as they prepare to open the 2011 season. The Eagles open this season at Bloomsburg in what should be a hard fought game between the Eagles and Huskies.

In a preview of this season to come the Ashland Eagles are second in the South Division GLIAC preseason rankings behind Wayne State. Head coach Lee Owens is eager to get back into action.

“We’ve got to get out of the gate faster in 2011 than we did in 2010,” he said.

The eagles opened the season last year at 1-3 the first four games but finished strong by winning the last seven games of the season, finishing the regular season with a record of 8-3 just missing out on a spot in the playoffs.

Coach Owens is entering his eighth season as head coach with an all time record of 49-28, and he believes that in order to finish as conference champions and play in the postseason “there can’t be any letdowns.”

There is good reason for the eagles to be excited about this season as many key veteran players are returning for another season of Ashland football. Junior quarterback Taylor Housewright is back behind center and he will be able to hand the ball off to wildly fast senior running back D.J. McCoy.

On the defensive side of the ball, the eagles have senior linebacker Julian Goodwine and senior defensive back Logan Kerr who had an interception in each of the last six games in the regular season.

The Eagles will have a tough time replacing wide receiver Joe Horn who led the team in receptions, yards and touchdowns. Coach Owens says that it will be tough replacing players like Horn but he believes in the young talent that they have.

“They are going to have to grow up early,” he said.

Housewright has a completely revamped wide receiving corps, as five wide receivers graduated from last year’s team. The team will have to rely heavily on senior tailback D.J. McCoy, who finished last season with over 1300 rushing yards and eight touchdowns.

The rest of the GLIAC will have to deal with the 6-foot-3-inch, 322-pound monster of a defensive end in senior Jeris Pendleton and senior defensive lineman Matt Stoinoff, who led the team in sacks last season (4.5).

The Eagles will play Bloomsburg in the season opener for the fourth straight year, and Ashland is 1-2 in the series. Their only win came last season, a game that finished 24-14.

The Eagles’ road to a playoff berth will not be easy. Their upcoming schedule includes games at Bloomsburg, home against Indianapolis, at Hillsdale, home against Northern Michigan, at Northwood and Tiffin, home against Wayne State, at Saginaw Valley State, home against Findley and Ohio Dominican, and at Lake Erie. The Ashland Eagles season starts this Saturday, Sept 1, at Bloomsburg. Tune in to WNCO-AM (1340) with Matt Brubaker and Don Graham for the game at 6 p.m.