ETHAN ADAMS

news@vanzandtnews.com Change appears to be the name of the game for the Canton Eagles in 2022, as the graduation of a strong senior class, and a first-year coaching staff leaves new faces sprinkled throughout the program.

The 2021 season proved to be a rollercoaster for the Eagles under second-year head coach, Casey Hubble. While showing flashes of brilliance in wins at Mineola and Hillsboro, there were also a handful of agonizing losses – most notably in a rivalry game to Van on Senior Night. Canton entered the state playoffs as the third seed out of District 7-4A, Division 2, but fell at the hands of the Pleasant Grove Hawks in the first round, 49-21.

When the dust settled and the calendar flipped to 2022, the Eagles were left with a good portion of their roster departing.

More notably, Hubble announced his intentions to accept the Athletic Director and Head Football coaching vacancy at Jacksboro High School, just west of Fort Worth. Several assistant coaches followed suit.

Soon after, Canton began the interview process and quickly designated Heath Ragle as the new Athletic Director and Head Football Coach.

Ragle had spent the last four seasons serving as the Defensive Coordinator for the Mineola Yellowjackets. Prior to that, he spent six years at Eustace, with the final four of those as the head football coach. Ragle is a 2001 graduate of Canton High School, and gets the opportunity to return to his alma mater for the first time in 21 years.

“I would say it’s a lifelong dream [coming back to Canton], from growing up here and playing here, you feel like you are part of the community forever. I love the kids, I love the people, and I know everybody, so to come back and help serve the people and community I love is pretty awesome,” said Ragle.

Ragle’s first taste of regular season action in Canton just so happens to be in Mineola against his former colleagues, on Friday, Aug. 26.

“Man, it’ll be different being in the visitors’ locker room because I’ve spent nine-and-a-half years total of my career in Mineola,” Ragle recalled. “Some of my best friends are on that staff, and I keep in contact with plenty of people over there. I’m sure it will be extra competitive for both sides, so it should be a fun night.”

As mentioned, the most daunting challenge Ragle and his staff face is figuring out how to replace the depth lost from last year’s squad. In total, the Eagles graduated 15 seniors who either started or received consistent playing time. They lost three more underclassmen who moved to other schools over the summer.

“I think we’ll experience a learning curve for sure,” noted Ragle. ”We are projecting to return just five starters total from last year’s team. So, it will be a learning experience early on, but that’s what we’ve been working on in practice so far, and that’s what we’ll continue to work on in our non-district schedule. Our goal is to improve week-in and week-out to give us some stability before district starts.”

However, Coach Ragle also inherits a sturdy crutch to lean on in seniors Chantson Prox and Kameron Shaw, both of whom have been regular varsity starters since their sophomore campaign in 2020.

“Prox and Shaw are the nucleus of making everything go. Both are explosive players, as well as leaders for us. Our main concern is keeping them healthy in the pre-season and getting to game one with our guys ready,” emphasized Ragle.

Ragle, like any first-year head coach, is focused on implementing the system he envisions for the future of the program. This includes an offensive and defensive scheme that may look like Eagles’ schemes of the past.

“I would say that our system is still a work in progress, anytime you’re adding a new system it will be,” Coach Ragle continued. “We were definitely able to add some stuff this summer, but I’ve seen substantial growth since the first day of practice on Aug. 1. Day in and day out, I believe we are improving and starting to understand all of our concepts.”

“Our offense will look fairly similar to what Canton has run in the past, under guys like Coach Angel or Coach Kinne.”

Ragle emphasized his desire to transform the Eagles’ offensive focus from what fans have seen in the past few years. Coach Gary Joe Kinne and Coach Lance Angel managed the helm for the Eagles from 2002-2009. This was the most successful stretch Canton football has enjoyed in its history, as it included eight-consecutive winning seasons and multiple deep playoff runs.

“You’ll see us running some spread – we want to sling it around a lot and mix in some ground game when we need it. Expect a lot of up-tempo sets. I want to play a fast, exciting style of offense.”

While surveying the offense for 2022, the most important piece is, of course, the quarterback. After graduating last year’s signal caller, Jason Brisbois, many fans are wondering who might be under center for the Eagles in Mineola in week one.

“We like what our room looks like. Right now, we have Nathan Parker, who is just a sophomore. He has a huge arm and is a hard worker. We have Brayden Norrell, who got some varsity looks last season. He’s a tough, hardnosed kid who I’ve seen improve a lot in the last two weeks,” Ragle noted. “I think we’ll end up making our final decision on the week one starter after the scrimmages wrap up. We know that Parker will get the start in our first scrimmage, and we’ll see how it goes from there.”

The Eagles will open the season on Aug. 26 in Mineola at 7:30 p.m. They will kick off district play in Center on Sept. 23 and end the regular season at home against Rusk on Nov. 4, which will also be the Eagles’ Senior Night.

“I’m competitive. I’ve mentioned my thoughts about the learning curve we’ll face but I want to win. Whether we’re young or not, I want to win as much as we can. I want to see the kids buy into the culture but experience success as well.”

“We like flying under the radar, and we’re here to play spoiler,” Coach Ragle uttered. “We’re here to win games.”