Junior Eagles Prepare for New Season

The passion of Brentwood football is legendary.

And Anthony Harper, the coordinator of the Junior Eagles football program, is one of the dedicated cogs in the big purple machine.

“I’ve been doing this about 19 years,” he said. “I played high school football for Brentwood, so this is one of my passions to be here with the future Brentwood Eagles, and help them get ready to go to the (Edward Jones) Dome again.”

(Follow all the latest Brentwood Eagles news on our new Facebook page that's dedicated to bringing you season updates, scores, highlights and interviews: www.facebook.com/BrentwoodEagles)

As a club sport that's not affiliated with the school district, the Junior Eagles team has been teaching sixth- through eighth-graders football since the 1970s.

“We also teach them school work, teach them hard work, teach them discipline,” coach Kevin McClure said. “We teach them good family values."

McClure played for Brentwood too, where he graduated in 2001. He started coaching not long after that.

All the coaches are volunteers, and many are usually dads with a boy going through the program, but not McClure. He’s there because he loves Brentwood football.

About 30 guys of all shapes and sizes were out on Jim Taylor Field at last Monday, but Harper said about 45 are on the team (some weren't back from vacation yet). They have three weeks of practice before their first game on August 31 at home against Chaminade.

For each game date, the sixth- and seventh-graders play first, and the eighth-graders go next. Sometimes a boy might move between teams, if he's ready, said eighth-grade coach John Sappington. This year, there’s even a fifth-grader that will play with the younger team.

Their game schedule includes Chaminade, MICDS, SLUH, Westminster, Priory, Affton and Vianney. They’re not connected with , but are given the high school field to use “under the lights on Wednesday nights” for home games, Sappington said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

(Follow contributor Doug Miner on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DHMPhoto and editor Ryan Martin at www.twitter.com/MBPatch)

Because of all the schools they play, the boys are looked at by a lot of different coaches, and sometimes end up going somewhere besides Brentwood. These boys, for now, though, bleed purple.

Eighth-grader nose guard Demetrius Grace is in his second year on the team.

“Brentwood - it’s my team, I love this school,” he said. Grace said they hope to go undefeated this year. They were 9-3 last year.

Brentwood resident John Riese brought his sixth-grade son, Jack, to his first real practice. Jack had played only in backyards before this, but called himself a pretty good running back. He said he “can drag people a long ways.”

Coach Sappington fit Jack for a helmet and shoulder pads, and liked what he saw, right down to the crew-cut.

“You’re put together right,” Sappington said. “I like it, pre-scarred and everything.”

A mark on the side of the no-nonsense looking boy’s face indicated that this was a guy who is means business. Heads up, Maplewood.