By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer

PELHAM— The Hope Christian Eagles are 0-3 after losing to Freedom Academy 54-36 on Aug. 28. Although it was one of the roughest games the Eagles have played in about 10 years, coach Tony Nafe is still hopeful about the season.

“We made tremendous progress this week,” Nafe said. “We played a much bigger team. We had a lot of young guys, but we hung with them.”

Nafe said Hope led the first quarter of the game, and its quarterback Colin Kirkpatrick, who is only 15, stepped up to the position. Kirkpatrick had 17 carries for 45 yards, was 9 of 19 for 100 yards and had one interception.

Freedom dominated the second quarter, and although Hope made a comeback in the third and fourth quarters, it was not enough to combat Freedom’s lead.

“If we continue to improve like we did tonight, we can still have a winning season,” Nafe said.

The team only has three returning players — one on offense and two on defense —so Nafe knew this would be a rebuilding year. This game was the best effort from the team so far, according to the coach.

Juan Cuellar was the top rusher of the game with 57 yards and he also led as receiver with 40-yards, along with Chance Washburn’s 60-yards. Senior Ethan Stewart was the leading scorer with two touchdowns and a two-point conversion.

Leading tackles were by Ethan Garrett with 15 and Shane Davis with 13. Nafe said the team rushed a total of 156 yards and passed for 100, which is low for the team as a whole.

Despite its loss, Nafe said the meat of Hope Christian School’s games is still ahead of them. They have yet to play a conference game. Hope’s traditional rivalry game with Evangel in three weeks, and the Eagles are preparing for that game.

“We still have a shot of winning a conference title and that’s still our goal,” Nafe said. “We had a lot of young guys really step up. I was optimistic even after the first loss. Last week was very disappointing. We really are just a little bit of experience away from being 3-0 instead of 0-3.”