Practices begin for Eagles, Eaglettes

The Canton Eagles and Eaglettes, both playoff qualifiers and bi-district champions in 2015, returned to work Aug. 1 for their first official workouts of the upcoming season. Attendance and enthusiasm was high for both players and coaches, with scrimmages for both programs scheduled for the end of this week and the Canton volleyball program beginning its season next week.

Eagles

The Canton Eagles showed just how resilient they could be during the 2015 season, bouncing back from an 0-3 start to finish 6-6 overall, including a bi-district round title with a 34-27 win over Gladwater in the playoffs.

The Eagles nearly pulled off an even more impressive feat in the Area round of the playoffs, dueling with the Lorena Leopards down to the wire in a 35-28 heartbreaker.

Entering 2016, redistricting helped Canton nearly as much as any team in the county, with the Eagles trading perennial state title contender Gilmer, Bullard, Melissa and Nevada Community for a district that now contains in-county rival Wills Point, Ferris, Dallas Lincoln, Dallas Roosevelt and Emory Rains.

Canton will host its annual intrasquad scrimmage Aug. 6, and then get to test themselves against other programs with scrimmages in Mt. Vernon Aug. 13 and against Kaufman Aug. 18.

The Eagle program will open newly updated Norris Birdwell Stadium Aug. 26 in a showdown with Brownsboro.
Eaglettes

Canton’s program notched more than 30 victories at the varsity level last season, steamrolling their way to a 7-1 district record before upending perennial contender Emory Rains in a five-set thriller in a tie-breaker to claim the top overall seed in District 14-4A.

The Eaglettes swept their way past Athens in the bi-district round before falling in four sets to Texarkana Pleasant Grove in the Area round.

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