Last week, the Fort Dale Eagles rolled out an improved passing game against East Memorial Christian Academy, and that’s a trend head coach Speed Sampley hopes to continue throughout the rest of the season.

“We’re going to keep throwing it,” Sampley said.

One problem the Eagles faced in previous games was opponents stacking the box to stop the run, but the passing game should loosen up the opposing defense.

A concern Sampley had after the EMCA game was that the Eagles’ ground game wasn’t running with much authority, but it seems that issue has been fixed during this week’s practice.

“Our running game is fine, we just spent more time trying to throw it than we did running it last week,” he said.

Running the ball will play a key part of the Eagles’ game plan for Taylor Road this week.

“On offense, we’ve got to pound the ball at them, and keep the ball away from them,” Sampley said. “They’re very athletic, and they run the spread, which can cause a lot of problems because they’ve got a lot of athletes.”

Sampley also said the Eagles will have to focus on stopping Taylor Road’s quarterback.

“He can be tough to corral,” he said.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday night at Taylor Road.