Share on LinkedIn

LINDALE, Texas (KLTV) - The Lindale Eagles linemen competed in the lineman challenge state meet in Abilene and brought home first place in the 4A division.

Lindale Eagles win the 4A state championship at the lineman challenge(Lindale Football)

Offensive line coach for the Eagles, Jacob Alford, joined East Texas Now on Monday to talk about winning a championship.

“The last couple of years we’ve been close. We finished top five, top ten both years,” Alford said. “This year man we were fortunate enough to go and get the job done.

The meet had teams from all over Texas and athletes from all classifications.

“I think there was 68 teams and over 700 kids for this lineman challenge,” said Alford.

Teams competed in qualifying meets to determine who went to state. Lindale hosted a meet earlier this year and took two of the three spots available.

“We actually ended up taking two teams to state in Abilene because our JV qualified as well,” Alford said.

The JV team competed in the 3A division and finished in 10th place.

Coach Alford’s motto for his linemen is “compEAT”.

“We talk about compete and if you notice, I spell it weird, it’s e-a-t at the end and that stands for effort, attitude and toughness,” said Alford. “I’m a big believer that anybody can be a good high school football player if you display those three attributes.”