LASKER – The Collin Sneed era of Northeast Academy will debut here Friday night.

The Eagles will welcome Arendell Parrott Academy, last year’s defending runner up in the eight-man state football finals, to Lasker Friday at 7:30 p.m.

The defending state runner up will take the field at Northeast with 18 returning players from last year, according to Sneed. He said there’s no reason not to believe the Patriots won’t be a strong team again this season.

&uot;I’m sure they will be good again,&uot; Sneed said. &uot;We want to keep the game close until the fourth quarter and then hopefully we can pull out a win.&uot;

As he looks to the season-opener for the Eagles, the expectations he bring are simple: all out effort.

&uot;I’m looking for good, hard play,&uot; he said. &uot;On every play I want 120 percent, not just 110. I want us to play hard. I can’t ask for anything other than us giving all we’ve got.&uot;

Sneed said his team had been working hard during practice this week and said the team’s training had been &uot;intense&uot; and &uot;vocal.&uot;

&uot;Yesterday (Tuesday), we worked on offense working on an eight-man offense versus an 11-man defense,&uot; he said. &uot;Tonight we will work on defense and try to put together some pieces to the puzzle about why they had so much success against us last year.&uot;

As he looks at the squad, the first-year skipper said they need to improve on blocking and tackling.

&uot;The offensive line is learning, but we have to work on fundamentals,&uot; he said. &uot;We also have to work on putting our head down and driving through when we make tackles. We’re working on that every day.&uot;