The Oak Hall Eagles football team had another successful season, finishing 7-2 and advancing to the SSAA playoffs. It was the ninth straight winning season and playoff appearance for the Eagles.

But late in June, head coach R.J. Fuhr stepped down after six seasons and a 42-13 overall record to take the offensive coordinator job at Union County.

Oak Hall named assistant coach Randy Brower the interim head coach for the 2024 season, with a national search for a new head coach for 2025.

Nine players return on offense and six on defense for the Eagles.

Brower brings back a team led by his son, senior quarterback/defensive back Dakota Brower. Dakota rushed for 10 yards per carry in 2023 and scored 10 touchdowns on the ground and threw for 1,215 yards and 12 scores with only three interceptions for Oak Hall. Included in those number were 70 points against Seven Rivers Christian (Lecanto) and 74 points against Eagle’s View (Jacksonville). He also had 22 tackles and a sack on defense along with three interceptions.

Dakota Brower has offers from Air Force, Navy, and Bryant.

Randy talked about how he became head coach at the North Central Florida Media Day.

“Coach Fuhr leaving Oak Hall was pretty sudden and surprised a lot of us,” said Randy. “He called me and told me he was leaving and asked if I wanted to become head coach. I had about 30 seconds to decide. Coach Fuhr also wanted to spend more time with his family and being a head coach is a time-consuming job. The (Union County job) will be good for him and his family.”

Dakota finished second on the team in rushing last season behind now-senior Briggs Copeland. Copeland returns after rushing for 577 yards, a 10.9 average and 10 touchdowns and led the Eagles in receiving with 15 catches for 392 yards and three more scores.

“We have about 23 to 25 guys coming back from last year,” Randy said. “We are going to have a lot of speed and a lot of guys playing who ran track, so we will be faster this season.”

Another senior returning is strong safety/wide receiver/tight end Daniel Grow. Grow caught 13 balls for 263 yards and two touchdowns and added 25 tackles on defense.

Junior defensive back/wide receiver Aaron Akins returns after a 2023 season in which he caught six passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns. Akins may be asked to replace the graduated Abram Jerkins, who ran for 447 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2023.

“Among the guys returning we have our all-state leading running back Briggs Copeland,” Randy said. “We have our high jumper Daniel Grow, our junior Aaron Akins, and Dakota Brower. All are very fast.”

“We have a lot more speed than we ever had before, and I think we need to take advantage of that speed,” Randy said. “Our offensive linemen are smaller but also faster so we will see if we can take advantage of that speed,”

A year ago, Oak Hall outscored their opponents 350-75 in the first seven games of the regular season, beating Seven Rivers Christian, 70-14, St. Joseph Academy (St. Augustine), 43-0, Bronson, 57-6, Eagle’s View (Jacksonville), 74-32, and Harvest Community (Jacksonville), 52-7. Unfortunately, it didn’t help Oak Hall at the end of the season, losing 48-22 to Master’s Academy (Oviedo) and then their season ended with a 42-36 loss in the opening round of the playoffs to the same team.

“Blowing teams out doesn’t get you ready for the postseason,” Randy said. “We put together a harder schedule this year and hope that will serve us better as we get ready for the playoffs.”

Oak Hall plays a few 1A teams on their schedule in 2024. The Eagles open with back-to-back road games at Bell and Branford, and then have three straight home games against Bishop Snyder (Jacksonville), Master’s Academy, and Mount Dora Christian Academy.

Two of the next three games are on the road, as the Eagles play at Eagle’s View and at P.K. Yonge and host Interlachen in between. Oak Hall hopes to follow up its 20-8 win over the Blue Wave a year ago with their second straight win over their rivals. Finally, the Eagles close with a home game against St. Joseph Academy and a road contest at Lake Weir (Ocala).

“You don’t get a lot out of taking your guys out at halftime because a game isn’t competitive,” Randy said. “The guys then get pretty tired when they have to play a full game. I remember back in the ‘90s, Santa Fe would go 7-3 and win state titles because of their schedule. We hope that will be similar for us this year.”