LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- DuPont Manual football is starting year two under head coach Keith Eckloff. Year one under the former Seneca head coach and Male assistant coach was by most measures a rousing success.

Manual finished with a 10-2 record which included a second-straight win over St. Xavier, just the third win over the Tigers in 30 years and the first win in more than a decade against long-time rival, Male.

The downside was a 28-21 loss at home to Great Crossing in round two of the 6A playoffs. 

"It definitely ended sooner than we had hoped," said senior linebacker Devin Allen. "Being number one in the RPI, we expected to go a lot farther but came up a little bit short."

"Anything can happen in the playoffs, and we came up against a team that was having a good night," said Eckloff. "And we made uncharacteristic bad plays that we didn't make throughout the course of the season and that's gonna get you beat."

There is talent returning for this season, including eight starters on offense, and the Crimsons will play in a refurbished home. Manual Stadium, in its 101st year, is getting a makeover although it's a little behind schedule.

"New turf field, new scoreboard going in and lots of renovations to the facilities to kind of bring it up to par," said Eckloff. "So we feel real good about that and hopefully it's sooner rather than later."

This year's players are just as excited to be the first to play on the new turf.

"I can't wait 'til it's done," said senior running back Gerian Traynor. "Unfortunately our first two games are going to have to be at Moore and another location but can't wait for that season and homecoming to open up the stadium."

"Definitely looking forward to being the first one," said Allen. "It's always cool to be the first at Manual. It's not a lot of people can say they were the first to do something here."

The Crimsons have another challenging schedule starting with what has become their annual season opener against Central. That game will be played at Moore High School while work continues at Manual Stadium. 

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