The Goshen Eagles return home to take on region newcomer Samson this evening inside Eagle Stadium.

“We are trying to do something that we haven’t done in our last two home appearances and that is get a win,” said Eagles head coach Bart Snyder.

The Eagles (1-1) are looking to end a brief two-game losing streak at home that goes back to last season’s state semifinals when they lost to Leroy. The Eagles lost the season opener to Ariton at home 29-6.

“You don’t ever want to lose at home,” Snyder said. “That is the house you’re supposed to be protecting. We have had trouble doing that in the last two games. We played in the semifinals and then we played one of the top five teams in the state. If you want to be at that level you have to beat teams like that.”

Last Friday night the Eagles took care of business in their region opener when they defeated Zion Chapel 55-6. Despite the lopsided score, Snyder and the coaching staff has focusing on the negatives this week.

“We had way too many penalty yards, you can’t do that. We didn’t execute on certain plays and we weren’t in the shape we should be in,” Snyder said.

Senior running back Caleb Dawson scored a total of five touchdowns, including one on an interception return. For his efforts, Dawson was voted as the Troy Messenger Player of the Week.

“Caleb would be the first to tell you that he is flattered for that and we honored that he has gotten that,” Snyder said. “He would be the first to tell you that this is a team sport and he couldn’t have made the runs without the line.”

This week the Eagles take on a Samson team that has a 2-1 overall record and a 1-0 record in region play after they defeated Calhoun last week 58-0.

Samson has a familiar name at quarterback in Charles Henderson head coach Brad McCoy’s nephew Hayden McCoy.

“They are a very balanced team,” Snyder said. “They like to run the spread at first. He (McCoy) has a really strong arm. Probably the strongest arm we have seen going back to Jacob Free. This kid is very talented we just have to get ready to contain him.”

The two teams haven’t met since the 2011 season when the Eagles knocked off the Tigers 25-20.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.