 The Pike Central Hawks are coming off a five and seven 2016 season and a first round win in the triple A playoffs. Eric Ratliff squad looks to take the next step toward contending status. We take you to Buckleys Creek in the huddle with the Hawks. Pike Central football team is in its second year with big coach Eric Ratliff. Last year the Hawks held a record of five and seven but this off season they have addressed the issues of last year. The team is looking for improvements this year and are ready to get the 2017 season underway. You know we hope to be better of course but I think that we've had a good year in the weight room, some kids that we didn't know have stepped up and I think that those unknown guys have got a lot to prove. And then offensive line wise I think that's a big deal. You win with offensive defensive lines and that's our thing that we're trying to improve the most right now is offensively staying on blocks and then defensively getting off blocks and making tackles. We're switching from a passing team back to a running team so it's a big change. Can you play quarterback right? Yes. So what does that mean for you as a quarterback? Coach doesn't want to get a lot of carries this year so it'll be alright. It's really looking up I think because like I said though off season this year we've really got closer and switching to the running game I know as a receiver that's different for me but I think that can really help us with we have some downhill blockers this year and really be able to move the ball this year on some teams. Having an unfamiliar schedule has both its perks and its downfalls but the Hawks are hopeful to come out with a winning season this year with most of their difficult games being played at home. Hopefully we'll be a little better our schedule is not as difficult I think as it was last year we got some of our most difficult games at home so you know we're looking to improve a little bit day by day week by week and just hopefully be ready and be at our best during the playoffs. As a team I really obviously want to have a winning record and there's not really one game that I really want to win this year but we have a lot of new teams on our schedule this year so a lot that we don't really know what's coming at us until we get some film on them but we got to make sure that we're ready for every game game by game. For sure they'll have a winning record this year make it to the region championship and see what we can do in the playoffs. New games like Hurley we're not playing pop ball this year that's pretty new show up and have a good time go Hawks. Reporting in Pikeville for EKB Sports I'm Logan Sales.