Preseason blitz: Peyton Houston leads Evangel into senior season

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — The expectations are high at Evangel Christian Academy. After a 9-3 season and a second round playoff loss to Edna Karr, the Eagles are using the lessons they learned and turning it into motivation.

“These kids learned the important lesson that when you go into the big game, you've got to focus and you cannot make those mistakes that early,” head coach Denny Duron said.

“Since this is my senior year, there’s a little bit more behind it, I got to end my year strong. So, always have a little bit more motivation to get better,” senior quarterback Peyton Houston said.

At the center of it all is senior quarterback Peyton 'Pop' Houston.

Last season, the four-star LSU commit accounted for more than 4,700 yards of total offense and 54 touchdowns, including 42 through the air and another 12 on the ground.

“Control of the offense, just being in the playbook for three years now, so just learning that more and more and then getting complete control of offense, being able to check out of things to make the situation better,” Houston said.

Houston is going to have to do it without his top three receivers from a year ago.

“I'm not going to tell you we're not going to miss those guys because they were really great players, but we have had an opportunity to be pretty deep at that position and as I was just counting up potential starters last week, I think I came up with 15 guys that are capable of starting on this team right now,” Duron said.

“Picking up right where it left off, you know, those guys were with me my freshman year coming out here working out before games when the older guys are playing. So the relationship, the chemistry is still there,” Houston said.

Defensively the Eagles have depth, led by linebacker Bennett Speer who totaled 160 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and 3 sacks in 2025.

“We're not as big, we're quicker, you know, we're faster, maybe across the board stronger, and we're deeper. So, we probably have seven guys that could start at those three down positions, and they'll all play. We're going to roll them in and roll them out," Duron said.

Evangel opens the season on the road against the West Monroe Rebels. Kick-off is set for Friday, September 4 at 7 pm.