Brookstone has won 239 games in its history, captured six region championships and has reached the postseason seven times in the last eight years. No wonder Mount Paran Christian coach Mitch Jordan has the Cougars on the schedule.

Hailing from Columbus, Brookstone has seen a lot of success over the past few seasons. So, in an effort to prepare the Eagles for their region matches, Jordan added the Cougars to the schedule to provide his team with a tough road opponent. It remains to be seen whether the long road trip will be worth it when Mount Paran Christian takes on Brookstone tonight at Rex Knight Stadium.

“I felt like it would be good to get on a long road trip and travel early,” Jordan said. “If we’re fortunate enough to get into the playoffs this season and have to go on the road and play somewhere in a different county, then at least the kids will have experienced what that’s like and will be better prepared if it happens.

“I’ve known about Brookstone. They’ve had a great program over the years and they’re a solid team with lots of playoff experience. When I was putting the schedule together, I gave them a call to see if they’d like to play us and it worked out. We have a home-and-home set up where we go to them this year and they see us next season. It will be a good test for us after our struggles against Our Lady of Mercy last week.”

Having lost seven starters on both offense and defense, Mount Paran Christian had a tough time against the Bobcats.

The Eagles could only muster 32 passing yards, but their ground game, led by Kyle Trammell, Douglass Legg and a whole host of other running backs, managed to rush for 150 yards.

Along with seeing a better balance from his team on offense and a stronger defensive effort, Jordan hopes that this week’s practice gets his players more in tune with helping out each area of the game.

“We didn’t play good complementary football last week,” he said. “Special teams allowed Mercy good field position, the offense wasn’t out on the field long enough to give our defense a rest, and the defense wasn’t able to play well enough to stop Mercy. You can’t play sloppy against good teams and expect to win.”

Mount Paran will be facing a Brookstone team that plays from an I-back set, but will also spread the field. Running back Madison McCluskey has good speed and is a powerful runner, while quarterback Duncan Fletcher has a solid arm and good vision.

“They have a very good quarterback and the tailback is one of the best players in Columbus,” Jordan said. “They’re sound on both sides of the football. They run the ball well, have good receivers and their quarterback is a good passer. Brookstone expects to win every game they play.”