Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy is unique in many ways, yet the school's football program has made many strides in its 13 years of existence.

Three years ago Eric Taylor took over the team and is now charged with helping take it to the next level.

Through two seasons he's watched his teams go 18-4, leaving plenty of optimism for the future.

We caught up with the Eagles' head man to talk about the upcoming season, small-school football and his experience as a head coach:

Q: Entering your third season at the school, how do you rate the progress has made?

A: I was very fortunate to take step into a thriving program two seasons ago. Coach Gims and his staff ran a first class program and won a lot of football games. I believe we have continued the excellence that Coach Hern began when starting the football program in 1997. Finishing 11-1 in 2008 was a tremendous achievement by our players. We finished 7-3 last year and lost to some very good teams, all of which qualified for the playoffs. I feel that the disappointment of not qualifying to the playoffs has motivated our program to work even harder in the off season.

Q: You graduated a very talented 2010 class. What players will you look to for leadership entering this season?

A: We did graduate a very talented class, but we are looking forward to the young men that will be stepping up this season. We have worked very hard to develop great leaders on and off the field. We have some very strong leaders in the incoming senior class. We have an All-District player returning in Jamie Stagnaro at defensive back and wide receiver. We also expect quarterback Nick Lawley, running back Didi Charles, defensive end/linebacker Ben Daniel, linebacker Blake Avery, defensive back/linebacker Tim Overstreet and defensive back/wide receiver Jeff Stagnaro to have great seasons. There are many other seniors and juniors that will make a tremendous impact on our team.

Q: The Miami Valley Conference often gets overshadowed in the Tri-state area in terms of coverage. What would you tell the rest of the area about that makes the conference/special unique?

A: We are very fortunate to have great high school football in Cincinnati. The tri-state area boasts itself as one of the very best areas in the entire country. With that being said there are many conference that may feel overlooked. The truth is we focus on what happens on whatever field we play on every Friday night. We can't control perceptions about the MVC or small school football. We feel that we have a great conference for division IV-VI teams. Two years ago we had four of our eight teams in the playoffs. Last year we had two teams qualify. There are tremendous teams and coaches in our conference. Just look at the coaches that have had some great success in our conference. Both Ben Hubbard and Steve Sheehan have won State Championships in their career. Ken Minor, Bruce Baarendse and Tim Dunn have both had some very impressive teams that have made deep playoff runs. We have had many D1 players recruited from our conference. At the end of the day with the teams and staffs we face in the MVC we have to be well prepared each week.

Q: What about coaching motivates you to continue down your path?

A: There are two things that really drive me to coach. First being the ability to work with and have an impact on kids every day. I enjoy the day-to-day interaction and mentoring that I am able to do. Also, it's watching a young man grow as a student, man, Christian, teammate and as a football player. There is nothing more inspiring than seeing a player achieve their dreams whether it is on the football field, or more importantly in life. I've been very fortunate to work with outstanding young men that have gone to achieve many great things in life. Just being a small part of that gives me satisfaction.

Q: What do you consider to be the greatest challenge in today's era of high school football?

A: I find the greatest challenges today being the number of students athletes that are trying to "specialize" in one sport in efforts to earn an athletic scholarship. The truth is only a very small percentage of all high school athletes are fortunate enough to earn an athletic scholarship. I feel many student athletes are missing out on many great memories and opportunities chasing something that may never happen. I think students athletes should live life, work extremely hard, participate in multiple activities and enjoy the gifts God has given them.

Q: Who has impacted you most as a head coach?

A: Two people have impacted me as a coach, the first being my father. He spent countless hours motivating me and coaching me when I was young. He used athletics to help mold me into the person I am today. He taught me that hard work and determination will place you into position to have choices in life. As a coach, he has always been a part of my program assisting in any way needed. The other man who impacted me is the late Coach Bill Hoffeld. I played for Coach Hoffeld at Deer Park High School and had the pleasure of coaching alongside Coach Hoffeld at Indian Hill nearly 10 years ago. Coach Hoffeld dedicated over 50 years of his life to coaching high school football. I try to model the things that I learned from Coach Hoffeld as a player and as a coach.