WASHINGTON (WUSA9) -- Pride, Capitol Hill, and Eastern High football are three words that fit if you know your district sports. Sitting in the shadows of RFK Stadium is a place known for gridiron greatness. Just ask former player Robert Richards.
"They had some great teams in the last 50's and early 60's," Richards said. "The joke in the neighborhood at the time was the Eastern Ramblers could beat the Redskins."
Richards might have been exaggerating slightly, but the school's large trophy room certainly drives home the point. The Eastern Ramblers were once a dominant program that often played in D.C.'s annual City Championship.
More recently the school has gone through tough times. For example, the school once went through 11 different principals in ten years. Moreover in 2011, city administrators phased out the student body and started over with only 9th graders.
"I was the interim coach at the time and we only won one game that year [2011]," Ronald Saunders said. "The only reason we won that game was because of a forfeit, and some of the kids who were in the 9th grade didn't even know how to put a helmet on."
Jason Strickland has led a drumbeat of change. Last season, the 4th year head coach led the school to as many wins, nine, as in had the previous decade combined.
"That first and second year it would really hurt the kids spirits on some of the beatings that we took," Strickland said. "Now we're on the other side of those beatings"
Case and point, last year's lower division championship that completed the long journey back from ground zero.
"I feel like we can accomplish anything winning that championship," senior wide receiver Traveon Battle said. "It just gave us so much motivation for our whole team."
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