Even as the words were coming out of his mouth, Blake Purvis admitted they sounded a little weird.

“The defense showed some improvements from the previous weeks,” he said.

It was an odd thing to say after his Eagles lost 51-0 to Prentiss Christian on Friday night, but not entirely untrue. Prentiss Christian scored two defensive touchdowns and two more on special teams.

It was a familiar refrain for Porters Chapel (0-7), which was shut out for the fourth time this season and has been ravaged by injuries yet still continues to play fairly well on the defensive side of the ball.

Josh Smith had an interception for the Eagles, while Brandon Brister blocked a field goal and led the team with six tackles. Brister was playing his first game of the season after being injured in a car wreck in August.

“We gave up a couple of special teams touchdowns. We’re using young guys everywhere, but especially on special teams,” Purvis said. “We gave up one or two pick-sixes. So defensively, really, was better than the last couple of weeks. We didn’t give up the big plays as bad as the last couple of weeks. We forced them to put together some drives.”

Although the Eagles gave a good effort, they were overmatched by Prentiss Christian (7-0) and the game never was in doubt.

Prentiss Christian drove down the field off the opening kickoff and scored on an 8-yard run by Austin Daughdrill. Following a three-and-out by PCA’s offense, Blake Greenlee threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Sutton to make it 14-0.

Greenlee threw another touchdown pass early in the second quarter, Sutton returned an interception for a TD, and Wade Watkins caught a touchdown pass to make it 33-0 at halftime.

Although the game went against the Eagles from the outset, Purvis did his best to find some silver linings.

“We had a lot of ninth-graders that played tonight, the whole game, and defensively we saw some bright spots in the days ahead,” Purvis said. “There were some positives to bring out of it. But all in all, it was a tough opponent on the road, and we had 12 guys out.”