COLUMBIA – The Crusaders have had two weeks to think about their 44-0 loss to Resurrection, and they’re eager to get back on the field this week at East Marion.
Coach Lonny Schraeder said his bunch had a productive off week, too.
“I’m hoping we healed up,” he said. “We were really beat up by the end of the first half of the season. It was pretty rough and it’s not going to get any easier in the second half, but hopefully we got a little bit better these last two weeks.
“Whatever the reasons were, no excuses. We just played bad (against Resurrection). We didn’t hit last week, but we went back and did some fundamentals, which was good. We needed to do that.”
Sacred Heart (3-3, 0-1 in Region 4-1A) will travel to face East Marion (3-3, 1-1) this week, which has one of the most talented running backs in the state in senior Jarveon Howard. Through six games of the season, he’s rushed for 882 yards and 10 touchdowns, as he’s notched two 200-yard games and reached 100 yards in four of the six games.
Schraeder is also worried about dual-threat sophomore quarterback Devin Daniels, who has 357 rushing yards on 46 carries and eight touchdowns. He does have a 97-yard touchdown run under belt, which came in a 143-yard performance against Salem.
He only averages 80 passing yards a game, though.
“Holy mackerel he’s a great athlete and an extremely hard runner,” Schraeder said of Howard. “You have to gang tackle, and the quarterback is pretty dang good, too. You have to try to keep them caged up. You have to stay in your lanes, take your angles and make sure you force them back through the middle where all of your help is. If he hits the sideline, that dude is gone.
“The quarterback will run around back there, then stop and throw it 50 yards down the field, so you have to stay on your receivers and hope you can contain them.”
Until last Friday’s 38-34 loss to Lumberton, the Eagles’ defense had turned the corner from their 0-2 start to the season. In the last four games, the Eagles’ defense allowed 21 points per game, compared to their 27 points per game average for the entire season.
Schraeder said East Marion’s defense is very physical and it gets after an offense every play.
The Sacred Heart offense took a hit recently with the loss of senior running back Campbell Klein due to an injury. He’ll be out for an extended period of time, and it’s unclear how long he will be out. Junior linebacker Garrett Crowder left the Resurrection game, and Schraeder hopes he’ll return this week. Since senior linebacker Hudson Garner is out of the season, the loss of Crowder hurts the position even more.
