The schedule isn’t doing Sacred Heart any favors right now. Friday marks the fifth straight game where the opponent will be a bigger school, and to make matter worse, the Crusaders are reeling from injuries.
It’s the same schedule as last year, just the home games are flipped, but it was set up better for the experienced team they had in 2017.
“Last year, we weren’t as young and we competed with those (teams), but this year we’re a little bit young and now we’re beat up,” Sacred Heart coach Lonny Schraeder said. “It’s tough right now, but that’s life. You have to bow up and keep fighting.”
The left side of the offensive line – guard Tyson Charles and tackle Ethan Mooney – missed last week, and on top of a ninth grader playing right tackle, it made for a very inexperienced offensive line against North Forrest last week.
But, there’s only going up from here, Schraeder added. When it comes to gaining experience, there’s really only one thing a team can do in practice each week.
“You just do what you do,” he said. “You work the little things. Football is simple. It’s blocking and tackling and that’s what you work on. Teach those young guys, let them see their mistakes and let them get better.”
Sacred Heart and this week’s opponent, St. Patrick, played an exciting game a season ago, but the Fighting Irish appear to be a better team in 2018. They pitched a 40-0 shutout win over Snook Christian Academy (Foley, Alabama) and won a close contest with Mount Olive – a region opponent for Sacred Heart. St. Patrick’s first loss came last week to Pope John Paul II (Slidell, Louisiana), and the team was off for Week 2.
As a team, the Fighting Irish have rushed for 435 yards and six touchdowns through three games, and Schraeder said they run the same offense as they did when the two played last season.
Senior Bricen Rivers has 173 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 36 carries and freshman SrDrick Taylor adds 138 yards and two scores on 14 attempts. Sophomore quarterback Adam Ritter has only completed 10 of his 23 passing attempts with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
Defensively, Pope John Paul II scored a season-high 17 points on St. Patrick, but it held Mount Olive to just six points and put a goose egg board the board against Snook Christian Academy.
The Crusaders’ offense will try to get things rolling this week, as they’re coming off back-to-back games with low offensive production.
“(St. Patrick is) pretty big up front (on defense) and they run to the ball really well,” Schraeder said. “We’re just going to have to do our thing, try to spread them out and see if we can get some people in space.”
