×

Crusaders, Wildcats look for elusive third win

RICHMOND — First-year Edison coach Shane O’Brien is hoping his Wildcats can “gain a little momentum” heading into Friday’s game with Steubenville Catholic Central.

Meanwhile, Crusader boss Steve Daley is looking for his charges to rebound from “a poor performance” against Southern Local.

The sixth all-time meeting between the schools (Central holds a 4-1 series lead) is set for a 7 p.m. start at Cartwright Field.

Edison is coming off an emotional 25-24 victory over Toronto. The Wildcats scored the go-ahead touchdown late, then put together a goal line stand to clinch the win.

“I am really happy with where we are,” O’Brien said earlier this week. “We have a couple of wins under our belts and gained some confidence. We’re still trying to take it one step at a time and focus on what is in front of us — right now, that’s Catholic Central.

“I think we’re getting into the tough part of our schedule. Coming off a win against Toronto, I hope we can gain a little momentum. Playing Central should be a good challenge for us.”

The Crusaders dropped their home opener to Southern Local 26-13.

“It was a poor performance all the way around,” Daley said. “We challenged the kids that we, as coaches, are going to reflect on some things and adjust some things. They need to do the same.

“Kids are different than adults. It takes me a little longer to get over things, they tend to bounce back pretty quickly. I’m glad we are playing on Friday. It’s a shorter week, and you have to move forward.”

Both teams are 2-1 and have two common opponents in Southern Local and Toronto. The Wildcats fell to the Indians, 39-13, while Central started with a 35-0 win over the Red Knights.

“We have a lot of rivals on our schedule,” O’Brien said. “We have a lot of teams that our close to us that we play really good matchups with. It is definitely an exciting time.

“I think we are getting better as the season goes on. I think the guys are learning and things are starting to fall into place. Obviously, we still have some things to work on like our defense trying to stop the running game, but I think offensively we are getting better and better.”

Offensively, the Wildcats are averaging 285 yards per outing and 25 points. The defense allows 310 yards and 23 points.

Kaleb Waggoner leads the Edison ground game with 222 yards and five scores. He rushed for 107 yards and three scores against Toronto. Senior quarterback Anthony Sinicropi has rushed for 196 yards and thrown for 336 and three scores. Bryce McAfoose has 11 receptions, Noah Woods seven and Ryan Higgs six.

“Edison is a much- improved team from a year ago,” Daley said. “Sinicropi and Waggoner are both good athletes. You have to account for both of those guys with the different things they do offensively. What we saw out of those guys in the Toronto game, which was a big win for Edison, is once they get to the second level or in open space, they are hard to tackle. They are both shifty kids and, being that we didn’t tackle real well a week ago, that’s a big concern for us.”

“Sinicropi throws the ball pretty well and runs it real well. We’re definitely confident. We didn’t tackle well against Southern Local, and now we’re facing two guys who are able to do the things they can do with the football. That’s definitely something that worries me.”

On offense, Central is averaging 374 yards per contest and 30 points. Senior quarterback Justin Hartzell has compiled 718 yards of total offense (352 rushing and 366 passing). He’s rushed for four touchdowns and thrown for five more. Noah Fayak and Anthony Fallon have seven receptions each to lead the Crusaders.

“Hartzell is a very athletic quarterback,” O’Brien said. “He’s a track guy and is really fast. Containing him is going to be a challenge for us. We are working on fixing some mistakes on defense. That is going to be our biggest challenge this week — trying to contain their offense.

“Offensively, I think we match up pretty well. We are going to try and stick to our ground game and establish the run. We’re going to build off the things we’ve done in the past two weeks.”

Daley said the keys for his Crusaders will be blocking, tackling and taking care of the football.

“In the first two weeks, we did those things better than our opponents,” he said. “Last week, we didn’t and it cost us.

“It’s a different atmosphere out there at Edison. I’m sure they will have a nice crowd. They are sitting at 2-1, and we are 2-1. I know it’s definitely a big game on the schedule for them and, right now, it’s the biggest game on the schedule for us.”

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today