Crusaders head north after bouncing back
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ASHTABULA -- After a disappointing showing in Week 2, Eric Meek wanted to see a much better effort from his defense against a high-scoring Zanesville Rosecrans last week.
The veteran coach got his wish.
The Crusaders, after giving up an early score, shut things down and held the Bishops off the board the rest of the way and limited their opponent to less than 100 yards of offense in winning an 8-7, old-school defensive slugfest on the road.
"I was very proud of the kids and proud of the coaches," Meek said. "We played with the spirit and intensity that hustle that I expect from our kids. We went into a tough environment and went through two rain delays and really shut down a fast, speedy Rosecrans offense. They scored early, and after that our defense dominated.
"It was great to see. We were very disappointed the week before. Regardless of the score (in Week 2) I did not feel like we played as hard as Catholic Central kids are used to playing and that was talked about after that ball game. I was very, very pleased to see how they responded."
Jimmy Hernon scored the touchdown for Central and Peyton Rauch's conversion made the one-point difference to lift Central to 2-1. Tommy Pergi set the score up with a big punt return.
This week, the Crusaders are on the road again, but playing Saturday as they head north to test Ashtabula St. John.
The Fighting Herald are 1-2. They dropped a 28-8 decision at Garfield Heights Trinity in Week 1 and a 24-14 setback to Wickliffe in Week 2 before getting in the win column last Friday, topping Beachwood 30-3 on the road.
The Crusaders won last year's meeting 34-7.
"They're a much-improved team, there roster is almost doubled from a year ago," Meek said. "They haven't been blown out and they won last week, they played two schools that are bigger schools than them and were competitive.
"I think it's going be a big challenge and hopefully we take another step forward and come back 3-1. We have to stay focused and treat it as a business trip."
Hernon has scored all six of Central's rushing touchdowns this season and is averaging better than 115 yards per game and 7.4 yards per carry.
Pergi has added 137 rushing yards, an average of 5.7 per carry, and leads the team in receiving with an average of 17.7 yards per catch. Matthew Sprochi has thrown for 136 yards and ran for another 72 through three games.
The Crusaders have ran the ball more than 100 times while throwing it just 34 times so far.
The opening kick at Lakeside Stadium Saturday is set for 1 p.m.