IN THE HUDDLE — Eric Meek will look to have Catholic Central ready to go on senior night Saturday when his Crusaders host Pittsburgh Carrick. - Andrew Grimm

STEUBENVILLE — Suffice it to say, things have not quite gone as planned for Catholic Central the last two weeks.

The good news for veteran coach Eric Meek and company is, despite losses to a pair of playoff bound teams in Wheeling Central and Conotton Valley, the Crusaders are playoff bound and have locked up the right to host at least one playoff game when the postseason starts next week.

“It’s a part of life, ups and downs,” Meek said. “We’ve got great kids and we certainly aren’t happy that we’ve lost two straight games … it was an outstanding small school football game (against Conotton Valley), the score kind of got away from us at the end .. but for three quarters that was a fantastic football game.

“Now we’ve got to regroup.”

Before they can worry about that, however, Central has one more piece of business to take care of in the regular season – welcoming Pittsburgh city league team Carrick to Harding Stadium Saturday night to wrap up the regular season on senior night.

“We know we’re playing beyond Week 10, but this is our senior week,” Meek said. “We always make this week our senior week in practice and with activities and we want to dedicate this week to 10 great young men.

“I’ve had most of these kids since they were sophomores … to me one of the hardest things is when a kid leaves your program as a senior. This group is special and they’ve helped kind of turn the corner here and have had successful careers.”

The Crusaders enter the game sitting fourth in the Division VII, Region 27 computer rating standings. Joe Eitel’s calculations have Central finishing as high as second with a win and no worse than fifth with a victory, while a loss would have them finishing anywhere from third-eighth.

“There is still some seeding to play for, we want to win this game and get to 7-3 and finish as high as we can,” Meek said. “Whenever you come out and compete you want to be successful and compete to the best of your ability and that’s what we’re looking to do.”

The Raiders come to town with a mark of 3-5. They have won three of their last five after an 0-3 start and are coming off a loss to Wheeling Central, the lone common opponent between them and the Crusaders.

Their wins are over Pittsburgh Brashear, Brownsville (Pa.) and Pittsburgh Perry most recently two weeks ago, while their other losses have come at the hands of Carlynton (Pa.), Albert Gallatin (Pa.), Uniontown (Pa.) and Windber (Pa.).

Central won last year’s meeting, 30-0, and has beaten the Raiders each of the last three seasons.

Carrick, a Divison IV school by OHSAA standards, averages 17.4 points per game and allows an average of 27.6. They pass a little more than throw, passing on a little more than 60 percent of its snaps.

They’re led by senior QB Zion Frye, who has thrown for 995 yards and 10 scores with six interceptions. His top targets are Kejuan Johnson (17 catches, 277 yards, five touchdowns), Amari Eleam (16 catches for 250 yards and two scores) and Marcus Fields (16 catches for 218 yards and a score).

Rushing the ball for the Raiders will be Stephon Malloy, a junior with 385 yards, averaging more than seven yards per carry with four touchdowns.

“We got to see them in person last week against Wheeling Central and their quarterback is a fantastic athlete,” Meek said. “He can throw the ball about 60 yards in the air on target, their offense concerns me. We need to come out and really try to keep their passing attack and their speed in front of us. We need to play efficient football offensively and if we can do those things, hopefully we can get back on the right track here with a win.”

Central, of course, uses a much more run-heavy approach on offense. They run the ball on more than 80 percent of their plays, led by senior Jimmy Hernon’s workmanlike 143 carries for 899 yards and 13 touchdowns. Tommy Pergi has 601 yards and five scores rushing and is the team’s leading receiver with 12 catches for 244 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Matthew Sprochi has rushed for 254 yards, and the Crusaders as a team will likely eclipse 2,000 rushing yards for the season on Saturday night with 20 of its 25 offensive scores coming on the ground.

Defensively, Pergi leads the team with 83 tackles and two interceptions, while Noah Hough has three picks and Peyton Rauch has 71 tackles and 17 sacks.

The Crusaders average 23 points and allow an average of 18.6.

Central will also be honoring its 10 seniors – Hernon, Hough, Kolbe Owen, Pergi, Timmy Mihalyo, Peter Liebhaber, Jeremy Orsay, Rusty Mustacchio, Rauch and Camden Bradley.