Trending
STEUBENVILLE -- Eric Meek knows his Catholic Central Crusaders will face a stiff challenge when they visit the Noble County Fairgrounds Friday for a date with the Caldwell Redskins.
"There is no doubt about it, Caldwell is one of the top tier teams on our schedule," Meek said earlier this week. "It's going to be a very tough game. We are a little short-handed. Some of our guys will really need to step up and play as hard as they can."
Chance Rucker's Redskins opened their season with a 17-6 victory over Buckeye Trail. The game kicked off at 7 p.m. and finished five hours later due to a long weather delay. Caldwell lost just one senior from its 2021 club, which went 6-5 and qualified for the Division VII playoffs.
Friday's meeting will be the second between the schools. Central earned a 35-2 victory in 2019.
The opening kick is set for 7:15 p.m.
"Really whatever they try to do--they do very well," Meek said when assessing the Redskins. "They have a lot of kids backs and their tailback is really, really good. He had a ton of yards last year. Caldwell is a very solid team and is very well-coached.
"We want to get better this week. Our lineup is going to look a little different due to injuries and other issues. There are going to be some guys playing who probably never thought they would be stepping on the field two weeks ago. We just have to go and have to play. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us when we get off the bus. We have to play hard for our school, our team and our pride."
Senior tailback Marshal Sayre, who earned all-Ohio honors as a junior, keys the Caldwell attack.
Against Buckeye Trail, he gained 120 yards on 20 carries. Quarterback Cale Bender added 62 yards on nine trips and scored two touchdowns. Paisley Sidwell booted a 30-yard field goal and was successful on both of her extra point attempts.
Central will be looking to rebound for a 38-7 loss to Mathews in its season opener.
"At times, I think our defense really kept us in the football game," Meek said. "We did a lot of good things defensively. Our coaches had a good plan. Defensively, our goal was to take No. 12 out of the offense. We accomplished that for the most part. When we did that, we kind of dared them to pass and I thought we had a good plan to stop the pass. Unfortunately, we did not execute at times and they hit some big passes on us (Mathews finished the game with 177 passing yards and four touchdowns).
"In all three phases, we played what I call backyard football. You can't do that. You have to play assignment sound football and at times, we did not do that. We had some guys who kind of did their own thing. We have great kids and I want these kids to succeed so that is my fault as a head
coach. Apparently, I did not get them to understand they have to do exactly what we want them to do in a ball game. I think after watching the film with the kids, they realize that is what we have to do moving forward."
Senior quarterback Andrew Dorsey had a solid outing for Central, rushing for 122 yards and a touchdown. He also threw for 66 yards. Junior Tyler Ialenti and sophomore Michael DiCarlo both finished with three receptions to pace the Crusaders.
"I thought our pass protection was good and we had guys open," Meek said. "Unfortunately, we dropped some passes, about five total. If we catch those, there maybe are more points on the board for us and less points on the board for Mathews. Those catches would have allowed us to keep drives going, potentially score more points and keep the Mathews offense off the field."
Central did finish with nearly 200 yards of total offense and had three more first downs than the Mustangs.
"If you watch us play, I feel a weakness we have is our team speed," Meek said. "When you don't have team speed, you have to play really sound football to be successful and do all the little things right. Team speed is something you really can't coach.
"If we weren't physical, that is something we can work out and get our kids more physical and tough. When your team speed is lacking, you need to do everything about perfect. It's really nobody's fault but it's something that affects us in all three phases of the game. We just need to focus on working hard and doing things better."