Crusaders look for 3-0 start against Rosecrans
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STEUBENVILLE -- In order for his Catholic Central football team to become the school's first squad since 2013 to start a season 3-0, coach Eric Meek believes the Crusaders will need to survive a "dogfight" when winless Zanesville Bishop Rosecrans invades Harding Stadium Saturday.
The kick for the fourth all-time meeting between the schools, Central has won the three previous encounters, is set for 7 p.m. In 2022, the Crusaders scored with five seconds remaining to earn an 18-15 victory. The game winning touchdown came on a 13-yard pass from Andrew Dorsey to
Tyler Ialenti. That score was set up by a nifty Tommy Pergi punt return.
"It's going to be a real dogfight," Meek said. "It's not easy to win football games at any level.
It's a real battle -- that's why teams are so excited about winning on game nights. We have to do everything in our power to get to 3-0.
"This is a game that I thought about the entire offseason. Rosecrans is a good football team that
is 0-2. In Week 2, they lost to Reedsville Eastern which is a very good team. They have a lot of
kids back, they are athletic and have good team speed. They are going to be hungry. Going into the season, I felt Rosecrans would be one of our tougher opponents. We need to come out and play great football Saturday."
The Bishops fell in their opener 42-30 to Sciotoville Eastern before dropping a 40-7 decision to Reedsville Eastern. In that game, Rosecrans fell behind 34-0 after the opening quarter.
Eastern outgained Rosecrans 372-150. Senior quarterback Brendan Bernath threw for 98 yards and connected with Coen Grandstaff five times for 42 yards. Eden Lynch had a pair of catches and Michael Dady scored on a 5-yard run.
"They have a lot of kids back," Meek said when discussing the Bishops. "We went down there last year. It was a real battle and we won with five seconds to go. I'm sure they are remembering that. That loss stung and I'm sure they will be looking to pay us back.
"Rosecrans has some size up front. They are fast, athletic and we need to be able to handle that.
We did some things offensively against Strasburg but we did not run block well at times. That concerns me and that's something we have to fix."
Central improved to 2-0 by blanking Strasburg 30-0. Ialenti completed all eight of his passing attempts for 127 yards and three touchdowns. He added 47 yards on the ground and returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown. He connected with Noah Hough for scores from 22 and 28 yards.
In two games, Ialenti has passed for 227 yards.
Central's defense held Strasburg to 73 total yards and picked off four passes. Daniel Bolster booted a 24-yard field goal following a Pergi pick. In two games, the Crusaders have surrendered just six points while scoring 67.
"There are a lot of things I'm happy about," Meek said. "I'm happy we are 2-0, I'm happy we are playing hard and happy that our defense has played extremely well as have our special teams.
"Our passing game was perfect against Strasburg and we won the turnover battle by a margin of four, which is huge. The only down thing I saw from watching film was at times we did not run block well. We're going to focus on that this week. We need to run block a little better against Rosecrans in order to win."
Through two games, Central's defense has forced eight turnovers.
"We are playing hard, playing well and we are physical," Meek said. "We are very pleased about that."
Meek noted a key element for his Crusaders this week is "to get more physical coming off the ball."
"After the Wellsville game, we focused on cleaning up fumbles and we did that," he said. "This week, we have to more physical coming off the ball. In order to be a physical team, you have to have an identity that can run the football. We moved the ball well Saturday at times but I was not pleased with our blocking after looking at the film.
When discussing keys to victory, Meek quickly noted "we have to contain their speed and keep everything in front of us."
"We have to win the turnover battle and perform well on special teams," he continued. "The bottom line is we have to execute."