Getting defensive

There is an old adage in football that says “Defense wins championships”.
If that is the case, then the Sacred Heart Trojans should be in tremendous shape the rest of the season and into the playoffs.
In four games this season, the Trojans have surrendered a miniscule 29 total points. That averages out to about one touchdown per game.
Because of that defense, Sacred Heart finds themselves at 3-1 on the season and will need a continued solid effort tomorrow night at they head to New Roads to take on the Catholic of Pointe Coupee Hornets in the their first district contest of the year. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
“Our defense is playing lights out right now,” stated Sacred Heart head coach Josh Harper. “It’s funny, but last year it was our offense that came out and scored tons of points and the defense was not as productive. This year it’s the reverse, our defense is overachieving, and the offense is struggling.”
Just to understand how anemic the offense has been this season, the Trojans have produced only 45 total points, with 20 of those coming in the first game. The last two contests, Sacred Heart has scored only one total touchdown; that coming in last week’s 9-6 win over Menard.
“We made some changes last week to the offense that I am beginning to like,” said Harper. “We weren’t successful this past week because of the mistakes we made and the field was very sloppy. We just have not found our offensive identity yet. It just seems that we should not have to be tinkering with our offense in week five.”
Tomorrow night the Trojans will continue through the gauntlet that is the first six games of the season as they battle the Hornets.
Catholic comes in with an overall record of 3-1 and a district record of 1-1. The Hornets are really talented on offense, especially up front, averaging 38.4 points per game. Catholic’s only blemish was a 57-54 shoot out loss to Ascension Episcopal. The Hornets defeated Slaughter Community Charter 36-32 this past Friday.
“Catholic lost some good players off of last year’s team, but they are still a solid ball club,” commented Harper. “They get after you up front and play hard the entire game. They run a flex-bone set, but block it like the Wing-T. Defensively, they are sound. It is going to be another war.”
One area that may prove to be the difference in the game is special teams play. So far this season, the Trojans have made things happen in that phase of the game, blocking three kicks against Basile and another this past Friday against Menard that led to a safety.
“Our special teams have really stepped up this year,” said Harper. “It’s good when one third of the game is getting you points and making plays.”