Three in a row?

The Sacred Heart Trojans look to make it three in a row over rival St. Edmund’s when they host the Blue Jays in a key District 5-1A contest tomorrow night at Soileau-Landry Field.
Game time is set for 7 p.m.
Prior to their last two meetings, St. Ed’s had owned the series, defeating Sacred Heart five out of six times from 2009 to 2014. The two teams did not play in 2015 and 2016.
But, there will be more than pride on the line when the teams hit the field tomorrow night. Up for grabs, a possible home playoff game come November.
As of Monday, Sacred Heart (4-3, 1-1) sat in the No. 9 position of the LHSAA Power Ranking while St. Ed’s (4-3, 1-1) rested in the No. 12 spot.
“Having a home playoff game has been one of our team goals this season,” stated Sacred Heart head coach Josh Harper. “Getting a chance to play in front of your fans in the playoffs makes a big difference. But, in order for that to happen, we control our destiny. We have to continue to win games.”
St. Ed’s head coach James Shiver agrees.
“This game is big for both teams in terms of playoffs and playoff seeding,” said Shiver. “Both of us are looking for that first round home playoff game. Whichever team can come out on top Friday night will take a big step toward making that happen.”
Last week, both the Trojans and the Blue Jays kept their home playoff game hopes alive, as Sacred Heart took down Westminster 34-17 and St. Ed’s blasted by North Central 57-0.
In that Westminster game, the Trojans were forced to rely heavily on their bench players to pick up the win because of the numerous injuries that caused players to be held out or to be limited in their play.
“Against Westminster we had three starters out and four who were dealing with nagging injuries,” commented Harper. “But, I was very proud in the way our younger players stepped up. It was definitely a total team effort. We are going to have to have that tomorrow night again. Right now we are still not sure who will be ready to go and who will not.”
Offensively, Sacred Heart utilized the running back by committee approach, with four players registering carries and positive yardage. Ethan Karonika led the way, rushing for over 80 yards and a touchdown.
Despite the unknown number of players that will be available for Sacred Heart, Shiver knows that the Trojans are a dangerous team that can find ways to win a game.
“Sacred Heart is one of those teams that plays with a lot of heart,” said Shiver. “They run the ball very well and play really good defense. I find that we are very similar in a lot of ways. In a rivalry game like this, you can throw the record books and what you have done up to this point out of the window.”
St. Ed’s is a team that definitely relies on the running game. The Blue Jays have collected over 1,800 yards on the ground so far this season, while only gathering right at 200 yards of passing.
Leading the way for St. Ed’s is Peyton Marcantel. The big running back has over 1,000 yards rushing up to now.
“One thing about St. Ed’s is that they are always physical up front,” stated Harper. “They run a form of the single wing and try to pound their way down the field. When we get the ball on offense, we are going to have to execute, not make any mistakes and dominate the time of possession. It will definitely be a war.”