The Crusaders plan to end the regular season with a five-game winning streak as they tackle the Jesuit Blue Jays tonight at 7p.m. at Tad Gormley Stadium. Brother Martin is the visiting team (east side).
The exciting come-from-behind victory over Rummel two weeks ago showed “what our football team can do,” says Coach Mark Bonis. “We came together and showed resolve when we needed to in all three phases – offense, defense, and special teams. We were peaking at the time we thought we’d be during the season.”
But he was disappointed in the way his squad played in the 41-7 victory over Archbishop Shaw last Saturday. “Our goal every week is to play the best football possible. It wasn’t pretty in all three phases. We’ve been really hard on our kids this week, pushing the issue that we’re better than we showed last week. At the end of the day, no matter the score, if we’ve battled 100% in all three phases and done our best, that’s all I care about. If we do that on a consistent basis, we’ll win a lot of football games.”
Mark believes that Jesuit’s 2-7 record is not indicative of the type of team they are. “They play really hard on offense, and they’re really good defensively – solid up front and sound on the back end. Offensively, we’ve been very inconsistent. We have to bring our A game Friday night against that defense.”
Bonis said, “It’s a big football game because it’s the next one.” Each side will be fighting to send its seniors out on a winning note before the playoffs begin next week.
And there’s the question of positioning for the post-season. “I don’t look at the playoff brackets,” says Bonis, “but I’m told a victory will give us one of our higher seeds in a while.”
