By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The road won’t get any easier for the Sacred Heart football team this week, as the Knights go from facing a formerly state-ranked foe at home, to a currently ranked opponent on the road.
The Knights (1-5), enter this contest fresh off a 30-6 loss at the hands of now 4-2 Wabaunsee and will travel north to take on the #5 team in Class 1A in Smith Center (5-1).
For Sacred Heart, much of the struggle this season has been due to a slew of injuries, as the Knights trot out a different lineup seemingly every week.
This came to a head in the Wabaunsee matchup, as Sacred Heart started just three of its original 11 starters on one side of the ball.
“You need personnel to play together and be on the same page if you’re going to have any success in the passing game,” Knights head coach Norm Jennings said. “If you want to run it well you have to have confidence in your lead blockers. I think they’re doing everything they can do figuring out how to function with different guys lining up to the left and right each week.”
No respite will be given to Sacred Heart this week as the Knights travel to face a Smith Center squad that has flattened three of its last four opponents, winning the other game 16-14 over the aforementioned Chargers.
Much of that success has come on the back of a strong running game, which averages 218 yards a contest on the ground thanks to strong blocking and misdirection.
“Smith Center reloads well every year and they’ve got some new kids but on film they keep getting better each week,” Jennings said. “Offensively you have to play assignment-sound football against them and you have to stay at home, if they do that for the entirety of the game we’ll have a good battle on our hands.”
On the defensive end, Smith Center allows the third-fewest points per game (9.7), and the fourth-fewest yards per game (204) of any other 1A unit.
While an upset win on the road is far from out of reach for the Knights, Sacred Heart will have to take better care of the football to give themselves a chance, as turnovers have plagued the offense all season long.
“We still have more total yards than our opponents this season but we’ve had 19 turnovers to just two forced,” Jennings said. “We realize that those not only change momentum but often result in scores that impact the game as well. We need to keep our passes clean and make sure our exchanges are good and we’ve been working on that.”
Kickoff between the Knights and Red Men is scheduled for 7:00 at Smith Center and as always the game can be streamed with live audio and video on the Salina Post HERE.