STEUBENVILLE — Coaches will often say something along the lines of “we want to be playing our best at the end of the season.”

The Catholic Central football team has certainly taken that to heart.

After going on the road two weeks ago and giving the No. 5 ranked team in the state all it could handle, Central went to Conotton Valley last Friday and scored a season-altering 48-30 victory.

The Crusaders entered the game sitting on the playoff bubble in Division VII, Region 27, sitting in the 12th and final playoff spot. The victory over the Rockets jumped Central up seven spots to fifth place. While it did not clinch a playoff spot, it does give Central the potential to at the least earn a home playoff game and even have an outside shot of getting a first round bye with a victory on senior night Saturday.

“I feel like our kids are really playing a lot better football now, and I’m really proud of the effort and the physicality and just just the desire,” Central head coach Eric Meek said. “It was a big win to go out there and get a huge amount of playoff points. We jumped seven spots in one night in the region and it was a great win. We did really well on defense at times and offensively we started out a little slow, but after the first quarter, we really got it in gear had close to 500 yards and 76 offensive plays.

“We always say that we want to play our best football in October and beyond and the last two weeks we played really good football and I’m proud of the kids and assistant coaches.

“We’ve got one more to take care of, though.”

That one more is Cleveland East Tech, who comes to Harding Stadium with a 3-5 record. The Scarabs are a Division III school, putting a lot more playoff points on the line for Central.

“We’ve got unfinished business and the bottom line is that if we win this game this week, we’re definitely going to have a winning season,” Meek said. “I think back in the summer a lot of people doubted that would even be a possibility because we lost so many kids from last year’s team, but we’ve stayed the course and kept fighting and have grown as a football team. Hopefully we can get this win against Cleveland East Tech and play again the next week at Harding Stadium.

“It’s our senior night and I’m really proud of our seven seniors. They’ve brought a lot to our program and are great kids. Hopefully we can get this win for them and get them another game at home.”

Saturday will be the end of East Tech’s season win or lose. They have been mathematically eliminated in Region 10. It has been a feast or famine season for them. They have scored 36 or more points an allowed zero points in their three wins, but giving up 20 or more and scored six or less in their four losses.

The fifth loss was a forfeit.

“They have tremendous speed,” Meek said. “They have played a quality schedule and the speed is a definite concern. We’ve got to keep everything in front of us. We can’t turn the ball over and we’ve got to be able to move the chains and score points.

“It’s a bigger school and it’s going to be a tough challenge for us.”

Kickoff Saturday is set for 7 p.m.