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STEUBENVILLE -- It's a big week for the Catholic Central football team.
The Crusaders, after four-straight away from home, are finally back at Harding Stadium on Saturday night to host St. Thomas Aquinas, and they're doing so riding momentum off of a big, hard-fought win at Buckeye Local last week.
On top of that, it's homecoming and Hall of Fame week at Central, adding the excitment even more.
"A win always helps things, said Central coach Greg Bahen, whose team is now 2-3 at the halfway mark of the season. "We did some really good stuff in that game, did some silly stuff as well, but it's always good to learn from a win.
"We had some long road trips, and now it's definitely nice just knowing we don't have to worry about traveling, getting on a bus, just all that.
"It's homecoming week, so we should have a good crowd Saturday. And it'll be nice to just be back at Harding Stadium and play in front of our home fans again."
The CCHS Athletic Hall of Fame is inducting this year's class tonight.
"It's a big week at the school," Bahen said. "We'll have a lot of people there, a lot of alumni coming for the Hall of Fame and a lot of people coming to town for homecoming, so it'll be fun."
Aquinas comes to town with an identical 2-3 record.
The Knights and Crusaders have one common opponent in Strasburg, both suffering a loss to the Tigers.
Their wins are over Wellsville, who Central faces later this season, and Akron North, while they have also lost to Tusky Catholic and lat week to Margaretta.
The Knights average 14.6 points per game and allow an average of 25.2.
They are sitting 20th in Division VI, Region 21 and looking to make up ground to get into the playoff picture.
"They have some really good athletes, they have some decent size," Bahen said. "Anytime you play a team like that, you're worried about their speed.
"They have got guys that can make big plays and break big plays at any moment, so we have got to be disciplined on defense and with special teams. We gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown against Buckeye last week, so we're going to clean some of the special teams stuff up because they got guys that are just really good athletes that are scary if we give them the ball and space."
Central is averaging 16 points per game and allowing 21 on average.
The Crusaders also need to stack some wins in the back half of the schedule to make a playoff push, as they sit No. 19 in Division VII, Region 27.
The opening kick to begin four of the next five at home for the Crusaders is set for 7 p.m.