Crusaders ready to host Mathews to open season
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STEUBENVILLE -- Saturday night will be a special one inside Harding Stadium.
Eric Meek makes his debut as the head coach of Catholic Central when his team takes on Mathews at 7 p.m. on Reno Saccoccia Field.
"Things have been going excellent," Meek said. "We have great kids. They have done everything we have asked. They have had to learn a new offense, defense and special teams system.
"Last week, I was pleased with how physical we were. We came out and hit. The kids hustled. We are looking forward to Saturday night."
The Crusaders turned their attention to the Mustangs following their last scrimmage.
"We scrimmaged (Aug. 12), and we gave the kids the weekend off," Meek said. "The coaches met. Yesterday (Monday) we put in a good game plan. We have started getting ready for Saturday."
Mathews is coached by Bill Bohren. Bohren, who is 88, coached at Big Red from 1975-77. Bohren, who has 301 career victories, compiled a 14-15-1 record at Big Red.
"I have known coach Bohren for many, many years," Meek said. "He coached against my dad. He was at Boardman and my dad was Cardinal Mooney. I was a young graduate assistant. I was really impressed by coach Bohren. Coach Bohren is a classy guy. It is great to have the opportunity to go up against him in first game as head coach of the Crusaders."
The Mustangs went 6-4 last season, and they lost in playoffs to Dalton. Mathews had a four-game winning streak during the season.
Mathews opened last season by defeating Catholic Central, 6-0, at home.
"They have excellent speed," Meek said. "That is a concern for us. They have a lot of speed, and if we can't contain it is going to be an uphill battle for us.
"We were physical in our scrimmage, and I was pleased about that.
"Mathews has excellent speed. Dominic Toto is a sophomore, and he is fast. Their wing back is fast. Their fullback is tough."
The Mustangs switched their offense around this season as they now run a Wing-T.
"That is what coach Bohren is known for," Meek said. "They run a 50-slant defense. They are aggressive on defense."
The Crusaders are going to have to take advantage of their opportunities in order to come away with a victory to open the season.
"We need to finish drives," Meek said. "We have to have success moving the ball. We can't have penalties and dropped passes. We can't have turnovers. We have to be able to move the ball. We want to be able to pick up first downs. We want to play tough defense and good special teams. We also have to contain their speed."
Mathews lost to two local teams in the middle of the season last year. First, Edison defeated the Mustangs, 35-18, in Week 4 at home at the Edison Unified Sports Complex before Madonna defeated them, 14-6, the next week at Jimmy Carey Stadium.