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Wayne County to host Christian Academy of Louisville in opening round of 2A state playoffs Shannon Hutchinson Sports Writer The Wayne County Cardinals will host Christian Academy of Louisville this Friday night at Jewell Field in the opening round of the Class 2A state playoffs. The Cards enter the match-up with a 6-4 record, while CAL owns a 5-5 mark. The contest marks the first ever meeting between the two schools. Christian Academy-Louisville, under the direction of first year head coach Dennis Stafford, responded to their first season of Class 2A football with a 5-5 overall mark and 4-3 district record. The record was good enough to claim the district's #3 seed. The school, making its sixth straight playoff appearance, compiled a 31-16 record the past four years in Class A and has quickly gained respect across the state. "Christian Academy has a nice program and watching them on tape they're a fundamentally sound football team. They also have a lot of post-season experience, so we have to be ready and at our best," said Wayne County head coach Shawn Thompson. CAL bases their offense out of a split-back set and averages 19.1 points per game. The unit will face a Wayne County defense that allows just under 29 points per contest. "Christian Academy has a very good offensive line and I think that's the strength of their unit. They really come off the football well and they also have a good set of skill kids. They have a solid running game and use a lot of counter action," said Thompson. Wayne County, which averages 24.2 points per game, will face a CAL defense that bases out of a 40-look. The Academy allows a very stingy 17 points per outing. "They have one of the best linebackers I've seen on tape all year; he really leads their team. Offensively we want to have to establish the run. They also have nice size on the line," said Thompson. Wayne County is coming off a season high 453 yards of offense, in last week's 42-14 win over Casey County. The Cards rushed 41 times for 344 yards, paced by the 181 rushing yards of senior quarterback Ryan Steele. Sophomore halfback Brent Gregory added 105 yards, on 13 attempts, as the Cards had two players reach the 100 yard mark. "We want to control the clock this week and that all starts with a strong running game. A big key in this game will be which team controls the line of scrimmage and sets tempo," said Thompson. Wayne County has mixed the run with the pass pretty well all season and the stats support that. The Cards average 181 rushing yards and 117 passing yards for a 298 total yard season average. What must the Cards do to claim only the program's second ever playoff game? "Build on our effort the last two weeks. The district part of our schedule we've done a good job on minimizing penalty yards and turnovers, so both of those areas will be big. I also think we have to be solid on special teams and not lose the battle of field-position," said Thompson. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday night at Jewell Field. The contest marks only the second ever home playoff in Wayne County's 37 year history. "Hopefully we'll have a big, loud supportive crowd out this Friday night. This is certainly a very winnable game for our team and this is a huge week for out football program. The weather is supposed to be really nice, so we're hoping for our biggest crowd of the season against a good football team from Louisville. We invite everyone out," said Thompson. Add a comment |
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