By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
Week six will feature a critical matchup for a pair of 1A squads looking to turn things around as the Sacred Heart Knights (1-5) play host to the Wabaunsee Chargers (3-2).
For the Knights, this game represents an opportunity to prove that they can go toe to toe with a real contender, while the Chargers seek to solidify themselves as one of 1As best.
Both coaches have given glowing reviews about one another, and there will be a great deal of respect between the two sides come kickoff on Friday.
“This is another team with a coach that I greatly respect,” Knights head coach Norm Jennings said. He’s spent many years building this program to where it’s at right now and he’s got buy-in from the community and a great coaching staff. They’ve done very well against teams who pass the ball a lot and they’re very talented all over the field.”
On the other side of the matchup, Wabaunsee has seen through Sacred Heart’s record, and will be preparing for a real battle when the two clash at 7:00.
“Sacred Heart is not a 1-4 team,” Charger head coach Jess Rutledge said. “Cameron Cleveland is a big body who runs hard, Bogart is a big-time runner and Matteucci is a playmaker. You can’t lose sight of him and we remember from last year that kid could work his way out of a phone booth.”
In order to collect their second-straight win and move to 4-2, Wabaunsee will need to have all of it’s salvos firing in sync throughout the course of this matchup.
“We have to get both facets of our offense going,” Rutledge said. We’ve had games where the pass or the run is on but when we’re clicking on all cylinders we have a very dangerous offense and we’ll need to because Sacred Heart really flies around on defense.”
Meanwhile, for the Knights to pull off the upset, they will have to find a way to slow the 5th-best scoring offense in Class 1A (40.8 PPG), and ensure that they take better care of the football after a four-turnover outing.
“Offensively Wabaunsee isn’t afraid to throw it on you and they have a great ground-and-pound game,” Jennings said. “In many ways they play a similar style to us on both sides of the ball, and we can’t turn the ball over against a team like Wabaunsee.”
Kickoff between the Knights and Chargers is set for 7:00 on the campus of Kansas Wesleyan and the game will be streamed on the Salina Post with live audio and video HERE.