Sacred Heart faces Delcambre; needs win for playoff shot

Well, it all boils down to this simple fact for Sacred Heart, you have to win to be in. The Trojans are the No. 17 ranked team in the power ratings and must be in the top 16 to get a playoff berth.
Sacred Heart (4-5, 1-5) has not made the playoffs since 2013 when they lost to Ouachita Christian in the first round of the Division IV post-season.
So in order for Sacred Heart to reach their main pre-season goal, they have to travel to Delcambre and defeat the Panthers on their home turf tomorrow night.
Then, they must sit and wait to see what happens in the Division III landscape in week 10 of the season. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
“No doubt we have to take care of our own business tomorrow night and come away with a win,” stated Sacred Heart head coach Josh Harper. “The crazy thing about it is that if we would have done that two weeks ago against West St. Mary, we would not be in this position. But, our goal coming into the season was to be 6-4 and make the playoffs.”
Still, Harper knows that no matter what happens tomorrow night, his team has made some vast improvements from last season.
“Even if we win and do not make the playoffs, I still believe that this team has grown leaps and bounds from last season,” commented Harper. “To go from 2-8 to 5-5 if we can pull this game out tells me that what we have done has not been in vein. It still would be a tremendous accomplishment even without the playoffs.”
In order for Sacred Heart to “take care of business” against Delcambre, the Trojans must secure the same run game that lead them to four wins in a row to start the season. Last week against Catholic of New Iberia, Sacred Heart’s anemic ground game was only able to produce much of anything.
“We have to re-establish the ability to run the football,” said Harper. “It is something that we have not been able to do since week four, even though our passing attack has been semi-successful the last few weeks, we have to control the ball on the ground and put up some points. It is imperative we do that.”
Delcambre’s 1-8 record coming in to tomorrow night’s contest may be a bit misleading. The Panthers have faced some potent teams throughout the season. The combined record for Delcambre’s opponents is 56-32, including Sacred Heart; three of those opponents are undefeated.
Offensively, the Panthers score an average of 14.2 points per game. Delcambre surrenders an average of 47 points per game defensively.
“Delcambre is a traditional Wing-T team,” stated Harper. “They will run the ball and they run it effectively. Defensively, the play a 4-2- 5, which I think plays in our favor if we want to run the ball. I think we have the better team, but we will have to play a clean game. We cannot make costly mistakes that will any momentum we have going.”