JACKSON – Bennett Stadium saw playoff action for the first time ever, as Saxony Lutheran hosted their first home playoff game, beating New Madrid County Central 35-0 in the first round of the Class 2 State Tournament.
The 35-0 win was the first shutout of the year for the Crusaders defense.
Head coach OJ Turner said he was impressed with how his team was able to win in such convincing fashion with how injuries have taken their toll this season on the young team.
“With us being beat up, we’ve kind of got to see our team grow maturity wise,” Turner said. “The biggest thing is, when kids get hurt, they end up stepping in and doing their job. I think there’s a lot to be said for that young team, it would be easy to just hang your head, and they haven’t done that. I’m very excited at practice. Our energy is really high in the weight room right now as well, you could see that move over to the football field, especially on Friday. Right now on the defensive side of the ball, they’re fighting for the big plays and they’re all making them.”
Bryce Gaebler led the offense with 79 rushing yards on 10 carries, and three rushing touchdowns. Alan Rudd scored a rushing touchdown as well, and ran for 120 yards on 24 carries.
Turner said the offense didn’t slow down once they had a big lead, which had been a problem in past games.
“When we got going, the kids really learned to not take the breaks off,” he said. “That’s something last year that we did not do a really good job of. We had those up and down games where if we went up we ultimately ended up coming back down so it was really good to see maturity wise that we can keep the pedal to the metal a little bit.”
Next up for the Crusaders will be a trip north to Perryville to take on the 7-2 St. Vincent Indians, who earned a first round bye week. Turner said he expects a step up in competition from the Indians.
“I don’t want to take anything away from New Madrid because they’re definitely a very good team and very well coached, but records are records,” he said. “St. Vincent’s have won a lot of games, they have been able to play with each other and figure out each other really well, so that’s a big challenge for us because you assume with the record, the competition should be better. Also, they get the ball in the air quite a bit. They’re very disciplined. We’re excited to match that. And then ultimately playing a team with just a lot better record and some more tradition on that side.”
The game between Saxony Lutheran and St. Vincent is unique because the Indians and Crusaders cooperate in other sports, with athletes from St. Vincent playing on the Saxony Lutheran soccer and softball teams, Turner said this familiarity should provide for a great fan atmosphere.
“A lot of these kids grew up together and played little league together,” Turner said. “So this would be a very exciting team to play for a lot of my Perryville families and just families that maybe Kind of grew up north and now they’re here at Saxony. So with the collaboration of seeing some of those kids and having a good relationship, I think it’ll bring some energy to both sides. I think it’s going to be a really packed game.”
Kickoff between the Indians and Crusaders from St. Vincent is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday.
