Academy Eagles head to Indy
CULVER - Culver Academy’s Eagles are looking for some answers and heading to Indianapolis for a rivalry game with Brebeuf this Friday night the task isn’t an easy one.
In spite of a tough shutout loss to Hobart a week ago head coach Andy Dorrel still sees signs of turning the corner.
“Despite the outcome and the final score I still feel we did some really good things on the offensive side of the ball,” he said. “Hobart is a really good team. We had a couple of turnovers that we haven’t had in a couple of weeks which limited our opportunity to get on the board and we missed a couple of opportunities. The outcome wasn’t in our favor but I still feel like we’re making progress as a football team.”
The schedule hasn’t helped the Eagles with New Prairie, Hobart, and Hanover Central in the rearview mirror, Brebeuf, ranked No. 6 in Class 3A, is also a handful year in year out.
“We knew that our schedule would be tough going into the start of the season with a young team, and we’re starting to figure it out,” said Dorrel. “Those challenges have only made us better. I feel like we are about ready to turn the corner and put together a good Friday night when we play well on defense, on offense, and on special teams.”
Some simple things were the focus of practice for the week.
“We had a couple of coverage breakdowns on defense that allowed them to get receivers behind us,” said Dorrel. “We didn’t tackle real well. We worked on that extensively. We feel like it’s just a matter of emphasizing the fundamentals. On offense as well, we feel like we are one or two steps away from breaking really big plays. As long as we stay the course and work on improving the things that we can control we will continue to make the strides and growth we are capable of making.
“They (Brebeuf) are a fine football team, in their talent level, how they get off the ball, their aggressiveness. There is no doubt that we have our work cut out for us this week.”
The back to basics approach during the week has the coach more upbeat.
“We’ve had a good week of practice,” said Dorrel. “We’ve been working on the little things to help us execute better and to play better, with a different outcome.
“On defense, we have to execute and get off the field on third down. Offensively, we are still having some issues up front. Once we get those guys more confident I really feel we will see a lot more productivity on the offensive side of the ball.
“We need to help our kids understand that winning a game is a process. We’ve emphasized the last two weeks winning one play at a time. We can’t worry about the scoreboard or the outcome. We have to focus on what is right in front of us.”