Cavs hoping to enjoy a win on Friday

CULVER - A tough loss to Winamac a week ago was a letdown for the Culver offense. For the second week in a row, the Cavs struggled to put up points.

“I thought our defense played much better this week and our offense put them in some tough positions,” said Culver head coach Mike Zehner. “Whether it was field position, turnover on downs, fake punt, we didn’t convert those. That’s been our focus. We can’t leave points on the field and we have to take care of the football. We did some new things offensively last week and we were still playing with that stuff, but I was really happy with our defensive performance.”

The defense that struggled early in the year for Culver has shown steady improvement as the year wears on.

“Our kids stepped up when they needed to. They got some stops when we needed to and gave us a chance,” said Zehner. “I was more disappointed in our offense not getting things rolling like we should have. We knew our defense would be a work in progress with a lot of young guys, even the guys who have experience we’ve been moving them around. We are finding where the pieces fit and be the best team we can be.

“We have to do the things we do best which is run the football and be bruisers and punishers upfront. Maybe we threw too much at them offensively and that took away from some of the other things we were doing well. That’s been our focus - play hard, play physical.”

The Cavs host Caston and its option attack this week.

“They have a really nice quarterback and their fullback is a player,” said Zehner, “You have to get several guys to bring him down. He runs hard and he runs fast. They’ve got some good linemen that do a good job of getting to linebacker depth. We have to make sure our discipline on defense is on point.”

The coach’s formula is a simple one.

“We just want to get better each and every day and enjoy the opportunity to play football.”

Game time is 7 p.m.