Culver Academy to face No. 9 Marian

CULVER - A big road win over Indianapolis Attucks last Friday gave CMA’S Eagles a reason to be upbeat heading into a big contest at Class 3A ninth-ranked Mishawaka Marian.

“I was pleased with our speed on the field,” said CMA coach Andy Dorrel. “I thought we had several plays we were able to make due to our speed and we are excited by that. We executed on offense. Obviously, there are things that we need to improve on, but we were able to get the ball into the hands of our playmakers. They were able to take advantage of our opportunities.

“Defensively, we did a nice job getting to the football, gang tackling. We are really happy with how we got out of the gate and got an early lead and allowed a lot of kids to play.”

There were some areas that need to be addressed.

“There are a lot of areas where we feel like we have more upside than challenges and that makes us excited moving forward,” said Dorrel. “Are we where we want to be? Absolutely not, but we have some good pieces but need to help them continue to realize the physicality of a high school football game, the speed of a high school football game and the mental focus that you need to have in order to become a special football team. You can’t take anything for granted. Everything is earned, nothing is given.”

Marian lost to Mishawaka High School a week ago, but the film tells the story of a good football team.

“Mishawaka was able to wear them down with their numbers, but Marian is a very talented football team,” said Dorrel. “I think they’ve only lost nine games in four years so they know how to win. We have to show up with the right mindset and attitude to be ready for a significant challenge. They are multi-dimensional. They run very well, they throw the ball well, they have some very dynamic athletes that are going to match our guys step for step. This is a very good test for us early in the season.”

Another opponent for Friday could be Mother Nature as the current heatwave shows no sign of letting up.

“You want to make sure your guys are prepared but not over-prepared,” said Dorrel. “We talk about the slices of a pie. We want our guys to have as much of that pie left on Friday as we can. You don’t want to take a quarter of it out on Tuesday and another quarter on Wednesday because that only leaves you half for Friday and they don’t keep score on Wednesday.”