Eagles set to host another ranked team

CULVER - Despite its second straight loss, the Culver Academy football team took away some positives after facing topranked Brebeuf Jesuit last week.

“I felt like it gave us a good read on what it takes to play at that level, but we’re not there yet,” said CMA head coach Andy Dorrel of the experience versus the Braves. “We hope to be. They were an outstanding football team. We’re going to continue to work and improve to make the most of our opportunities. We’re developing as a team on defense and we need to minimize our mistakes on offense.”

This week the Eagles (3-2) will try to snap that two-game losing skid when they host Class 2A No. 8 North Judson (4-1), who had its first loss of the season last week (26-10 to Tippecanoe Valley). The series between the Bluejays and CMA restarted last year (a 23-20 NJ win) after not facing each other since 2010. The Eagles won five straight times from 2006-10.

“I respect what they’ve done at North Judson,” Dorrel said of this week’s opponent. “Their community gets behind them. We will definitely have our hands full. We know this is not a contest that we can just show up and win. They play excellent defense. They forced five turnovers on us last year and returned a kickoff for a touchdown, which was the difference in the game. We felt that we outplayed them, but they were opportunistic. If we can get the offense and defense together on the same night, it will be pretty exciting. If they get their offense going, it will be a long night for us.

“We want to get off to a fast start. If we win that toss, we’re going to take that ball and try to assert ourselves offensively right away. For us, it’s about scoring points. For us to be successful we expect to be in the end zone at least four times a game.”