Friday night’s season opener against Park Place was not the start that second-year Central Holmes Christian School head football coach Jim Crowder was hoping for.
But it was the one that he feared heading into the season opener. The Trojans were without four starters and fell behind early and lost a 41-17 decision to Park Place on Friday night.
“They are a quality opponent, I don’t want to take anything away from them,” Crowder said. “We threw four interceptions and two of those they returned for touchdowns. It was the first game for our two quarterbacks and they both saw major action for the first time. That is tough as a quarterback. And we did not do a good job of protecting them either. It was just a tough night offensively on everybody.”
Park Place jumped out to a 21-10 lead at the half. But two third-quarter interceptions for touchdowns spelled doom for the Trojans.
“They were big up front and we had trouble moving them,” Crowder said. “We had trouble getting down blocks to provide some movement. And with our injury situation, it’s hard to go live in practice so this was the first time some of them had seen real live action. It’s just different out there on the field. We can’t simulate as much as we need in practice.”
Crowder said the early date was also a hinderance for the Trojans.
“We weren’t able to scrimmage anyone last week and that hurt as well,” Crowder said. “Playing early didn’t help either. I would have felt a lot better to have another week. Being part of a jamboree would have helped. But they were in the same situation we were in. I take the blame. It’s my job to get them ready to play.”
Despite the loss, Crowder said there were some positives in the contest.
“We did some things defensively better than we did last year,” Crowder said. “I thought our special teams were outstanding. I thought two of our receivers stepped up really big. We had some young guys out there getting their first varsity action and I thought they stepped in and did a good job. That will only make them better.”
Like most lopsided losses, turnovers and penalties played a huge role in the game.
“We didn’t play a clean game and made too many mistakes,” Crowder said. “There were too many bad exchanges and our decision making wasn’t very good. I have to make sure we are executing the things that we worked on. Everything we did wrong is correctable. Nobody likes to lose but we have to go back to work. The bottom line is we have to get better and improve every night.”
The Trojans will try to break into the win column against East Rankin, another Class 5A opponent. East Rankin went 1-10 last year with the Patriots lone win coming over River Oaks.
“They are improved drastically from last year from what I have seen,” We are excited about the opportunity to play them and try to get rid of the bad taste of last week. They are athletic and pitch and catch it really well. They are big in some spots and will have more depth than us. I think we are in better condition. Hopefully that continues on Friday night. They are an improved football team and have a good scheme. It will be a challenge.”
Most coaches believe their teams show their most improvement from week 1 to week 2.
“We will be a better football team on Friday night,” Crowder said. “You improve more from game 1 to game 2. That’s a fact across the board and I expect us to be one of those teams that improves from game 1 to game 2. How much, we will see on Friday night. It will start on the practice field on Monday. Our coaching staff is excited about going back in getting some things fixed. We hated to have lost but not panicking by any means.”
