As he wound up the postgame interview after his team’s 37-18 victory at Christian Academy in the Class 2-A, Region Two championship, DeSales coach Harold Davis left reporters with the following words: “It’s great to practice on Thanksgiving.”
This is the fourth straight year that the Colts will work on the holiday, and the two-time defending state champions don’t mind a bit. They will prepare to play at Mayfield in a highly anticipated state semifinal the following day. The host Cardinals moved up a class this year after winning the last three Class A titles.
Ask the players what it’s like to practice on the last Thursday of November, and you’ll see them smile a little and their eye brighten like a kid talking about Christmas.
“I’ll tell you right now, it’s the best feeling in the world,” senior quarterback Austin Johnson said. “Waking up, going to practice and eating some great Thanksgiving dinner at the end of the day.”
The Colts are still alive this season thanks to an offense that has found itself after losing to Christian Academy in the regular season. Since losing 16-0 to the Centurions on Oct. 9, DeSales has averaged 44 points in winning its last six games. On Friday, the Colts dominated the first half by executing touchdown drives 13, 12 and 13 plays respectively. The shortest of those drives went for 76 yards.
And while DeSales kept finding the end zone on offense, the Colts defense, which has allowed an average of 7.5 points over the last six games, kept the Centurions out when they needed to do so. With the score 27-7, Christian Academy took the opening kickoff and marched 50 yards in eight plays to set up a first-and-goal at the Colts’ 5.
From there, the defense rallied, making three straight tackles for loss – including two sacks of Austin Carr – to push them back to the 26. Instead of scoring a touchdown and making it a two-score game, Christian Academy ended up salvaging the drive with a 42-yard field goal by Eric Quinton.
Senior defensive tackle Ryan White said the unit focused on keeping the Centurions from going to the outside on those last three plays.
“We just stayed disciplined on the outside and our secondary did really good” to keep receivers from getting open, White said.