Central Catholic rebounds from slow start to 2013

Football coaches and sports figures in general are often fond of saying it’s not how you start but how you finish.

To that end, the Central Catholic Eagles football team has a lot to hang its hat on after the 2013 season.

The Eagles, who began the year 0-5 against tough competition, rallied to win five of their last seven games to make the playoffs despite a 4-6 overall record in the regular season.

They won a bi-district playoff game against St. Martin’s on November 15 before falling in the regional round to unbeaten Vermillion Catholic, who enters the week one win away from a Class 1A state championship.

A direct part of the Eagles’ early season struggles had to do with scheduling. Before district play, Central Catholic began the year facing two Class 3A schools plus a Class 2A power in Loreauville, a team which ended up reaching the state semi-finals.

Playing schools that were bigger and had more depth may have put the Eagles at a disadvantage, but it served as a good build-up to district play.

“When we started playing schools our size that was similar to us and in the same situation, we competed a lot better,” Eagles coach David Fuhrer said.

The results back that up.

Once Central Catholic got into 7-1A play, the Eagles reeled off four straight district wins to ultimately finish 4-2 in district play. They earned a playoff berth and promptly routed St. Martin’s, 49-0.

The Eagles began to grow as a team throughout the year, picking up steam along the way. Aside from the marked contrast in scheduling from the first half of the season to the second half, Fuhrer said the Eagles’ turnaround had a lot to do with the improved play of the offensive line and the team’s ability to run the ball effectively.

“We really got on track as the season progressed,” Fuhrer said. “We had a lot of young kids and they grew up quick. They were pressed into the fire, but all of them stepped up.”

Tailbacks Stephano Guarisco and Eric Blanchard, and fullback Garret LeBlanc all helped make the Eagles a strong threat offensively.

Senior quarterback Nick Case threw for over 1,000 yards despite not having played the position since his eighth-grade year.

But it was the play of the offensive line — particularly after returning from various injuries — that was the driving force behind the Eagles’ success on offense.

“We had two seniors, a junior, a sophomore, and a couple of freshmen that got into the game,” Fuhrer said. “We had a couple of injuries so a few other freshmen had to play at different times. For the most part, we were inexperienced on the offensive line.”

The line is something the Eagles will have to keep developing, Fuhrer said, particularly because they’re losing two players from the unit.

“We need to be better (up front),” Fuhrer admitted. “Losing two seniors hurts, but a bunch of guys got experience this year and I’m excited because we played a lot of young kids.”

The offensive line wasn’t the only unit to suffer through various injuries this season. The Eagles’ defense also had its fair share of bangs and bruises, at least early on in the season.

“There was one game this year on defense where we had five freshmen (playing),” Fuhrer said. “We were missing one guy one week and he’d come back and we were missing somebody else the next week. Around Week 6 was when we probably had the whole team together on defense without anybody missing. The coaches did a good job week to week with game plans.”

With a strong finish to the season culminating in another playoff berth, Central Catholic seems to have plenty of positives moving forward.

The Eagles were expected to be in a rebuilding phase this season after losing 12 seniors from a playoff team a year ago, but still managed to record five wins and notch their fifth consecutive appearance in the Class 1A playoffs.

Many younger players got valuable experience and should use that to their advantage going forward. The Eagles will have to break in a new quarterback next year, but will return Guarisco at running back and others on both sides of the ball.

“I told the guys this year that I thought we had a good football team, even though our record didn’t indicate it,” said Fuhrer. “These guys believe they can win. We weren’t successful in the first part of the season, but we were in the last. We believe we can win next year.”

Central Catholic had a turnaround season. After starting 0-5, the team had a turnaround and made the Division IV State Playoffs. 

FILE PHOTO