By Zachary Harmuth
After a week off, BA plays at home against Ensworth this Friday in a AA Division II showdown.
Ensworth is ranked as the best team in the state and is 8-0 this season. BA is 6-3, and 3-2 in AA Division II, with losses against MBA and Father Ryan (teams which Ensworth beat, handily by 14 and 34 respectively). BA lost to MBA by one and Father Ryan by four.
However, BA has not lost a game at home this season and is on a four game winning streak which has seen it really hit its stride. The three losses came during a tough five game road trip which saw it go out of state and play St. Xavier, which is one of the best teams in the country.
In other words, the Eagles are battle hardened. Ensworth however has not played a close game all season, and has played a slightly easier schedule (Giles Co, Brainerd).
Tyler Swafford and C.J. Sanders have led BA all year and will have to keep it up if BA hopes to win and get a first round bye or a higher seeding, though a loss is not a huge blow because Ensworth is such a good team and the system does not count losses against teams that are very good as all that negative.
Swafford has completed nearly 67 percent of his passes this season for 1859 yards and 21 touchdowns against 5 interceptions, and his most explosive receiver has been Sanders, who has 32 catches for 525 yards and 12 touchdowns on the season. Tanner Priest has averaged a team leading 22 yards per catch over his 20 receptions while Brandon Taylor has been the possession receiver, averaging 9.9 yards per catch over his 32 catches this season.
Shon Lumpkin has led the team in rushing, with 600 yards on the ground so far this year, averaging more than six yards per carry. Shawn Brashers has been right on his tail all year; he has just shy of 500 yards rushing on the year.
However all of this counts for nothing when the game starts, and Ensworth has averaged 38.6 points per game and given up 12.5. BA has averaged 33 points on offense, but on defense has not been much worse than Ensworth, giving up about 13.3 per game.
