By: Zachary Harmuth
Brentwood Academy (BA) finally will finish its five-game road trip this Friday in its conference game at Pope John Paul II.
The Eagles (3-3, 0-2 in district) have a chance to go above .500 and get their fourth win of the season, and first AA Division II win, against the Knights (3-3, 0-3).
Both teams have similar records, and identical streaks this year. Both won their first two games, lost the next three, then won last week. Both teams have played hard schedules, though the Eagles schedule has been much harder.
Given that, the two teams have gotten to where they are a bit differently. For example, the Knights have outscored their opponents in their three wins by only 17 points; Brentwood, however, outscored its opponents in wins by 112 points.
On the other hand, in losses the Knights have been outscored in their three losses by a combined 142 points; Brentwood: by 34.
In fact, while the Knights rank 6th in AA and the Eagles 9th (out of 11), the Knights have the lowest scoring offense in AA (71) and have allowed the most points on defense (196). Brentwood, on the other hand, has the third best defense (90 points allowed) and, despite being the 5th worst scoring offense, at 168 points on the season, it is only about 40 points behind the best scoring offense (MBA) and almost 100 points better than the Knights.
Also, the Knights got completely blown out in its three district games against McCallie, Ensworth and Baylor, while the Eagles played (and almost won) both their games in the district: an overtime loss against undefeated MBA and a 4-point loss to Father Ryan.
A good way of looking at these two teams is this: BA’s average game this season has been Eagles 28, their opponent 15. The Knights average game has been Pope John: 11.8, its opponent: 32.7.
So, really, despite having the same record Brentwood is the clear favorite in this game. And the Eagles have won every game they were favored in this year except for the week three loss to Father Ryan.
It is just up to coach Cody White, quarterback Tyler Swafford, star receiver C.J. Sanders and company to execute and play like they have all season. If they do that, the Eagles should come home next week above .500 on the season. Swafford has 15 touchdown passes and only 3 interceptions on the season. Sanders has caught 7 of those.
Kick off is at 7pm.
