Lonnie Burt accounted for more than half of Jesuit’s total offense as the Crusaders held off a late comeback effort to beat Metro league rival Sunset 26-21 at Cronin Field on Friday, October 13.
With the win against the Apollos, the Crusader’s keep both their playoff and Metro title hopes alive.
Burt, the senior running back and team captain, took 27 carries for 152 of his team’s 252 total yards of offense, helping Jesuit control the game on the ground.
“He has a tremendous motor,” Jesuit head coach Ken Potter said. “He’s very, very competitive. And he is a workhorse. He’ll give you everything he’s got. We’re excited that he’s playing his best ball right now.”
Along with Burt’s strong performance for the Crusaders run game, junior quarterback Treynor Cleeland also chipped in, rushing for 38 yards and two touchdowns.
The game started off slow as both teams were scoreless until 2:16 in the first quarter when Sunset’s Justin Craigwell scored a two yard rushing touchdown to put the Apollos ahead 7-0.
The Crusaders would then go on to score 26 unanswered points including a 32 yard field goal from senior kicker Kadyn Butcher and touchdowns from Treynor Cleeland and Elias Johnson.
Cleeland’s two yard touchdown run with 10:13 left in the fourth quarter put the Crusaders ahead 26-7. Then the Apollos began building their comeback, scoring 14 unanswered points, pulling within five points with only 1:24 left.
Coach Potter thought his team played well, but acknowledged that they need to limit the mistakes.
“We still make more mistakes than we want to make in the game”, Potter said. “But you know, it’s what I look at as a lot of guys with a lot of energy that are playing together.”
However, the late surge from the Apollos was not enough and the Crusaders (3-4) were able to extend their win streak to three. After its first 0-4 start since 1977, Jesuit could continue their Metro dominance and win their tenth straight league title this Thursday when they match up against Mountainside.
“I think we’re evenly matched. They have a good team. and they play really hard with lots of excitement. And so I think it will be a great game.”
It’s clear that the Crusaders started out rough with their historic start, yet Coach Potter and his staff have been able to rally their guys and continue to develop their young team and focus on one game at a time.
“Well, we are a pretty young team,” Potter said. “So those first games were against the best teams in the state. And so we had to learn on the run. I think just the learning curve has gotten better. And I think that the linemen continue to improve each week because they just get better with their communication skills.”
As the season has progressed and Potter has continued to see improvement throughout his entire team, it is clear that the focal point of this team is still the offensive line. Each week Potter has talked about how important they are to the success of the team and although young and inexperienced, they are continuing to improve and becoming a more cohesive unit.
This improvement is evident as Burt’s big performance was on full display. Not only did he account for sixty percent of the Jesuit total offense, but he also averaged 5.6 yards per carry.
When the Crusaders face Mountainside on the road, it would be a good assumption that Potter sticks to the run game, giving Burt the majority of carries. Look to quarterback Treynor Cleeland to also continue his presence on the ground.
This will be a crucial game for the Crusaders because not only can they continue their Metro dominance, but in order to stay in playoff contention, it will be imperative that Jesuit wins the game.
Jesuit currently sits at #18 in the OSAA rankings, and are still on the outside of the playoffs. A win against the #14 mountainside could very well boost them into the top 16 of the rankings, which would put them in the OSAA playoffs rather than in the Columbia Cup.
The Crusaders will face Mountainside this Thursday at Mountainside High School at 7:00.
