Era to host SH in Cooke County matchup
Sep. 1—This year's first regular season matchup between Cooke County football teams is set for Friday night in Era.
The Hornets will face Sacred Heart in Era's 2022 home opener at 7:30 p.m. This will be the Tigers' first road test of the season.
Sacred Heart (1-0) will seek to keep the momentum going from its 34-14 home win against Petrolia.
Era (0-1) is looking to rebound after last week's 41-22 loss at Nocona.
Era coach Terry Felderhoff said having several younger players seeing their first varsity action contributed to a rough start, but having a full game behind them should help going forward.
"We started slow and then got down 20-0, but from then on, we played OK," Felderhoff said. "Can't have a slow start, period. But other than that, we did a lot of good things. We battled back after being down 20-0 and closed it to 20-14, but just that initial start did us in early."
Senior quarterback Jarren Twiner led Era alongside receivers Braydn Bookhout and Jayden Lira. Kameron King and Justice Jones each contributed rushing scores.
Arguably the biggest question about Sacred Heart this offseason was how the Tigers would replace graduated star running back Seth Swirczynski. Tigers coach Dale Schilling said he is already seeing one or two players step up in his absence.
"It's hard to replace a guy like Seth, especially with his speed, but his little brother, Ryan, as well as Nathan Hesse both were very productive offensively," Schilling said. "And of course, that doesn't happen without the offensive line doing their job. We were able to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball the entire game."
A key battle in this game will be Sacred Heart's rushing offense against the Era defense. The Tigers rushed for 244 yards and four touchdowns last week. Against Era, Nocona rushed for 403 yards and five scores. The Hornets must shore up their run defense to give themselves a shot against Sacred Heart.
Felderhoff said the Tigers execute their offense well.
"They just play hard," Felderhoff said. "Nothing real overly complicated or flashy, it's just, they play hard, and they execute well... We've gotta keep the (Tigers') offensive line off the (Era) linebackers so they can flow and get there and make plays."
On the other side of the ball, Era will test the Tigers' pass defense more than Petrolia. Sacred Heart had to defend 13 passing attempts last week, while the Hornets threw the ball 31 times.
Sacred Heart coach Dale Schilling said defensive alignment will be key for the Tigers.
"They run a ton of formations, which can give you fits there," Schilling said. "Our big thing is, we're going to have to get lined up properly every play and just don't fall into a lull. Don't get relaxed where you miss a line. Big thing is, we gotta get lined up."
