Saints, Eagles meet in grudge match

It’s getting to be do-or-die time for St. Anne’s-Belfield. With just a few games left on the schedule, the Saints need to find that fifth gear they found last year in order to get where they want.
“Our backs are against the wall,” said STAB coach John Blake. “Most of the seniors were around last year and understand the position that we’re in right now. I don’t think we’re nearly as pinned against the wall as we were a year ago but if we want to get to our goals we need to beat Covenant.”
St. Anne’s-Belfield has never lost to Covenant since its football program began in 2002, but this isn’t your run-of-the-mill Eagles squad.
With Luke Heinsohn handling close to 30 carries a game and Andy Colberg and Hunter Loose making big plays at receiver, Blake knows that his defense will have to step up to the plate.
“I think they’ve used [Colberg] a little bit more than they have in the past,” Blake said. “Luke is still getting his touches but I think Colberg is doing a little more within what they do and he’s a very good athlete.”
Conversely, Eagles head coach Mark Sanford has his eyes on STAB’s playmakers.
“They’ve got a lot of weapons,” Sanford said. “Alex Asher is one of the best receivers in the state of Virginia. Howie Long has developed into just a really good quarterback. And then to top it off they’ve got Aaron Clark. He’s solid, fast, quick, strong, powerful kid.”
So while both teams will be putting plenty of offensive talent on the field, winning this game will likely come down to who can bear down on defense.
Covenant has the talent in the secondary and they showed that they could defend against the pass previously this year against Blue Ridge’s talented receiving corps.  However, in that same game the Eagles front seven had issues against the run.
St. Anne’s front seven has been their strength this far into the season.  If defensive end Bryan Stinnie, linebacker Quincey September and the rest of the Saints’ defense can stop Heinsohn on the run, the Saints chances of winning should increase.
In the end, this looks like a battle that will be decided in the trenches, and what better way for a contest to play out in a rivalry game?
The game kicks off at Covenant at 3:30 p.m.