Ben’s Ford Christian School is playing its final road game of the 2016 regular season tonight, as the Eagles travel to face Oak Forest Academy.

The Eagles, who host District 5AAA opponents Silliman Institute (Oct. 14) and Central Private School (Oct. 20) over the next two weeks,  have had a tough season so far with a 1-6 record.

Last week, Ben’s Ford lost to Bowling Green, 31-0, and assistant coach Chuck Williams credited the players for continuing to play hard.

“They haven’t given up,” Williams said. “Every game, they give us four quarters. We get an injury and they keep competing. That’s why it’d be great to get in there and get a win, so that the kids can see their hard work is paying off.

“We’ve gotten better throughout the season, despite our record. I can see where we’ve improved from week one when we played WCCA. I can see where the kids have gotten better and we’ve improved in several areas.”

Williams said offensively, Cameron Byrd played well. He said they played him in the “Wildcat” formation toward the end of the game and said Byrd ran well.

Defensively, Williams said Jacob Seal and Byrd made some big tackles. He also noted that Chad New recovered a fumble and returned it to the 6.

Oak Forest won last year’s game, 52-0.

This season, Oak Forest is 4-3 and is coming off a 41-21 setback to Presbyterian Christian School.

“We are really beat up and injured,” Oak Forest coach Jason Brabham said. “We have three MCLs, three or four ankles, a pulled hamstring. It’s been that type of year. Some years, it happens this way with injuries. We’re trying to regroup after we’ve lost two in a row. We haven’t done that in several years. We’re trying to figure out how to fix our problems through all of these injuries.”

The team is using three quarterbacks in Jude Giardina, Reed Roberts and Brad Lamonte.

The running backs are Roberts, Giardina and Dalton Brabham. Starting running back Trent Smith is out with an MCL injury.

Brabham is the team’s leading rusher and hasn’t missed a game. One or two of the three are normally in the backfield.

Brabham said the offensive line has been hit hard with injuries. Only one of the five that began the season will start and the two others are questionable.

The wide receivers are Mario Campo and Bradley Knippers.

The top defenders are outside linebacker Cole Simpson and defensive back Tyler Conerly.

Brabham said Simpson is the best defensive player they have and that Conerly is their best defensive back.