Ben’s Ford Christian School suffered a 28-0 loss to Silliman Institute in Friday’s District 5AAA home game.

Coach Robert N. Cook said turnovers and dropped passes hurt the Eagles.

He said they had four or five turnovers, and three dropped passes close to the end zone.

Cook said that the offensive line and linebackers have been decimated by injuries. Some of the offensive linemen are also part of the linebacker group.

He praised the play of offensive lineman C.J. McClelland and offensive lineman/defensive lineman Cameron Bullen. Cook said McClelland has the heart of a champion.

“He just has no quit in him,” Cook said. “He has an exceptional work ethic and he hates to lose. I wish I could’ve done better for him.”

Cook said Bullen, a freshman, played very well in Friday’s game.

“I’m so proud of him,” Cook said. “He played way above his age. He suffered a cramp early in game and just played through it.”

The Eagles are 1-8 overall and 0-3 in district. Silliman is 2-6 overall and 2-1 in district.

The Eagles are back in action tomorrow when they face Central Private School at home to conclude the regular season with a District 5AAA matchup.

Central Private enters this week with a 5-2 overall record and they are 1-2 in league play under third-year coach Joey Sanchez.

The three years before Sanchez got there, the team had a 1-29 record. Since his arrival, the team has finished 2-8 and 5-5, and so far this season is 5-2.

Central Private comes into this week after defeating Union Christian Academy, 49-6, last Friday.

The team had two games cancelled because of the flood. The school is still dealing with the affects from the flood. Classes are being held at a local church and won’t be back on campus until January.

“They’ve done a good job of making adjustments, believing and moving forward,”  Sanchez said.

He noted that this week is a big game, as his team has a chance to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2009.

“Ben’s Ford is kind of playing the spoiler role,” Sanchez said. “They’re trying to finish off their season with a win, which would be huge for them to use as a building block going into next season. The longer we let them hang around, the tougher they’re going to beat. We can’t give them short fields with turnovers. We have to make them earn it.”

Cade Sanchez is the Central Private quarterback. This season, he’s thrown for 579 yards and four touchdowns on 61-of-110 (55.4 percent).

Joining him in the backfield are running back/wide receiver Cole Averette, running back Austin Slater, and fullbacks Hunter Todd and Chris Lofstrom. The wide receivers are Brandt Glover and Hunter Harris.

Averette has run for 645 yards on 92 carries (seven yards per attempt) and eight touchdowns. He also has 16 catches for 232 yards (14.5 yards per catch) and two touchdowns.

Defensively, Sanchez said the top players include middle linebackers Todd and Baylen Watkins, end Lofstrom and safety Glover.