The Bishop Dwenger Saints are entering Week 6 with all kinds of confidence. It’s an instilled confidence that has been warranted due to their suffocating defense for their opponents. They enter this week with a 4-1 record and have won four consecutive games. Of their five games thus far, four of them have been in-state games and one was against St. Francis De Sales (Ohio).
Against in-state schools this season, Dwenger’s only loss came back in Week 1 against a tough Indianapolis Roncali team. When it comes to the Summit Athletic Conference, Dwenger has separated themselves as the clear-cut best defense. They’ve only allowed 27 points in five games and 15 of them came from the team from Ohio. This means that FW Carroll, Homestead and Roncali scored 12 points combined against the Saints.
Dwenger head coach Jason Garrett enters his 8th year with the Saints and is really enjoying coaching this football team this season.
“They are battle tested, relentless, physical, fast, tenacious bunch of young men. Coach Knepper has done an outstanding job allowing the process to resonate with these guys over the past few years. The scheme is simple and the guys are having fun. Could not be more proud of all of them,” coach Garrett said.
Dwenger’s defense has playmakers across the board. Senior linebacker Douglas Henry leads the team with 54 total tackles and 7.5 tackles for a loss. Senior defensive end Aj Shefferly leads the team with 4.5 sacks in addition to his 21 total tackles, 7.5 tackles for a loss and 15 hurries. These two were all sorts of trouble for the Homestead Spartans in Week 5’s victory. Junior safety Carter Zent leads the team with two interceptions this season.
I was able to catch up with a few of Dwenger’s defensive playmakers about the team’s defense and what makes it so special so far this season.
“First, is the experience we have. We have guys that have been starting on this defense since their sophomore year. Secondly, we have the kill the football mindset. Every play 11 guys to the ball. Lastly, everyone does their job and we are accountable to each other. We > me,” Douglas Henry replied.
“I believe what makes our defense so special is how physical we are. You’ll never see anyone standing around, everyone is always flying to the football. No plays taken off,” Shefferly added.
In addition to being physical and tenacious on defense, these guys are all a cohesive unit that has been around each other for years. They’ve developed friendships off the football field that has translated to on the field success. Senior defensive back Houston Ellinger talked with me about the defense’s cohesiveness.
“What makes our defense so special how close we all are with each other outside of football. Anyone can go out and play with a random group of guys but on our defense we all grew up together, half of us are related so we’ve been together playing backyard football forever so there’s just a different level of trust and fight that we play with, almost like going to war for your family. The way we play is fast, physical, and angry. All our credit comes from our great coaches putting us in the right positions to make big plays,” Ellinger replied.
The offense is led by senior quarterback Henry Jordan and a few solid options at running back that help pound the ball up the middle against opposing defenses. Sophomore running back Kolyn Campbell leads the team with 256 rushing yards to go along with two touchdowns. The 5’5 145-pound senior running back Augustus Tippmann with 255 rushing touchdowns.
This week, the Saints face an offense unlike any they’ve faced all season — the Northrop Bruins. Led by Ohio State commit Quay Guilford, Dee Hogue, Maddox Weil (’28) and quarterback David Callsion, the Bruins will be no easy feat this week. Essentially, it could be looked at as the best offense against the best defense in the SAC. Northrop has scored the most points in the conference this season with 180 points. As mentioned earlier, Dwenger has allowed the least amount of points. It’ll be a battle at Spuller Stadium this Friday.