Shiloh Turns Focus To Top-Ranked Euless

— The gag order has been lifted.

After a self-imposed vow of silence, the Shiloh Christian football players and coaches can now talk about the upcoming game in Arlington, Texas, against Euless Trinity.

The Class 4A Saints (1-0) opened the season Monday night with a 54-22 thrashing of Class 5A Watson Chapel in Pine Bluff. With that out of the way, now the focus is on the nation’s top-ranked team Trinity in Cowboys Stadium as part of the Kirk Herbstreit National Kickoff Classic.

The game is set for 10:30 a.m. Monday and will be televised on Fox Sports Net.

“Our guys did a really great job of staying focused on Watson Chapel and not getting distracted by this Dallas game,” Saints coach Josh Floyd said. “It’s all anybody wanted to talk about.”

The Saints will enter the game a little banged up. Starting wide receiver Jon Hawes will miss his second straight game after suffering a foot injury in practice Saturday. Floyd said Hawes has a bone fracture and will be in a protective boot for 4-6 weeks, but he should be back for the second or third 4A-1 Conference game.

Senior Garrett Harper missed the second half of the Watson Chapel game after “getting his bell rung,” Floyd said. Floyd added that Harper could have returned for the second half, but the coaches held him out with the score well in hand.

Also, defensive end Rand Emert suffered a rib injury, but he is also expected to play against Trinity — ranked No. 1 in the country by USA Today.

Floyd said the Saints played well in the first half against Watson Chapel, especially the defense, which did not allow a first-half score. But penalties are an area of concern. The Saints were penalized 11 times for 105 yards.

“We have to get that cleaned up,” Floyd said. “We had too many holding penalties, but I thought for the most part we executed pretty well.”

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