Brothers Tre Swilling and Bruce Jordan-Swilling won’t have a bye week this season with Brother Martin High School, but Swilling is confident without a break.
The Brother Martin Crusaders’ bye week originally was planned for Oct. 7, but the school scheduled a last-minute game against Sulpher High School, which the Crusaders won 58-13. Swilling had one interception against the Golden Tors, and Jordan-Swilling rushed for 250 yards and three touchdowns.
The brothers announced their commitments to Georgia Tech in August.
No bye week means no time to mend injuries ahead of playoffs, but Swilling sees an 11-game season as an advantage.
“It’s my senior season, and I just want to play as many games as I can as possible,” Swilling said. “I kind of talked to my dad about it how he said it always felt good to have a bye week, but since I’m young and I just want to play, I’m not really too worried about my body being banged up. I’ll just ice it up and get ready for whatever game’s coming.”
The Crusaders’ next opponent, on Friday night, is unbeaten Archbishop Rummel (6-0) for the Crusaders’ homecoming game.
Swilling sees the discipline and athletic ability of the two-time Catholic League Champions that he will face Friday night and recognizes the Crusaders (4-3) can’t back down.
“Their track record kind of speaks for itself,” Swilling said. “They always have a lot of great athletes that come out of there, and a lot of them go to the SEC schools like Arkansas, LSU and down in Texas. They’re really good team, so we’re just gonna have to come out there and play our best.”
Rummel's last game was a 17-10 win over Jesuit High School, who the Crusaders will face in their last game of the season, according to the New Orleans Advocate.
It would make sense for the Crusaders to schedule a less-daunting team for their homecoming game, which usually is the case, according to Swilling, but this year, the Crusaders want to prove they deserve a playoff spot against the best in their division.
“This year we wanted a really good challenge,” Swilling said. “We wanted to show people that we aren’t at the same team from last year and we’re just coming at them, proving we can show out and go out there against a good Rummel team and get a win.”
Brother Martin’s three losses this season came in a row after winning their first two games of the season. The Crusaders lost to Edna Karr High School, John Curtis Christian School and St. Augustine High School. The Crusaders’ losses to John Curtis and St. Augustine were both district games.
The Crusaders, 1-2 in their district, must defeat Rummel to have a chance at the playoffs this season. After their battle with Rummel, Brother Martin’s final two games of the season are district games against Archbishop Shaw Catholic School and Jesuit High School.
“We’re just trying to get everyone on the same page,” Swilling said. “We actually went out the last two games and wanted to hit the playoffs. (We need to) get ready to roll and just keep continuing to win.”
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