The Eisenhower Knights (3-2) will play a rare Thursday night game on the road tonight when they visit Mercyhurst University to take on the Mercyhurst Prep Lakers (5-0) in a Region 2 game.

The shortage of football officials in District 10 has forced many teams to play Thursdays and Saturdays this fall. Eisenhower will do its part with tonight’s game and a Saturday afternoon game later this season.

The Knights will have to play a near perfect game to put themselves in a position to win tonight as they will face a Mercyhurst team that is firing on all cylinders.

“This is one of the best Mercyhurst Prep teams that I’ve seen in 20 years,” Eisenhower head coach Jim Penley said. “They’ve got a tremendous amount of size and strength up front with a strong contingent of skill position players that rank among the best in District 10 as far as statistics go.

The Lakers have a balanced offense that is led by 5-foot-11, 175-pound sophomore quarterback Paul Johnson, who has completed 39 of 57 passes for 840 yards with 13 touchdown passes and no interceptions. He has also added 344 yards on the ground and six touchdowns.

“Their young quarterback is impressive and can kill you with his feet or his arm,” Penley said. “We have to be very disciplined in defending him.”

The Lakers’ leading rusher is 6-foot, 175-pound senior Jeremy Ganska, who has 613 yards on 60 carries to go along with seven touchdowns.

Eisenhower is coming off a tough loss to Lakeview last week and will need senior quarterback Shawn Pascuzzi to continue his strong play and lead long drives to keep the Lakers offense on the bench. Passcuzzi is having a nice season in his own right leading the Knights in passing (32 of 59, 507 yards and 9 TDs). He also leads the Knights in rushing with 48 carries for 398 yards and five touchdowns.

Pascuzzi’s leading target is 6-foot-4 senior tight end Kris Bunk, who has 15 receptions for 247 yards and six touchdown receptions.

“Their defense is unbelievably aggressive and does a great job of rallying to the ball,” Penley said. “We’re going to need to control the tempo of the game and play absolutely error-free football to be able to put ourselves in the best position to win.”

Today’s game is set for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Saxon Stadium.