The lesson that was learned last week in St. Joseph, Mo., was victories are earned, not given.

After a 3-0 start in which the Veritas Christian football team scored at least 40 points in each game, St. Joseph Christian let the Eagles know how tough the road can be, topping Veritas, 58-22.

Though it’s never fun, losing still can be beneficial to a football team still finding out what it is made of. Veritas coach Doug Bennett hopes his team understands that.

“When you lose, it helps you analyze your strengths and weaknesses,” Bennett said. “The main thing we’ve been concentrating on this week is blocking, both on the line and with the lead blocker in the back.”

Veritas (3-1) returns home to Westwick Rugby Complex to take on Wichita Trinity Academy at 4 p.m. today. It will be the Eagles’ last home game for about a month — and the first time this year they will play coming off a loss.

“I think they’re ready to get back on the field,” Bennett said. “They want to get back on the winning track.”

Veritas utilized its passing attack more last week with junior Mark Randtke catching 10 passes for 178 yards. Still, the 1-2 running combination of Jesse Schultz and Paul Kempf is the team’s bread and butter to this point, and the Eagles have no plans to stray too far away from that, especially if the blocking shows significant improvement.

After today, Veritas will have three straight road games, starting with Tyro Christian on Friday in Coffeyville.