The undefeated Sacred Heart Saints took another step closer to first place in the East Central 9-man Football Conference with a 17-7 victory over Fort Qu'Appelle last Thursday.
With just one game remaining in the regular season, against the defending Provincial champion Lumsden Devils, the Saints knew that this game was a must-have.
"They were the team that we knew we had to beat to get that second-place playoff spot. Now it's ours, now we go for first," Head Coach Trent Senger points out.
As the close score would indicate, this game was anything but a gimme for Sacred Heart. Fort Qu'Appelle's hard-hitting style and opportunistic play kept the game within striking distance for almost the entire duration of the game.
Senger was complimentary of Fort Qu'Appelle's style of football.
"They're a hard-hitting football team and they go after the ball. We made some mistakes that we shouldn't have made but that happens, that's football."
A major determining factor in the outcome was the Saints ability to kill the clock with time-consuming fourth quarter drives.
This would not have been possible if not for the power-running skills of running back Morgan Giroux.
Giroux managed to knock minute after minute off of the clock with his tough running style and unwillingness to go out of bounds.
"Once he gets running, he's tough to bring down. He loves contact, he's not a guy that will back away. He likes to hit you," Senger says of his tough running back.
As the Head Coach indicates, the Saints usually save Giroux for fourth quarters, as to maximize his drive extending abilities.
"We took five and a half minutes off that one drive just by pounding (Giroux) and letting him go," Senger states.
Senior Captain Dakota German also put forward a heroic effort for Sacred Heart.
German had four quarterback sacks and was terrorized the Fort Qu'Appelle offence all afternoon with his relentless pursuit of the ball.
Senger is very grateful to have someone like German on his side.
"He was just all over. That's the game we knew he could play, he's a grade twelve, he's our captain... It was beautiful to watch."
The Saints will travel to Lumsden this Thursday for their regular-season finale versus the Devils.
