The Sacred Heart High School (SHHS) Senior Saints opened the current East Central nine man football season at home to the visiting Melville Cobras Thursday afternoon.
The Saints, who kicked off to the Cobras, recovered the opening kick-off to set up a touchdown on the opening series to make the score. The convert was good to make it 7-0 for the Sacred Heart.
SHHS added a three point field goal at 7:40 of the first quarter to go ahead 10-0.
The Saints picked up a point following a failed field goal attempt after Jared Budzinski intercepted a Cobras' pass.
Sacred Heart opened the second half with a touchdown and a convert to make it 19-0 for Yorkton. A safety and kicking the ball through the end zone, increased the SHHS lead to 22-0 before Number 18 for Melville broke free in the last minute of the third quarter to put Melville on the scoreboard to cut Yorkton's lead to 22-7.
The Saints pulled ahead with another six point major and a one point convert midway through the fourth quarter to make the final score 29-7 for the Sacred Heart Senior Saints.
Saints offensive coordinator Chad Holinaty says the team was happy to win their season opener. Without any pre-season action, Holinaty admits the Saints may have started a tad rusty. "It was good to see that some of our seniors stepped forward when we needed them and really showed a bit of poise when the game still was a bit scrambly at times," he states.
While the Saints run game is strong, Holinaty thinks the team needs to find a better balance with the passing attack. He says Saints quarter back Travis Buzinski is finding his guys. It's just a matter of finding his rhythm and being able to connect on the passes and putting the ball to spots where the receivers can go get it, he adds.
The Saints have some outstanding athletes, Holinaty states. "Guys like Logan Coutts on the outside and Preston Lie-brecht are guys that can really move and if we can get them to the ball they can really find open space and they're going to score," he claims.
Holinaty continued to heap praise on Liebrecht. "To be honest Preston's bad day is a good day," he suggests. "He's an outstanding athlete who can play with any league in any position and he's going to be one of key guys throughout the year," Holinaty states. "He's going to be our guy carrying the mail, especially on a day when it's a bit windy and we're still establishing a little bit. We're going to lean on him a lot," Holinaty adds.
The Saints only showed two formations in the game, Holinaty suggests. They do have a lot more which will be added each, he reports. A short preparation week with an exhibition game in Swan River Tuesday doesn't give the team a lot of time to add things. It will probably be a chance to refine things currently in place, he says. "The week following will be a chance to add a bit more to the package, he says.
The defense lost a number of key players last season and consists of a lot of young players, Holinaty reports. Despite the uncertainty about their performance before the game, the defense did an outstanding job, Holinaty states.
He attributes some of that to coach Trent Senger's coaching scheme and some of it came from the team's defensive leaders stepping forward, guys like Lyndon Shea, a Grade 11 student and Dylan Johnson and who was outstanding on both sides of the ball, Holinaty says.
The exhibition game in Swan River will give the younger players an opportunity to play some more. "We're really itchy to play football. We've been practicing since mid-August and it's going to be a good opportunity for some other guys to step forward," he continues.
Holinaty says Lumsden and Fort Qu'appelle, who moved to another conference, were good matchups for the Saints. Foam Lake was added and will likely be at the top of the league he reports "That's just the rotation you're going to go through annually," he says. The surprise was the loss of Kamsack, he says. "But that's the way it is and we just have to look at it that these are games that are helping us prepare for the end of the season to help us get to where we want to be hopefully in preparation for the playoffs," Holinaty closes.
