The Sacred Heart High School (SHHS) Senior Saints football team hosted the Melville Cobras in the first game of the conference playoffs in a one-sided contest.
Saints kicker Robert Okeny opened the scoring with a two point safety on the opening kickoff.
Melville quarterback Matthew Svenson scored a touchdown on a quarterback keeper to give the Cobras a 6-2 lead.
Alex Fedorchuk carried the ball into the Cobras end zone near the end of the first half. The convert was good to make the score 9-6 for the home team.
With just under two minutes in the first half, SHHS back Preston Liebrecht returned a punt fifty plus yards to add six points to the Saints' score. The convert made it 16-6 for Yorkton.
With no time on the clock in the first half Liebrecht intercepted a Melville pass on a third down gamble and took it downfield for his second touchdown of the game. Okeny tallied his third point after of the game to make it 23-6 for the Saints.
With 2.7 seconds remaining in the game, Melville quarter back Svenson called his own number to carry the ball into the Saints end zone for a six point major. A failed convert attempt made the final score 23-12 for Sacred Heart.
Saints head coach Trent Senger says the game was closer than he would have liked but admits Melville has a good team. "They do what they have to do," he says.
While he feels both offense and defense were working reasonably well, some tightening up is in order. "We dropped a lot of balls today that we shouldn't be dropping. We're not going to do well on the rest of the road if we put the ball on the ground," he declares.
As well the Saints have to put together some longer offensive drives," he adds.
Senger changed up Liebrecht's role a little, putting him back at safety, because he knew Melville was going to throw the ball and Liebrecht is a ball hawk, he reports. The hope was that he'd pick it off and take all the way. Liebrecht managed to get one that way. "It was just something that we had up our sleeve and holding on to until we needed it and it seemed to work out," Senger states.
Senger admits he played Liebrecht more than he would have liked because of injuries to other key players. Okeny, for example, one of the top defensive players was limited to kicking because of a knee injury. "I think we were trying to hide other guys and that's why we left him in a little longer than we should," he concedes.
The win advances the Saints to the next round against Melfort, Senger reports. All future playoff games will be out of town. "By not getting first we lost all playoff games from now on," he notes.
