The Sacred Heart High School (SHHS) Senior Saints five game winning streak came to an end in their final regular season game against Lumsden. According to coach Scott Musqua the Saints are only looking forward. "We got a bit of a lesson on what it takes to compete with a championship calibre team" says Musqua.
The Saints came out with a great start, with Preston Liebrecht running the first offensive play for a 78-yard touchdown, and held their own for the first quarter, but had a letdown in the second quarter, reports Musqua. "Our guys responded well at the half, and we played some better football, but by then, we had dug ourselves a deep hole," he explains.
Now the team focus has to be to get ready for playoffs using the regular season highs and lows as a foundation to build on, Musqua states. "We want to play our best football now, so we need to raise our level another notch," he suggests.
This season marks the first time Sacred Heart has placed high enough in the regular season to host a playoff game. Sacred Heart's regular season record of five wins and one loss put them in second place in the East Central Nine man Conference, and pits them against Melville, who finished in third place in the regular season with a record of four wins and two losses. "We faced Melville in the first game of the season, and it was a tough, physical battle," comments Saints coach Dwayne Todas. "They play a very physical game, and have improved over the course of the season. We have to prepare for a tough game for a full four quarters," he adds.
"I think this game could be similar to our first one," notes Saints quarterback Johnny Bell. "We scored on a couple of long plays, but it was a really tough, defensive battle. We didn't get a lot of flow in our offense, and our defense did a good job of holding them down to nine points. We need to work on getting first downs, keeping their defense on the field, and being more efficient on offense," Bell comments.
Senior linebacker Dakota Germans says Melville tried to run up the middle a lot. The Saints defense did a good job of stopping their outside run and passing game, but need to shut down Melville's middle run. Melville has good size on their offensive line and a big running back who runs hard. The SHHS?defense needs to plug that up and finish their tackles, Germans insists.
Saints head coach Trent Senger sums up, "One of our goals this season was to finish in the top two in the league, and be able to host a playoff game. Now that we've done that, we need to take advantage of being at home and coming out strong against Melville. We know they will be tough, and we have to step up our game."
