Sacred Heart gets first prep football win

LINCOLN — The Sacred Heart Gremlins football team put its first notch in the win column on Friday night. Sacred Heart took advantage of four Lincoln turnovers in the third quarter to score 14 points on the way to a 14-7 win over the Cardinals.

Zach Dover scored a pair of touchdowns in the decisive quarter as the Gremlins pounded away at the Lincoln defense with its running game.

Sacred Heart coach Martin Zerilli and the Gremlins were excited with the win.

“It feels good. It feels real good. I told them to remember this feeling and take it into next week when we go play Missouri Military Academy,” said Zerilli.

Lincoln began the game with the strong wind at its back and took advantage. After forcing Sacred Heart to punt on its first two possessions, the Cardinals got the ball at the Gremlins 37-yard line.

The Cardinals kept the ball on the ground, using Austin Ridgeway on the outside and Jake Smith up the middle to push the ball to the Sacred Heart one. Ridgeway capped the drive with a one-yard scoring run, then booted the extra point.

Despite losing several key players to injury, the Lincoln defense frustrated Sacred Heart’s offense and the Cardinals clung to the 7-0 lead at halftime.

During halftime the Lincoln community celebrated all of the donors and participants that had made football possible for the Cardinals. An impressive group of community supporters were recognized for their support.

The second half did not start well for the Cardinals. They fumbled the opening kickoff, giving Sacred Heart the ball at the Lincoln 43.

“We really thought at halftime we had a really positive speech and everybody seemed up. We came out and then right off the bat fumbled the ball on the kickoff and they kinda got down and never overcame it,” said Lincoln coach Danny Morrison.

It took just four plays for Sacred Heart to cash in on the Lincoln miscue. Cody Wissman and Dover did the damage on the ground as each player carried the ball twice.

Dover finished the drive with a 16-yard run up the middle for a touchdown, but he was stopped on the conversion try, keeping Lincoln in front 7-6.

“We came in at halftime and we made some adjustments,” said Zerilli. “We talked about running downhill because our backs kept coming inside and we told them to stay outside and once they get through the hole then to get outside. That’s where we starting making our adjustments.”

Another fumble on the Lincoln’s next possession gave the Gremlins the ball back immediately and they wasted little time driving for the go-ahead score. Dover did the damage again, this time on a 20-yard scoring run.

When Dover scored on the two-point conversion, Sacred Heart had a 14-7 lead and the momentum.

“That was the big thing, getting those turnovers. We had a lot of turnovers, but in the first half we just couldn’t do anything with them. The second half we seemed to be able to go and that was the big key for us,” said Zerilli.

Sacred Heart put together several drives during the remainder of the game, but Gremlin penalties helped the Lincoln defense keep it a one-score game. For the game the Gremlins were flagged 14 times.

On the other side, the Lincoln offense struggled during the second half, not recording a first down until three minutes into the fourth quarter.

Zerilli was pleased with the way his defense played, especially in the second half.

“Defensively I thought we played pretty good. We’ve played the last few weeks that way. We’re just getting better and better,” he said.
Lincoln’s final drive stalled with just over five minutes left in the game, forcing the Cardinals to punt. Sacred Heart used Wissman and Dover to pound the ball on the ground and run out the clock, securing the win.

Even while disappointed with the loss, Morrison was proud of his team’s effort, but knows that the Cardinals have to take better care of the football.

“That’s what we told our boys after the game. Not so much that they didn’t try hard, they didn’t work hard, just that when they’re turning the ball over that often it’s hard to get a win out of it. We do a lot of stuff good. We’ve got a lot of stuff we need to fix. Right now you can tell that we’re still a first-year football program and we want to get it to where you can’t tell,” he said.