The Sacred Heart Irish scored early and scored often. After jumping out to a 28-0 lead, the Irish held on for a 48-12 victory over the Coleman Comets Friday night. The win keeps Sacred Heart in the playoff hunt.
Ian Ruggles connected with Colton Hyble on the opening drive to give the Irish a quick 7-0 lead. Josh Lobsinger padded the Sacred Heart lead with a long touchdown run. Abe Hollenbeck capitalized on a Joe Methner interception, punching the ball in the end zone for a 21-0 Irish lead at the end of the first quarter.
After blocking a Coleman punt, Ian Ruggles ran for a Sacred Heart touchdown of his own early in the second quarter. Coleman then finally found the end zone when Spencer Pnacek connected with Jason Beckner cutting the Irish lead to 28-6. Abe Hollenbeck punched in another Sacred Heart touchdown late in the quarter. The Comets picked off Ruggles twice late in the second, but couldn’t capitalize, and the Irish took a 35-6 lead into halftime.
Noah Krepostman led off the fourth quarter with a pick for Sacred Heart. Then Ruggles took advantage finding Andy Gruss in the end zone for a 42-6 Irish lead, triggering a running clock. Carter Lowe added another touchdown extending the Sacred Heart lead to 48-6 at the end of the third quarter.
Tyler Stambersky provided the only scoring in the fourth quarter punching the ball in for Coleman. But by this point, the damage had been done, and the Irish held on for a 48-12 victory.
Coleman quarterback Pnacek surrendered four interceptions to the Sacred Heart defense. But Ruggles had ball control issues of his own, allowing two picks and a fumble.
Colton Hyble caught a touchdown pass, and set up a late interception for the Irish. For his efforts, he earned our JNR Engraving Player of the Game honors.
Sacred Heart at 5-3 holds their playoff destiny in their own hands. However, a matchup against an always tough Saginaw Nouvel team looms in week nine. Thanks to a tough schedule, a 5-4 Irish team stands a decent chance at making the playoffs, but a 6-3 record could draw a more favorable matchup. Coleman finishes with an 0-7 Saginaw Valley Lutheran team.
In other Mid-States Activities Conference related news, Breckenridge captured the conference title with a 35-0 victory over Vestaburg tonight. The Huskies are 8-0 in their first season in the conference.
Next week, we travel to Saginaw where the Mt Pleasant Oilers battle Heritage. At 4-4, Mt Pleasant has an outside shot at making the playoffs with a win. Coverage begins with Chris Spachman and Matt Park beginning at 6:45PM.
