You win some, you lose some but in their next football action scheduled for next Saturday afternoon, the SHHS Saints senior boys' football team will really want to win.
After having their five-game winning streak snapped at the hands of Conference 3 powerhouse Lumsden, Sacred Heart High School's eldest football team will be in full effect when the real season takes place in a week-and-a-half's time.
"We got a bit of a lesson on what it takes to compete with a championship calibre team" said Saints coach Scott Musqua.
"We came out with a great start, with Preston Liebrecht running the first offensive play for a 78-yard touchdown, and held our own for the first quarter, but had a letdown in the second quarter. Our guys responded well at the half, and we played some better football, but by then, we had dug ourselves a deep hole. Now the focus has to be on getting ready for playoffs and using the regular season highs and lows as a foundation to build off of.
We want to play our best football now, so we need to raise our level another notch."
This 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 5-1 put them in second place in the East Central 9-man Conference 3, and pits them against Melville, who finished in third place in the regular season with a record of 4-2.
"We faced Melville in the first game of the season, and it was a tough, physical battle," commented 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."
"I think this game could be similar to our first one," noted 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 offence, and our defence did a good job of holding them down to nine points. We need to work on getting first downs, keeping their defence on the field, and being more efficient on offence".
Senior linebacker Dakota German said, "Melville really tried to run up the middle a lot. We did a good job of stopping their outside run and passing game, but need to shut down their middle run. They have good size on their offensive line and a big running back who runs hard. We need to plug that up and finish our tackles."
Saints head coach Trent Senger summed it up saying, "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."
