The Sacred Heart Saints opened up their 2015 SHSAA Nine-man football season this past Friday with a road game under the lights in Foam Lake, falling to the host Panthers 36-0.
Or rather, half the team opened up their season in Foam Lake, as the Saints were only able to bring 11 players to the game. 鈥淒ue to some untimely injuries and some players with personal conflicts, we took 11 men to Foam Lake to play a game under the lights,鈥� said Saints head coach Trent Senger. 鈥淲e had only two spares for the game and one of our guys got hurt, but we鈥檙e so proud of those 11 guys. We鈥檝e told them over and over again how proud we were and how well they did.
鈥淎fter the game we talked about what it meant to be a Saint, and every one of those kids knows what it means. They played outstanding.鈥�
The Saints trailed by just 14 points at half-time against one of the perennial powerhouses in nine-man football, refusing to go away for the entire first half and most of the third quarter before fatigue began to set in. 鈥淲e had six players that never left the field that night, so about three quarters of the way through the third quarter you could see we were starting to run out of gas,鈥� offered Senger. 鈥淲e had held them right to that point and then our boys were just too tired.
鈥淲e realized that our conditioning might not have been as good as it should have been, but we also don鈥檛 usually ask our kids to play the whole game.鈥�
Senger went on to say that the way his kids played impressed not only him, but everyone at the game including the opposing players. 鈥淔oam Lake players came up to our guys after the game and said they couldn鈥檛 do that if it was them, and they have some of the best players in the province,鈥� mentioned an obviously proud Senger.鈥漎ou could tell that we earned their respect on Friday night, and that was obvious in the handshake.
鈥淚t was a different handshake. Foam Lake had some respect for us that they never had before for those 11 guys. We played our best game of the season. More guys would have definitely changed the outcome, but maybe that game we had the right 11 guys to do the job. They showed just what it meant to be a Saint and I鈥檓 so proud of them.鈥�
Next action
The next action for the Sacred Heart Saints will be Thursday, October 8, when they host the Melville Cobras at 4:00p.m. at Sacred Heart.
