Gonzales Cannon On-Line

Sacred Heart claims state title with 21-7 win over St. Paul
Mark Lube, Gonzales Cannon Sports Editor
Thursday, December 1, 2011

Gonzales Cannon Article   |   St. Paul Cardinal Football   |   Shiner Home Page

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Sacred Heart Head Coach Pat Henke celebrates with his team and the trophy after they defeated Shiner St. Paul 21-7 to win the TAPPS Division IV state championship title Saturday night at Wildcat Stadium in Temple.
photos by Angeli Wright, Advocate photographer
Winning the state title for Sacred Heart was likely the main course. The fact that it came against rival St. Paul was the dessert for the hungry Indians.

The Indians had their gourmet meal, Saturday evening at Wildcat Stadium in Temple, 21-7.

"It was awesome beating St. Paul our rival," said Indian quarterback Jared Krischke. "Beating them 21-7 is crazy. Best feeling ever. We had a great season, 14 wins and topped if off with a state championship."

The championship gives Sacred Heart the first one since taking home the 2007 crown and also the eighth championship for long-tenured head coach Pat Henke.

"It will never get old. It was a great win for our kids," he said. "They wanted it so bad after they lost to St. Paul (in the regular season)

Sacred Heart knew they would have a great shot to win the state title by sticking to their ball control offense.

"The kids came out and executed our game plan tonight to perfection," Henke said. "We wanted to run the football and we did."

Sacred Heart did not stick to its bread-and-butter in the regular season matchup but stuck to its guns in this game.

"I thought last time we tried to be fancy," Henke said. "This time, we simply ran the ball at St. Paul."

Sacred Heart finishes 2011 at 14-1.

"How can you beat that?" Henke queried about their record. "We had a little hiccup against St. Paul but the good Lord gave us a second chance and we took advantage of it. It feels great."

The state runner-ups Cardinals still have reason to keep their heads up -- they played in the state title game for the second straight season, especially after losing a lot of players from last year’s undefeated team and also had to get acquainted with a new coach and a new system of play.

Head coach Paul Johnston was quick to praise the Cardinal players on their determination and work effort.

"These guys have come so far. They had a really different team this year," he said. "We went a lot further than most people thought we were going to. It still hurts when you come up short in the big game."

St. Paul came out with its usual game plans, but were not as aggressive on defense, Johnston said.

"On offense, we did not execute very well," he said.

Sacred Heart took the opening kickoff and marched 70 yards in just over five minutes with fullback Matt Holub going up the middle most of the time, save for some Sterling Hrncir runs to the outside.

Hrncir capped the drive with a 9-yard run and Colton Brown added the point after with 6:40 to play in the first period.

St. Paul got kickoff out to around their 30, but personal foul call pushed the ball back to their 14.

Running back Adam Hollenbach took a 15-yard pass from quarterback Dakota Kresta on St. Paul’s first play.

A couple of more passes and a facemask call on the Indians allowed the Cardinals to move the ball to the Sacred Heart 23.

The Indian defense dropped Hollenbach for a loss on fourth down, back to the 27.

Sacred Heart once again ate up the yards, a little at a time, with Hrncir getting a lot of the work. He broke a 20-yard rush to the Cardinal 33.

Sacred Heart eventually faced fourth down at the 31. The Indians attempted the fourth-down conversion, Krischke found Scott Stoner, for his only pass attempt and completion of the game, for 14 yards to the 17.

Hrncir punched it in on the next play for his second score and a 14-0 Indian lead with 9:18 to play in the first half.

St. Paul responded with a 72-yard march, using their offensive finesse out of the spread formation.

They converted an early fourth-down with a 2-yard run by Hollenbach. A play or two later, Martin Kennedy hauled in a 36-yard pass to the 24 and Justin Natal gained 5 more on an end- around to the 19.

The drive appeared close to hitting a brick wall as Kresta was sacked for 7 yards back to the 26.

A pass from Kresta to Brett Hodges gained 18 to the 8 and two plays later, Kresta hit Natal on a screen pass, and Natal followed the blocks into the end zone.

Cole Hybner added the point after and Sacred Heart led just 14-7.

The Indians went three and out on the next drive, and the Cardinals had a good return to the Sacred Heart 33.

The Indian defense held St. Paul in check and the Cardinals went for the conversion on fourth and 7. Kresta was flushed out of the pocket and scrambled, stopped well short of the first down.

Sacred Heart then ran out the remaining 51 seconds of the first half.

The Indians put what would turn out to be the finishing touch on the game with an 80-yard, 5:51 drive in the third frame.

Holub scored from 10 yards out on fourth down.

St. Paul continued to battle -- missing on two straight fourth-down conversions to keep their drives alive, one on a failed fake punt and another on an incomplete pass.

Late in the game, St. Paul started out at its 24, with Kennedy catching a 9-yard pass and then Natal making a 17-yard catch to midfield where the Cardinals ended the game with three straight shots by Kresta for the end zone.

St. Paul will be in a good shot for playoff success next year as they will lose just three seniors -- Hodges, Natal and Jacob Coul.

Johnston said even he though he loses just three seniors, it will be hard to fill the places vacated by them.

Sacred Heart will lose 13 seniors from the team --Nick Patalik, Krischke, Hrncir, Brown, Cole Bludau, Ross Rother, Holub, Cole Wick, Casey Mueller, Andrew Shimek, Regan Hall, Cody Greer and Nathan Hollas.

"They are a great group of guys. Great people. They blended together during the season. They were not that close at the start and they are a special bunch of kids," Henke said.

GAME STATISTICS:
statistics source: http://www.gonzalescannon.com/node/7540

  TEAM STATISTICS:
                     Sacred Heart  St. Paul
  First downs        18            16
  Rushes-yards       54-279        24-37
  Passing            1-1-0         19-30-0
  Passing yards      14            187
  Punts-yards        2-62          1-43
  Fumbles-lost       0-0           1-0
  Penalties-yards    7-70          5-51


SCORING SUMMARY:
                     1   2   3   4  --  Final
  Sacred Heart       7   7   7   0  --  21
  St. Paul           0   7   0   0  --   7


SCORING DETAILS:

  First Quarter
     SH - Sterling Hrncir 9 run (Colton Brown kick)

  Second Quarter
     SH - Hrncir 17 run (Brown kick)
     SP - Justin Natal 7 pass from Dakota Kresta (Cole Hybner kick)

  Third Quarter
     SH - Matt Holub 10 run (Brown kick)

  Fourth Quarter
     no score


INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

  Rushing
     Sacred Heart: Matt Holub 25-146, Sterling Hrncir 20-118, Leightin Pilat 3-16,
       Jared Krischke 6-(-1).
     St. Paul:Justin Natal 5-19, Adam Hollenbach 5-15, Dakota Kresta 9-2, Martin Kennedy 5-1.

  Passing
     Sacred Heart: Krischke 1-1-0-14,
     St. Paul: Kresta 19-30-0-187.

  Receiving
     Sacred Heart: Scott Stoner 1-14.
     St. Paul: Natal 5-46, Kennedy 4-58, Hollenbach 4-15, Cole Hybner 3-41, Brett Hodges 3-27.

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