By DARIN ALLRED, Managing Editor
Gainesville Daily Register
Lindsay —
The Lindsay Knights rushed for 389 yards en route to a 38-12 win over the Sacred Heart Tigers Friday in a game that was delayed by almost 30 minutes late in the first quarter because of an injury.
With 46 seconds remaining in the opening period, Sacred Heart senior Chad Walterscheid suffered a broken leg while blocking on a running play.
With both teams huddled on a knee around the injured player, paramedics tended to Walterscheid, who eventually was taken by air ambulance to a Denton hospital.
Before the injury, Lindsay (2-0) had already started to showcase their rushing attack. The Knights had three players finish with over 100 yards rushing.
On the Knights’ first possession, the home team went 47 yards in eight plays, all rushes. Robert Arend was the workhorse, tallying all but three of the yards including an 8-yard TD run.
Garrett Yancey’s extra point kick made it 7-0 with 6:00 remaining in the first.
Sacred Heart (1-1) followed with an impressive drive that included a 20-yard run by Josh Biffle. The Tigers faced fourth and six from the Lindsay 41-yard line, but converted the first down thanks to a fake punt.
Biffle took the direct snap and rumbled seven yards to keep the drive alive. Sacred Heart eventually moved the ball to the 20 before an interception by Lindsay’s Jordan Lane at the 8-yard line ended the threat.
After a three-and-out that resulted in a punt, Sacred Heart took over at the Knight 41.
Tiger quarterback Matt Hesse ran for 17 yards on first down to move the ball to the 24. That was the play that resulted in the injury to Walterscheid.
The delay squashed any momentum the Tigers had. They moved the ball as far as the 18, but a fourth-down pass fell incomplete.
Lindsay took over at their own 20 and promptly moved down the field. A 25-yard pass from Dawson Holt to Madison Parkhill moved the ball into Tiger territory.
Two plays later, Blake Walker scampered 28 yards. Facing third and nine from the Tiger 15, Holt pitched to Travis Skinner who threw a halfback pass to an open Lane in the end zone for another score to make it 14-0 with just under eight minutes left in the half.
Sacred Heart fumbled on their next possession, but the two teams traded punts after that. Lindsay got the better of the field position battle thanks to a 52-yard punt return by Lane that set the Knights up at the Tiger 23.
After a holding penalty moved the ball back to the 33, Yancey scored on a 33-yard run to make it 21-0 with 1:01 left in the half.
Instead of kicking the ball deep, the Knights tried a pooch kick that didn’t travel the necessary 10 yards, setting Sacred Heart up at the Lindsay 49.
After a motion penalty moved the Tigers back five yards, Hesse ran 30 yards to the Lindsay 24. On the next play, Biffle scored on a 24-yard run up the middle. The extra point kick failed, sending the two teams into halftime with Lindsay leading 21-6.
The Knights got the ball to begin the second half and again kept things on the ground to move downfield. Arend had a 20-yard run and later added 10 more yards. Lindsay advanced to the Tiger 2-yard line, but a motion penalty moved them back and they had to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Yancey that made it 24-6.
Sacred Heart used eight plays and a facemask penalty to move the ball down to the Lindsay 29, but they came up one yard short on fourth and one from there, turning the ball over on downs.
Two plays later, Yancey broke loose on a 66-yard TD run that increased the home team’s lead to 31-6 with 2:21 left in the third quarter.
The two teams then traded turnovers as play moved into the fourth quarter. The next score came at the 9:48 mark of the final period as Hud Harrison rumbled 66 yards to put Lindsay ahead 38-6.
Sacred Heart was not ready to quit however. The Tigers put together a 14-play, 77-yard drive that took nearly six minutes off the clock.
Biffle had a 17-yard run to get it started, and Michael Davis and Bob Bartush followed with 9-yard rushes. Biffle scored from one yard out to make it 38-12 with 3:01 remaining.
Lindsay then got a 44-yard run from Harrison to move the ball to the Tiger 11, but they took a knee from there to run out the clock and end the game.
For the Knights, Arend had 120 yards rushing, while Harrison added 112 and Yancey had 102.
Josh Biffle led the Tigers in rushing with 122 yards.
Neither team did much through the air. Lindsay completed two passes for 40 yards, while Sacred Heart only managed one completion for 1 yard.
Defensively, Tyler Hundt, Sean Willard and Greg Knauf all registered eight tackles for Lindsay. For Sacred Heart, Davis had 11 tackles and Alex Turner had 10 tackles and a fumble recovery.
