Published: November 01, 2009 11:50 am      

Tigers clinch district title

By NEIL HESSE

Register Correspondent



AMARILLO — The Sacred Heart Tigers officially won the district title Friday night with a thrilling 34-31 victory over the hometown Amarillo Arbor Christian Lions.

The Tigers’ ball control offense withstood a furious Lion rally in the fourth quarter. Just when the Tigers thought they had the game sealed at 34-13, the Lions came roaring back and fell short of a comeback 34-31.

Sacred Heart coach Dale Schilling commented, “I am so proud the way our boys fought through injuries throughout the game and our team grew up a lot tonight. Our players fought through a lot of adversity and withstood it all. As a team, we are playing very well and this football team has a lot to be proud of.”

The Tigers started their defensive performance with Chad Henscheid and Matt Hesse teaming up to stop Tyler Pushman. On third down, Gene Yosten Jr sacked the Lion quarterback for a 10-yard loss to force a punt.

The Tigers began their second drive at their own 34-yard line. Four first downs later, Clay Hogan found paydirt from five yards out. Jae Im added the kick for a 7-0 Tiger lead.

Michael Davis had a good tackle on the Tigers’ following defensive stand and helped force a punt. The Tigers began from their own 22-yard line with a quick 8-yard run by Hogan. On second down, Hesse found John Kraewitz across the middle for a 70-yard TD. Im added the PAT for a 14-0 score.

On their next possession, Arbor Christian’s Melugin found Tyler Pushman for a 43-yard pass. The Tigers led 14 -7 at halftime.

The Lions received the opening kick of the second half. The first play from scrimmage ended up in a 4-yard loss as a whole bunch of Tigers gang-tackled the Arbor runner. The Lions were forced to punt.

After a three and out, the Tigers punted and Arbor gained possession on their own 40-yard line. On third down, Melugin hit Wilson for a 53-yard TD pass. The run failed and Sacred Heart led 14-13 with 8:45 left in the third.

The Tigers used their ball-control offense once again on their next possession as they gained four first downs before punching it into the endzone. On fourth and goal from the one, Hogan once again found the endzone for a 21-13 lead. Less than three minutes later, Hesse snuck it over from the two to increase the Tiger lead to 27-13.

Approximately three minutes later, Hogan completed his hat trick as he went in from the 2-yard line to increase the Tiger lead to 34-13 with 11:09 left in the game.

Tyler Pushman, who a year ago was starting for Amarillo High School, began to exert his force as he caught two touchdown passes of 87 and 74 yards. With 1:26 left in the game, it was Sacred Heart 34-25. The Tigers then got down to the Arbor 9-yard line before running out of downs. Arbor took over from there with 50 seconds remaining in the game. With no time on the clock, Melugin completed a long touchdown pass to Wilson for a final score of 34-31.

Leading tacklers for Sacred Heart were Gene Yosten Jr. (11), Matt Hesse (8), Michael Davis (8), John Kraewitz (7) and Josiah Yosten (6).