Published: November 30, 2008 04:37 pm      

Sacred Heart falls to Cougars 28-14

By DARIN ALLRED

Register Sports Editor

ARGYLE — The Sacred Heart Tigers may have been the underdog in their TAPPS Division IV state semifinal playoff against Richardson Canyon Creek Friday, but they didn’t go down without a fight.

The Tigers lost to the Canyon Creek Cougars 28-14 at Warrior Stadium in Argyle to end their season with a 9-4 season.

The Cougars (12-1) used two long plays to score touchdowns including one on a crucial fourth down in the third quarter. Canyon Creek scored on runs of 57 and 49 yards in the second half. The Tigers did a good job of holding the Cougars’ potent offense in check the rest of the game. Canyon Creek had 559 yards of rushing in their quarterfinal win last week, but in this game Sacred Heart held them to just 282 yards on 46 carries.

Every time that Canyon Creek made a big play, Sacred Heart seemed to answer.

“We never gave up and my hat goes off to the seniors,” Tiger head coach Dale Schilling said afterwards. “They never quit. We had to do a few things on the fly and they responded well. We just got beat by a better football team.”

Both teams had trouble with turnovers in the opening half. On Sacred Heart’s first possession, they picked up one first down before a fumbled exchange was recovered by Canyon Creek’s Chris Smythe at the Tiger 47-yard line. But the Cougars went three and out thanks to a tackle for loss by Nick Popovich.

The Tigers couldn’t pick up a first down on their next possession and their punt went out of bounds after only traveling seven yards, giving the Cougars the ball at the Tiger 33. Canyon Creek faced a fourth and 2 at the Tiger 25 when Andre Moorehead rushed 12 yards for a first down. On the next play, Rett Miller ran up the middle 13 yards for the first score of the night.

But the Sacred Heart answer came quick, as in one play quick. On first down, senior Sam Sparkman took a handoff up the middle through a huge hole and then raced down the left sideline 79 yards for a touchdown. John Kraweitz added the extra point kick to make it 7-7 with 4:00 remaining in the first quarter.

The Cougars went three and out on their next possession. Sacred Heart got one first down on offense as Nate Berend hit Ryan Bartush on a 13-yard pass play on third down. But three plays later, another Berend pass was intercepted by Miller at the Cougar 38.

The teams then traded punts as the second quarter began. Canyon Creek had a drive that went all the way to the Tiger 15-yard line before a fumble was recovered by Matt Hesse. That would be the first of three straight turnovers for the two teams.

Two plays after getting the fumble, Sacred Heart gave the ball right back as Berend was intercepted by Trevor Marcinko at the Tiger 45-yard line. The Cougars then threw a 21-yard halfback pass for a first down and got another first down on a horsecollar penalty on Sacred Heart that moved the ball to the 12. But two plays later, the Cougars put the ball on the turf again and Zach Zanchetta was there to fall on it for the Tigers.

Sacred Heart got the ball at their own 11-yard line with 1:56 remaining before halftime but was only able to gain one yard on the next three plays. Canyon Creek used two timeouts to force a punt and got the ball back with 1:08 left. They would only need half that time to score. Miller had an 11-yard run, then Cohl Tufford hit Moorehead on back-to-back pass plays of 15 and 13 yards to move the ball to the 1-yard line. Two plays later, Miller scored from there to make it 14-7 at halftime.

The Cougars got the ball to begin the second half and were forced to punt. Sacred Heart’s offense moved the ball into Cougar territory on their first possession thanks to a 13-yard pass from Berend to Kraweitz, but they would have to punt as well.

After another Cougar punt, Sacred Heart took over at their own 40. After a motion penalty moved them back to the 35, Berend hit Bartush on a 39-yard pass play to move the ball to the Cougar 26. Two plays later, Sparkman scored on a 22-yard run. Kraweitz’s extra point kick tied things up 14-14 with 3:33 remaining in the third quarter.

The next Canyon Creek possession may have been the turning point of the game. The Cougars used another halfback pass to gain 45 yards, but they were called for offensive pass interference. They faced a third and 24 at their own 25, but Moorehead was able to run for 18 yards, forcing a fourth and 6 from their own 43. Cougar coach Larry Thexton elected to go for it. If they failed, the Tigers would have had the ball in Cougar territory with a chance to take their first lead. But Canyon Creek executed the option perfectly as Tufford pitched to Miller who raced 57 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-14.

The Tigers went backwards on their next possession and had to punt. The Cougars moved the ball to the Sacred Heart 22 and Tufford scored on a quarterback keeper, but an illegal procedure penalty brought it back. The Tigers held from there and got the ball back at their own 17, but were only able to gain five yards. Bartush boomed a 48-yard punt to pin the Cougars back at their own 30.

Sacred Heart’s defense stepped up from there as Dylan Flusche tackled Moorehead for a 14-yard loss after a fumbled pitch. The Tigers’ offense moved the ball to midfield on a 17-yard pass from Berend to Sparkman, but negative yardage on first down and three straight incompletions gave the ball right back to Canyon Creek at the Tiger 49.

The Cougars only needed one play to give themselves a cushion as Miller broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and raced into the endzone to make it 28-14 with 2:09 remaining in the game.

Sacred Heart got the ball back, but a sack and an penalty brought up a fourth and 23. Bartush, who had been inserted at quarterback so Berend could go back to his natural position of receiver, scrambled for 18 yards but it wasn’t enough and the Cougars were able to just run out the clock from there.

Miller finished with 29 carries for 211 yards for Canyon Creek, while Sparkman had 22 rushes for 135 yards for Sacred Heart. The Tigers finished with 253 yards of total offense.

Defensively, Hesse was credited with 14 tackles, while Flusche had 7.

The Tigers achieved great things this season despite losing several key players to injuries during the season including one of their best defensive players (Tommy Torcellini) midway through the year and starting quarterback (Matt Hesse) right before the playoffs started. But other players stepped up to take their place and the Tigers finished two touchdowns away from a state championship game berth.

“We were kind of snakebit, but that’s just the nature of the game,” Schilling said of his team’s injuries. “You can’t let the kind of stuff get in your head and bother you. You have to suck up your belt and find a way and move on. I’m so proud of these seniors that they did that.”