HATTIESBURG – While all four quarters make up the final score, the Sacred Heart Crusaders showed resilience in the second half after falling into a deep hole by halftime.
Trailing 35-0 at the break, the Crusaders outscored Richton 20-7 in the second half but it wasn’t enough as the Richton Rebels earned the 42-20 win Friday night. Sacred Heart coach Lonny Schraeder was proud of his team’s effort in the final 24 minutes of play, though.
“We played a lot better,” Schraeder said. “We’re just very young defensively. We’re really young and it showed. Richton is not too bad; they have some good athletes and good running backs. We just have to continue to get better.”
Schraeder’s mentality for this young Crusaders’ team has been to get better each week prior to region play starting in late September. Sacred Heart improved from Week 1 to Week 2, and it even got better from the first half to the second half Friday night.
Most of the issues have been the lack of experience, but as the season progresses and the players see more action, that will change.
“We’re young, small and inexperienced,” Schraeder said. “We got better tonight, so we’ll just continue to get better.”
Both sides of the ball improved its play for Sacred Heart. The Crusaders’ offense only had 111 yards of total offense with zero points to show for it through the first two quarters, and the defense allowed 332 total yards to Richton. In the second half, Sacred Heart gained 243 yards on offense while holding the Rebels to just 106 yards, which 98 of those yards came on one play.
With the 35-0 lead, Richton began the second half with the ball, and the Crusaders recorded three straight tackles for loss – two from senior Garrett Crowder – but an offside penalty gave the Rebels a first down. Three plays later, a fumble on a punt try allowed senior Dylan Pipkins to scoop and score to put Sacred Heart on the board, 35-6.
After a Sacred Heart interception later in the third, a 98-yard touchdown run by Richton’s DD Griffin push the lead to 42-6. Griffin led the offense with 199 yards on the ground and two scores.
That would be the only highlight for the Rebels in the second half, though, as the Sacred Heart defense collected 11 negative yardage plays.
“The kids decided they were going to come out here and battle,” Schraeder said. “Don’t worry about the scoreboard, just come out here and play one play at a time, you know, 6 seconds at a time, and just line it back up and go again. They did and I’m proud of them for that.”
After the Richton score, the Crusaders used senior quarterback Zach Weatherell’s arm and Crowder at running back to push the ball to Richton’s 6-yard line. Then senior Tanner Blakeney scored to make it a 42-12 game.
Blakeney led Sacred Heart with 92 rushing yards and a touchdown on 15 carries in the contest, and Weatherell passed for 199 yards on 13-for-24 passing and two picks. Crowder added 37 rushing yards on six attempts.
“Tanner ran the ball great and Garrett Crowder ran the ball with some force, too, so I’m proud of them,” Schraeder said. “You know, Tanner needs a little break every now and then, and it’s nice to have Garrett to run the ball.”
Crowder ended the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter. The scoring drive got started when freshman Cal Baugh recovered Richton’s second lost fumble of the game.
Sacred Heart travels to Sumrall next week for a 7 p.m. contest Friday, while Richton will travel to Enterprise-Lincoln
Richton 42,
Sacred Heart 20
Score by Quarter
Richton 14 21 7 0—42
Sacred Heart 0 0 12 8—20
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
RHS — Mitchell, 62 pass from Farve (kick good), 9:50.
RHS — Hinton, 28 fumble return (kick good), 4:46.
Second Quarter
RHS — Griffin, 14 run (kick good), 9:47.
RHS — Farve, 17 run (kick good), 5:20.
RHS — Griffin, 53 run (kick good), 4:08.
Third Quarter
SH — Pipkins, 5 fumble return (kick no good), 8:28.
RHS — Griffin, 98 run (kick good), 2:53.
SH —Blakeney, 6 run (kick no good), 0:19.
Fourth Quarter
SH — Crowder, 1 run (2-point successful), 2:53.
TEAM STATISTICS
Richton -- Sacred Heart
First Downs 16 -- 18
Rushes-Yards 42-324 -- 31-155
Att-Comp-Int. 9-6-0 -- 24-13-2
Passing Yards 114 -- 199
Total Plays-Yards 51-438 -- 55-354
Punts-Avg. 3-19 -- 4-40.25
Fumbles-Lost 5-2 -- 3-2
Penalties 5-44 -- 5-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Richton: Griffin 7-199 2 TDs; Farve 9-149 TD; Henderson 9-24; Hinton 3-6; Brewer 4-5; Mitchell 2-2; No. 25 2-(-1); Shattles 2-(-3); Louivere 1-(-20); Carter 3-(-37).
Sacred Heart: Blakeney 15-92 TD; Crowder 6-37 TD; Weatherell 10-26.
Passing
Richton: Farve 5-for-7 114 yds TD.
Sacred Heart: Weatherell 13-for-24 199 yds. 2 INTs.
Receiving
Richton: Mitchell 4-71 TD; Mills 1-39; Creel 1-4.
Sacred Heart: Easterling 3-85; Hall 3-46; Blakeney 3-44; Naquin 3-24; Crowder 1-0.
