CCS football: Sacred Heart Prep defense stars in win

Jack Kirkham was more than happy to provide it.

The 6-foot-4 senior defensive lineman pounced on a fumble on the first play from scrimmage in the second half. Teammate Tevita Moimoi ran for a four-yard touchdown on a fourth-down play four plays later, and Sacred Heart Prep never trailed again in a 19-7 victory.

“That was such an energy boost, especially coming out of the locker room,” said Moimoi about Kirkham’s fumble recovery. “That first play on the second half, that just drove us together.”

Moimoi also had an interception with 5 minutes, 43 seconds left in the game, and J.P Frimel added another interception on Sacred Heart Cathedral’s next possession to keep the sixth-seeded Fightin’ Irish (6-6) at bay.

“They lifted us up today, they lifted us up all season,” said Sacred Heart Prep coach Mark Grieb about his team’s defense. “We made enough plays on offense to be in the game.”

The second-seeded Gators (11-1) advance to Open Division III championship match against No. 5 Aptos (10-2), which upset No.1 Palma 49-6 Friday night. The day and time had not been decided at press time.

Sacred Heart Prep moved methodically in the first quarter, taking the opening possession 67 yards on 16 plays, eating eight minutes, six seconds off the clock. It ended with a Ronan Donnelly 30-yard field goal.

A sack by Sacred Heart Prep’s Jake Davison forced Sacred Heart Cathedral to punt on its first possession, then the Gators drove for another Donnelly field goal, this time from 32 yards.

But then Sacred Heart Cathedral began to get on track offensively. After a negative-10 yards on its only drive of the first quarter, the Fightin’ Irish moved the ball into Gators territory on their next drive, then scored the following drive. Sacred Heart Cathedral sophomore quarterback Cian Dowling kept backing up to avoid the pass rush and ended up 19 yards behind the line of scrimmage before slinging a pass to Kelekolio Mateo in the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown.

Sacred Heart Cathedral held a 7-6 lead at halftime, but Kirkham’s fumble recovery started a Sacred Heart Prep surge.

“We wanted to fight for one more game. That’s kind of our mantra all year,” said Kirkham about what the team talked about at halftime.

After Moimoi’s touchdown, Sacred Heart Prep lengthened its lead to 19-7 in the third quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by John Willard. The score was set up by a 47-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Raymond Price to Moimoi.

Moimoi also played a key role in ball possession in the fourth quarter. He rushed for 30 of his game-high 90 yards in the final period on seven carries.

Sacred Heart Prep reaches a CCS football final for the first time since 2015, when it won the Open Division III crown. Sacred Heart Cathedral has not reached a CCS football final since 2011.

“We didn’t play the way we needed to play. We started slow, penalties hurt us on offense. You just can’t make those mistakes against a good football team,” said Sacred Heart Cathedral coach Barry McLaughlin.

Dowling completed 18 of his 33 passing attempts for 208 yards. Teammate Anthony Heard had six catches for 51 yards.

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