Falls City Sacred Heart may have been waiting for this game to happen. A scary thought considering the top-ranked and undefeated Irish are outscoring their opponents by nearly 50 points per game, but prior to Friday’s 69-14 dismantling of Lewiston, Sacred Heart was only averaging 319 yards per game, down from 394.1 in 2012.
Nitpicking? Oh yeah, but everything was working Friday, as the Irish erupted for a season-high 544 yards of total offense, including a season-high 397 rushing yards.
Lewiston has now surrendered 1,051 total yards, 785 rushing yards and 130 points in their last two games against the Irish.
FCSH got off to a relatively slow start, considering the yardage they racked up, and the Irish only led 14-6 after the first quarter. Irish quarterback Chaz Dunn tossed both of his touchdown passes in the opening quarter, first connecting with Sean Strasheim for a 37-yard strike, then on their next drive, Dunn found Austin Malone for a 50-yard touchdown pass.
The two touchdown passes were Dunn’s 16th and 17th of the season. Dunn was picked off twice, but finished 8-for-12 with 132 yards.
FCSH hit the ground hard after the first quarter, none more than junior running back Sawyer Kean, who got loose in the second quarter. Kean scored three of his four rushing touchdowns in the second frame on runs of one yard, 20 yards and 40 yards to push the Irish lead to 35-6 at the intermission.
Kean added his fourth-straight Irish touchdown with 5:21 left in the third when he broke free for a 20-yard score. He finished the day with the four TD’s and 184 yards on 17 carries.
Malone added 131 yards on 12 carries, including a 23-yard TD run late in the third quarter.
FCSH’s two senior leaders on defense, Brandon Schawang and Jarod Fiegener were dominant again and helped keep the clamps on Lewiston.
Schawang, who leads the Irish in tackles had a monster game, making six solo stops and 15 total tackles to go with two sacks, five tackles for loss and a 53-yard scoop-and-score touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter. Schawang also carried the ball five times from his fullback position, tallying 44 yards and a one-yard touchdown plunge.
Fiegener recorded three more sacks and now has 13 on the season.
Zavan Kirkendall had a solid game defensively for the Irish. The junior linebacker finished with five solo tackles and 10 total stops.
Malone picked off two passes from his cornerback position and senior defensive back Colin Niemeyer made four solo stops.
Senior placekicker Yianni Haralabidis connected on all nine of his extra-point attempts and has hit 47-of-50 on the season. Haralabidis attempted a 41-yard field goal attempt just before the half Friday night, but just missed it to the left.
The Irish (7-0) travel to Deshler Thursday for a 7 p.m. game against the winless Dragons.
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