By ADAM COULTER
Salina Post Contributor
Sacred Heart scored a pair of early touchdowns and never looked back in a 31-12 win over Bennington on Friday night.
A 47-yard touchdown pass from Maddox Wells to Noah Hines gave the Knights an early 6-0 lead with 6:15 to go in the opening quarter. Carson Lehman tacked on a 2-point conversation to make the score 8-0.
Less than three minutes of gametime later, Sacred Heart struck again. A pitch from Wells to Bryson Gotti followed by a 55-yard strike to Lehman extended the lead to 14-0 with 3:28 remaining in the first quarter. Hines added another 2-point conversation as the Knights went on top 16-0.
That would be the last scoring play until midway through the third quarter. Bennington closed the gap to 16-6 as Logan Gillett caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Payge Rodenbeek. The 2-point conversation was unsuccessful and Sacred Heart held a 10-point lead with 5:51 to go.
The Knights scored their first of two fourth quarter touchdowns with 10:50 remaining in the game. Dominic Matteucci rushed for an 8-yard score and added a 2-point conversation making the score 24-6.
The Bulldogs then found the end zone once more as Isaiah Garrett caught a 4-yard touchdown pass to make the score 24-12 with 9:31 left on the clock. Again, the 2-point conversation was no good.
Finally, a 1-yard carry by Matteucci and PAT with 1:12 to go made the final score 31-12.
Sacred Heart improves to 1-4 overall and 1-1 in district play. Bennington falls to 0-6 and 0-3 in the district.
The Knights return to the road next Friday night at Herington with a 7pm kickoff. As always, the game can be seen and heard at salinapost.com.
You can watch the full broadcast of last night's game below.