BY ADAM COULTER
Salina Post Contributor
The Sacred Heart Knights were back on the road Friday night and, despite a closely contested first half, Valley Heights pulled away for a 38-15 win.
Mustang quarterback Carson Spoonts led a long drive to open the game, but had an errant pass picked off by the Knights' Michael Matteucci resulting in the first turnover of the game.
However, on the very next play, Spoonts intercepted and ran back a Matteucci pass for an apparent touchdown, but a block-in-the-back penalty wiped the points off of the scoreboard. Valley Heights eventually turned the ball over on downs on the final play of the first quarter.
At the 5:25 mark of the second period, Sacred Heart took the lead on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Matteucci to Cam Cleveland. Luka Adami tacked on the PAT to make the score 7-0.
Unfortunately for Sacred Heart, the lead wouldn't last long as Jayden Dewalt returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. A successful two-point conversation put Valley Heights on top 8-7 with 5:10 remaining until halftime.
With the score still 8-7 to start the third quarter, Valley Heights began to slowly extend its lead. A pair of touchdown passes, one from 11 yards and a second from 38 yards gave the Mustangs a 22-7 advantage heading into the final 12 minutes of the game.
Another Valley Heights interception, touchdown, and two-point conversation had Sacred Heart looking up at its biggest deficit of the game with the score 30-7 early in the fourth quarter.
Despite the score, the Knights continued to battle as Matteucci threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Noah Hines. The two-point conversation was also successful and closed the gap to 30-15 with 5:04 remaining in the game.
In the end, the Mustangs added one more score and went on for a 38-15 victory.
The Knights will return to Salina for Homecoming and host Waubaunsee this Friday night. Pregame is scheduled for 6:40 followed by a 7 p.m. kickoff and can be heard and seen at salinapost.com.