By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
After toiling through a stretch that saw them win just two games in three seasons, the Sacred Heart football team took a big step forward in 2022, winning four contests and returning to the playoffs under first-year head coach Jeremy Hopkins.
Now, the Knights once again find themselves under new leadership, as they look to continue trending in the right direction under Norman Jennings, who served as defensive coordinator in 2022, leading a unit that held opponents to just 31 total points in the team’s four wins.
That newfound success has brought with it, a renewed energy around Sacred Heart football, something Coach Jennings is eager to keep building ahead of the 2023 campaign.
“I want to keep the enthusiasm that we’ve built around this program and for football to be talked about throughout the halls of Sacred Heart,” he said. “It’s been a while since they’ve felt that level of enthusiasm and it’s been great to see that back.”
This year’s Knight’s squad returns a great deal of talent on both sides of the ball, including a large class of seniors to serve as generals both on and off the field.
“We feel like we can really hang our hat on the leadership of our seniors,” Jennings said. “We’ve got guys that pick up the younger kids and these seniors are awfully athletic with very high football IQs. They’re the kind of leaders that everybody wants to follow and they have brothers behind them ready to jump in when called upon.”
To have the kind of success that Sacred Heart strives for in 2023, the Knights will have to overhaul an offensive unit that was held to single digits in five of their nine contests a season ago.
“It’s no secret when you look at our games last year that we struggled to find the right scheme and get into a rhythm offensively,” Jennings said. “We believe that we have that figured out and we’ve dedicated a lot of time and resources into getting that right and working around the players that we have.”
The offense will once again be led by senior quarterback Mike Matteucci, who contributed over 750 yards of total offense in 2022 as a true dual-threat.
“Mike is a scrappy, quick, ankle-breaking type of quarterback who led us through a majority of last season,” he said. “He can throw on the run and make big plays with his legs as well.”
Evan Bogart and Thomas Cheney round out a backfield that will run behind a slew of returners on the O-Line including Jason Marrs, Cooper Ivey, Andy Marshall, Landen Pilcher, and Cayson Ivey.
Much of the defense is back for another campaign as well including Cam Cleveland, who began his season as one of the best linebackers in Class 1A before missing most of the season due to an injury.
Other key returners on defense include Leon Rowe, and the whole two-way backfield of Bogart, Cheney, and Matteucci, who led the team with three interceptions in 2022.
That unit will also be bolstered by a trio of newcomers, with Dominic Matteucci and Maddox Wells stepping up at Linebacker, and Noah Hines slotting in at cornerback.
After getting their first true taste of success in years, the Knights are far from content with their 4-5 result, and will look to push the envelope even further in 2023.
“This group of guys have set high goals both individually and as a team,” Jennings said. “They want to far improve what they did a season ago as individual players and this team wants to get deep into the playoffs after returning to the postseason last year. I think if they continue to work hard they have the character and the work ethic to pull it off.”
The Knights will open their new campaign down south on Friday, September 1 when they take on Wichita Trinity at 7:00.