By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
For the eight teams that make it to state in any given bracket, a challenge unfolds unlike any other, and every game is a brutal battle to the bitter end.
Someone forgot to pass this memo on to the Sacred Heart boys.
On Thursday, the Knights cruised past Erie High School in a 74-35 quarterfinal rout, cruising into the semifinal round on Friday with ease.
"I was impressed with our preparation," Sacred Heart head coach Brian Gormley said. "We had a long haul out here to Dodge City and they've been great hosts but it was our guys responsibility to prepare themselves physically and we came ready to compete."
In the opening minutes of the game, the Red Devils hit a shot to go up 4-3.
They would not lead again.
A 16-0 run helped to put the Knights up 22-7 after one, and another 11-0 run put the game out of reach before the intermission where Sacred Heart took an astounding 49-16 lead into the locker room.
All told, twelve different Knights would see time on the floor, with eight contributing in the scoring column, led by Max Ehrlich (18) and Will Tuttle (17).
Sacred Heart finished the game on fire, shooting a ridiculous 48% from the floor, matched only by an even more absurd 54% clip from deep.
Erie came into this contest as a two-man army, and it hurt them in the end, as despite strong performances by Reid Duff (17) and Ethan Dillinger (14), the rest of the team scored a total of just four points for the entire game.
The Red Devil campaign comes to a close at 18-6 while the Knights march on to the semifinal round where Sacred Heart (21-3) will take on the 1-seed and only undefeated 2A team remaining in Lyndon (24-0).
That semifinal contest will be held at 4:00 on Friday at United Wireless Arena in Dodge City.
Lyndon has also been dominant throughout the postseason, lighting up Eureka (73-22), Central Heights (55-23), and Uniontown (84-31) to get through sub-state before dispatching Conway Springs (51-38) in their quarterfinal on Thursday.
Much of that success has rested on the shoulders of Division-I Illinois football commit Tanner Heckel, who anchors Lyndon on both ends of the floor.
"They have one of the best players and probably the best athlete in 3A," Gormley said. "Heckel can hit you from three, he can drive and dunk on you and he has a really soft midrange touch. He's hard to stop at all levels and then they have a 6-8 kid inside with good hands and feet and he really controls the area around the rim."
Coverage of Friday’s state semifinal can be heard locally on KINA (910 AM/107.5 FM) or on 910KINA.com with Adam Coulter on the call.