Irish improve to 2-0with a win on homecoming
And, the final score Friday night from Community Memorial Stadium: Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart 80, Caseville 0.
What!
In a colossal football mismatch, the Irish dominated from the opening kick and it might have been a lot worse if it weren’t for a running clock fromthe 7:48mark of the second period when the score skyrocketed to 51- 0.
The Irish, who have now outscored their opponents by a margin of 134-0 in the first twogames, are 2- 0 and Caseville falls to 0-2.
The visiting Eagles were victims of four lost fumbles, two blocked punts and one interception. They ran the ball 24 times and just two of them gained positive yardge, finishing the game with minus-75 yards in total offense.
Sacred Heart, on the other hand, rushed for 150 yards and passed for 163 more for 313 yards of total offense.
“We do have some talented footall players on both sides of the ball,” said Irish mentor John Ruggles. “We haven’t been tested yet sowe really don’t know how good we are. But, we worked tonight on not being complacent and giving 100 percent on every play.”
There’s no question the Irish achieved those goals on both sides of the ball.
Sacred Heart led 37- 0 after one period thanks to TD runs of 14 and 9 yards by junior Brady Gruss,
a blocked punt that resulted in a safety, a blocked punt that senior Ben Wilson recovered in the end zone for a score, a 56-yard punt return by Luke Predum and a 28-yard pass from junior QB Gabe Ruggles to Predum.
Wilson, incidentally, blocked the punt he recovered in the end zone for a TD and he also caused a fumble and recovered two more.
“He played awfully well on both sides of the ball,” said coach Ruggles.
Sacred Heart didn’t let down in the second period, scorng on a 38-yard pass from Ruggles to Predum and an 11-yarder from Ruggles to freshman Aidan Halliday to go ahead 51- 0 and set the running clock in motion.
The first half ended in somber fashion for the Irish, however, when sophomore Sammy Powell suffered an arm injury and was taken to the hospital. The officials started the halftime break a minute early.
Despite the running clock, the Irish scored two more times in each of the final quarters.
Senior Andrew Courtright zipped 73 yards on one and Ruggles raced in from36 yards on the other in the third while Gruss collected his third TD from 7 yards out and Ruggles teammed with Courthright from 18 yards to complete the scoring.
Senior Wyatt Owen connected on four extra point kicks while Gruss and Courtright had two two-point conversions each.
“I’m not sure what you gain from a game like this but we did get a chance to play some young players to see how they would respond,” Ruggles said. “We also worked on team unity stuff and being good sports.”
Courtright carried twice for 98 yards while Gruss carried just three times but all ended up for touchdowns.
Gabe Ruggles completed 8- of-12 passes for 163 yards and four TDS.
The Irish will have a little better idea of how good it is next Friday when it hosts Peck, a team with a strong football tradition.