SPORTS

Sacred Heart wins national championship

Brandon Shields
bjshields@jacksonsun.com

Sacred Heart’s eight-man football team made history on Monday night. They won a national championship.

Sacred Heart of Jesus' football team poses with its national championship trophy after winning the eight-man championship in Florida on Monday.

The Knights traveled to Florida for the weekend and won two games en route to the historic win.

“It was a great weekend. That’s for sure,” said Sacred Heart head coach Michael Ashlock. “Our guys played great for two games – played like a championship team should.

“They always fought and never gave up and won a couple of really close games. They were our own version of the Cardiac Kids.”

The Knights played in a six-team tournament with the first game on Saturday and the championship on Monday.

The semifinal game was against a team from north Georgia. They needed a late score to take the lead with less than two minutes left. The Knights’ defense forced a fumble and recovered it for a turnover and ran the clock out to end the game.

The Knights were matched up with the Cowboys from Huntsville, Alabama, a team that had a three-game win streak on Sacred Heart, including a win in the regular season.

“They outweighed us by 40 to 60 pounds per player, and we needed to show some heart for all four quarters to get a win over them,” Ashlock said. “The way they’d beaten us before was using their size to wear us down and take advantage of it in the fourth quarter.

“We did our best to make sure that didn’t happen in this game.”

Ashlock said the Knights’ coaching staff changed the lineup early in the game, forcing some of those bigger players from the Cowboys to run with the Knights’ speedy receivers more than they had in earlier meetings.

“That really helped us out because they weren’t able to wear us out like they had and actually used their advantage of size against them,” Ashlock said.

But the Cowboys still led. The lead was six points with 50 seconds to go, and Sacred Heart had the ball on its own 20-yard line.

“We’d had a two-minute drive a few times over the season and actually had some game-winning drives like that,” Ashlock said. “But we’d never moved the ball 80 yards in less than a minute.”

The Knights picked up half the yards they needed in 42 seconds when quarterback Evan Ashlock completed three passes and the receivers did a good job getting out of bounds to stop the clock.

“Our guys did a good job of being mindful of where they were and what they needed to do on each play,” Michael Ashlock said.

But the Knights still needed to make up 40 yards in eight seconds to score. Evan Ashlock, who’s known to scramble if needed, stayed in the pocket and launched a pass to Jesse Watt, who was inside the 5-yard line behind the Cowboys’ defense.

“He caught the pass and crossed the goal line about the time the horn sounded,” Michael Ashlock said.

That tied the game, and the Knights would win the championship with a successful PAT. Sacred Heart doesn’t kick the ball.

“We called a pass play, but everybody was covered and Evan saw an opening,” Michael Ashlock said. “And he ran with it.”

The run was successful, and Sacred Heart is the national eight-man football champions because of it after a final score of 60-58.

“It was so wonderful to see this season end the way it did,” Michael Ashlock said. “Our kids have worked so hard and earned every bit of this. I’m proud of them.”

Ashlock said there will be a celebration at the school on Friday.

“This is a big deal obviously for us, and I think it’s a big deal for West Tennessee,” Michael Ashlock said. “We’re glad to have represented the area and bring back this championship.”

Brandon Shields, 425-9751