Falls City Sacred Heart Football Team

For the eighth time in school history and the first time in three years the Falls City Sacred Heart Irish claimed the D2 8-Man State title after beating Twin Loup in the Championship game 44-28.

The Irish fell down 14-0 early in the Championship game but fought back to take the lead and in the second half worked the lead in their favor at 30-22 and never gave the lead back going on to secure the win. Sacred Heart outgained Twin Loup 379-256 in the contest with several top notch performances in the win. Drew Bippes finished 11-21 for 276 yards with three touchdowns and a touchdown run, while Emerson Keithley snagged three passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns. Sean Arnold caught three passes for 84 yards with a touchdown and added a touchdown run, too. The Irish defense was strong too forcing a pair of turnovers and was led by Brandon Scheitel who recorded 13 tackles with a sack, while Michael Keithley notched 10 tackles and two sacks.

Sacred Heart opened the postseason cruising past Friend 75-0 and then need some late game heroics to comeback and top a top team in Osceloa 34-28 in the second round. In the third round the Irish had a long road trip to Bloomfield and picked up the 46-12 moving into the Semifinals with a matchup looming against the only team that had beat them during the season in Bruning-Davenport-Schickley. Revenge was earned in the Semifinal showdown for the Irish as Sacred Heart beat BDS 16-12 to punch their ticket to the State title game.

The D2 State title is the eighth in school history and all under coach Doug Goltz; the Irish capped the season with the State title and finished the year 12-1.