SHG football struggles in first game of post-Ken Leonard era
NORMAL — Not much went right for Sacred Heart-Griffin in its first football season opener since 1983 without Ken Leonard at the helm.
SHG, the 2022 Class 4A state champions, were scored upon six straight times in a 54-14 nonconference loss to Class 7A Normal Community at Dick Tharp Field on Friday.
Not even the weather cooperated. Midway through the second quarter, lightning forced an 80-minute suspension of play on a hot, humid night.
It was the first running-clock loss for SHG since the 2011 Class 5A semifinals, a 49-7 loss to Joliet Catholic.
“Early on right away, we had some things go wrong,” first year SHG head coach John Allison said. “It seemed like with a team like this, a young team, it was one out of three plays we had some mental mistake, a penalty. It was stuff we talked about leading up to the season: ‘We’ve got to avoid this; we’ve got to avoid this’ and we did a lot of those things I said we’ve got to avoid.”
Not enough offense
SHG quarterback Levi Hanauer finished 11-for-27 with 98 yards and two interceptions, which were both returned for touchdowns. He ran for 77 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries.
With the Ironmen up 7-0, SHG put together a 12-play, 83-yard drive that ate 5 minutes, 14 seconds off the clock, capped by a 2-yard TD run from Hanauer.
“We had one drive that was pretty solid,” Allison said. “They can do it but with young kids, that’s what you see a lot: there’s glimmers and there’s glimpses of it but to be able to put it together for 40 or 50 plays in a row, that’s where the youth kind of showed tonight.”
When the weather delay hit with 6:44 left in the second quarter, Normal Community led 20-7, but the Ironmen picked off Hanuaer twice in the final 3:31 of the half to go up 31-7 at the break.
“I feel like that was the difference in the game, how we handled those seven minutes to end the half: we made some plays, they probably made some (mistakes) they would like to have back,” Normal Community coach Jason Drengwitz said. That’s a credit to our kids.”
Beating SHG, one of the best central Illinois football programs, in such fashion was a shock to Drengwitz.
“There are so many unknown things that we felt about our team,” he said. “I think we have a chance to be pretty good but there are so many unknown things about (SHG); they are so talented and so well-coached, and they have so many great players. They just reload year after year, I would never have expected it. I’m really proud of our guys.”
SHG’s final highlight came after the Ironmen went up 47-7. Backup quarterback Trent Caldwell found Jamarion Bardwell for an 86-yard touchdown.
“There’s one thing I know is we’ve been together for a long time and the coaches aren’t going to sleep much this weekend,” Allison said. “We’re going to get some things figured out.”
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Reigning 4A state champ Sacred Heart-Griffin loses to Normal Community
