The Sacred Heart Eagles were able to ride the momentum of senior Parker Erickson’s 1,000 point milestone and hold of a late surge from the Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Ponies, taking them down by a score of 81-70 at the Sacred Heart High School Gymnasium.
FIRST HALF –
The first half started quickly for the Eagles, especially for Parker Erickson, who came into the game with 993 career points. Every time Erickson touched the ball, he shot the ball, and scored the first 5 points. He then went cold, but everyone else picked up the slack. At 12-9 Ponies, with 11:44 remaining in the half, Erickson scored on a tough layup, hitting the 1,000 point milestone. After a brief stoppage to congratulate Erickson, the game resumed, and fouls began to add up. Greg DFowns capped off a 6-0 Eagles run to put them up 21-16, a three by Noah Sedlacek tied it at 21. It didn’t seem like either team was going to pull away, but after back-to-back Erickson layups and multiple free throws, Sacred Heart opened up a 32-24 lead with less than 3 minutes remaining in the half. After a Jake Satterlund three-point shot made it 35-24 Eagles, the shooting from the Ponies began to heat up, especially from beyond the arch, as long-range baskets from Kyden Kotrba, Sebastian Johnson and Sidney Carlson allowed WAO to close the gap to 4, ending the first half with a Sacred Heart lead of 39-35.
SECOND HALF –
Warren-A-O had hot shooting to close the gap at the end of the first half, but to start the second half, it was Sacred Heart getting started with the shooting, as Erickson continued his monster day, and a breakaway layup by Jacob Ortiz off a steal capped off a 11-4 run to open the half, making it 50-39 Eagles, tying their largest lead of the game. However, as was the case for the first half as well, the Ponies continued to fight and push for a comeback, and at 56-45 Eagles, the Ponies used multiple Kaden Pierce buckets to close the gap to 59-55. Then, after a Greg Downs bucket, Warren-A-O went on their best run of the game, a 7-0 spurt to take their first lead since 16-15, going up 62-61. The Eagles tied the score at 62, and then at 64, and then the Eagles began to feed Greg Downs again, and another bucket from the post for him put the Eagles up 69-64. The Ponies gave it everything they had, cutting the score to 71-68 with 2:52 remaining, but the Eagles put their feet to the floor and were eventually able to pull away, ending the game on a 10-2 run, 6 of those points from the free throw line, and ended up winning by their largest lead margin of the game, by a final score of 81-70.
Sacred Heart improves to 1-0 on the yard ear and takes on Park Christian on Friday. Warren-A-O drops to 0-2 on the season.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Warren-Alvarado-Oslo | 35 | 35 | 70 |
| Sacred Heart | 39 | 42 | 81 |
| For Sacred Heart | Points |
| Parker Erickson | 29 |
| Greg Downs | 14 |
| Jacob Ortiz | 10 |
| Will Zavoral | 8 |
| Elliot Arntson | 6 |
| Sawyer Horken | 5 |
| Gabe LeTexier | 4 |
| Jake Satterlund | 3 |
| Isaac Ortiz | 2 |
| For Warren-A-O | Points |
| Kaden Pierce | 19 |
| Ethan Ellerbusch | 13 |
| Kyden Kortba | 9 |
| Noah Sedlacek | 9 |
| Sebastian Johnson | 7 |
| Sidney Carlson | 7 |
| Noah Dvorak | 6 |
