The Sacred Heart Prep Gators capitalized on a recovered fumble in the last minutes of the 10th annual Valparaiso Bowl against the Menlo Knights to pull ahead and secure a 31-28 win on Friday night.
Down 28-23 with 4:52 left in the game, Gators defensive back Patrick Tinsley dived and recovered a Menlo fumble amid wild student chants of “I believe we can win!” to hand possession back to SHP on the Knights’ 25-yard line. Running backs Chris Lee and Andrew Segre (107 yards on 19 carries) then barreled through the Knights’ defense, reaching the two-yard line in six plays.
Redemption finally came at the 3:05 mark, when Gator running back Ben Burr Kirven scored to give SHP the lead. Quarterback Kevin Donahoe followed with a two-point conversion, closing out the scoring.
“That win was amazing,” Gator running back Ryan Gaertner (21 rushes for 119 yards) said. “It shows that you can never know what happens in football and it just proves that it’s worth it for everyone to give it their all until the end.”
The Valpo Bowl has traditionally been an interleague, end-of-the-season matchup between the Gators and the Knights to benefit the Peninsula Bridge Program, a non-profit organization that helps to guide under-resourced middle school students. The PAL-Bay "A" Division Gators’ victory avenges last year’s 26-0 loss to the PAL-Bay "B" Division Knights and brings SHP’s total Valpo Bowl wins to four against Menlo’s six.
“Menlo is a really good, really talented team,” said SHP assistant coach Joe Penkala. “Ultimately, our team just never gave up, even when it seemed like the game was might be lost for us at the end of the third. I think that was really what made all the difference between the scores this year versus the last.”
The Knights (8-2) stole the show from the Gators in the first quarter as Menlo recovered an SHP fumble to make the game’s first touchdown. Menlo quarterback Jack Heneghan alternated well-defended keeps with accurate long-range passes to wide receivers Max Parker and Connor Paterson, among others, to put the ball at the Gators’ 2-yard line. Wide receiver Connor Stastny punctuated the drive, making a short touchdown pass at the 3:22 mark to make the score 7-0.
Heneghan made full use of almost all of the Knights’ receivers throughout the game, completing 21 of 35 total passes for 228 yards.
Menlo scored again when wide receiver Peter Bouret caught a bullet 29-yard pass to make it 14-0 with 11:19 left in the half.
“I didn’t think we had a chance at one point,” Gator linebacker Will Nahmens said. “We dug deep and got lucky a few times -- some things you just can’t believe.”
However, SHP came back strong and took back the lead by halftime as kicker Brendan Spillane made a field goal for the Gators at the 5:00 mark.
SHP (9-1) reclaimed possession of the ball soon thereafter when multiple penalties against the Knights set back their offense nearly 50 yards. Racing against the clock, Kirven sprinted for a touchdown at 0:55 to make the score 14-10.
But the Gators weren't through. Sacred Heart Prep defenders sacked Heneghan on Menlo’s 37-yard line and linebacker Derek Hunter recovered a fumble and ran it in for yet another touchdown with 6.1 seconds remaining in the half.
“The game was a crazy back and forth,” Spillane said. “But Kevin, our quarterback, led us to all our touchdowns. Our defense was great as always, and we played hard, plain and simple.”
Menlo recovered its stride in the third when Heneghan scored from 16 yards at the 7:10 mark. Parker followed shortly after and scored once again when Heneghan hit him with a short five-yard pass, making is 28-16.
The Gators rallied once again, and the fans roared to life as linebacker Mike Covell made a key interception with seven minutes left. Running back Andrew Segre exploited a weak spot in the Knights’ defense to push the ball in for a 3-yard touchdown at 5:04, making the score 28-23. Tinsley's fumble moments later then made it 31-28.
“There was just a huge momentum shift (that) everyone on the team could feel right after the interception at the end,” Gaertner said. “From then on, we pounded them and then pounded them again.”
The Gators made their final touchdown with three minutes remaining in the game. It provided plenty of time for the Knights to score once again, but the gritty Gator defense held tight. A turnover resulted, and Donahoe downed the ball on two plays to bring an end to it all.
Sacred Heart Prep and Menlo School may both face off against each other again as they prepare to enter the CCS Division IV playoffs.
