With 15 football state championships between the two teams, the Class 4A quarterfinals should be well-attended.
On Saturday, 10th-seeded Sacred Heart-Griffin forced four turnovers, quarterback Cam Brinkman ran for three touchdowns and threw for another, and the Cyclones beat No. 2 Carterville 45-15 at Ken Leonard Field. No. 3 Rochester took care of its business on Friday, with a 55-21 win over No. 11 Waterloo in the second round of the playoffs.
Now the two teams meet for the second time this season, but this time at Rocket Booster Stadium. Rochester (10-1) beat the Cyclones (8-3), 31-28, in a non-conference Week 9 game between the two teams paired up in opposite divisions of the Central State Eight Conference.
Three weeks after that first meeting, SHG wants to even the season series.
Rochester won its ninth state championship in 2023, while Sacred Heart-Griffin grabbed its sixth the year prior. This will be the fourth postseason meeting between the two storied programs. Rochester won the first in the 2019 Class 5A quarterfinals before SHG took the 4A semifinal matchups in both 2021 and ’22.
Brinkman finished 13-for-21 with 179 yards and one touchdown in the air and ran 16 times for 56 yards and three TDs as the Cyclones overwhelmed the Lions (9-2).
The junior signal-caller wasn’t content with his performance and didn’t give the offense a pass for a few mistakes — mostly with penalties. SHG was whistled nine times for 66 yards.
“We knew we were going to have to throw the ball a little bit more, and then we came out and tried to get more of like a passing attack going in the first half,” Brinkman said. “It worked for the most part, (but) we’ve got to limit the penalties pre-snap. We’ve got to be able to finish drives too. We can’t, you know, get in the red zone and then have to kick (field goals).
“We’ve got to do better with that, but other than that, I thought the offense played pretty well today.”
SHG was stopped once in the first half, and kicker Drew Ward missed a 35-yard field goal. He more than made up for it to close out the first half with a 44-yarder as SHG went to halftime with a 24-7 lead.
In the third, SHG had a first-and-goal from the 2-yard line, but penalties and a 6-yard loss play forced Ward to try a 35-yard field goal, which missed. The Cyclones had a three-and-out on the final possession of the third quarter.
For every mistake SHG’s offense might’ve made — and there weren’t many — the Cyclones more than made up for them on defense. Twice in the second quarter, Carterville fumbled as quarterback Andrew Johnson attempted to hand the ball off to running back Jonathan Miller. SHG converted both of those gifts into 14 points: Brinkman turned the first into a 1-yard TD run and a 14-7 lead with 4 minutes, 9 seconds left in the half. The second ended with Ward’s 44-yard field goal.
Lucas Oseland grabbed a deflected pass for a third-quarter interception and Johnson threw a second pick on third-and-19 and Carterville trailing 24-7 to SHG’s Mikey Groesch. Two plays later, Brinkman scored his third rushing TD.
“I thought we’d been missing that a few times — to win in that turnover margin — and to go up on four turnovers today, I couldn’t be more proud of the defense,” SHG coach John Allison said. “They really came to play. You know, it’s tough: our defense had a tough assignment (because Carterville has the ability to change the offense).
“So they had their hands full and I just thought they really did a great job this week.”
Late in the first half, Carterville coach Brett Diel looked up at the scoreboard and thought the 14-7 deficit was manageable. But SHG scored twice in the final minute.
“I thought to myself, ‘We got to take care of the ball here, we can get this thing to the half, we’re down a score, we can regroup and maybe come out and we’re in striking distance still,'” Diel said. “And next thing you know, you look up and we’ve given the ball up a couple of times and we’re down (24-7). You can’t go on a road in the playoffs and turn the ball over.”
SHG’s depth was a major asset for the Cyclones. Groesch, who is the main running back, along with receiver Gavin Fay, were limited or sidelined for most of the game. Thomas Southern came in for Groesch in the run game and picked up a 65-yard touchdown run for a 38-15 lead. Groesch did manage three carries late, including a 14-yarder to close out the scoring.
“Mikey got a little banged up, I don’t know what happened, but I’m just happy I was able to get in there and do what he usually does,” Southern said.
Ward finished with six catches for 92 yards and a 36-yard touchdown catch from Brinkman.
“I think we’re kind of like working as a well-oiled machine right now,” Ward said. “We got the ground game working today later in the game, but in the early first half, we were working a lot of passing stuff. It’s awesome to see that we can move the ball in two facets.”
Carterville’s Johnson finished 11-for-17 with 152 yards and two picks. He also ran in for a pair of touchdowns.