(KTNC) - Falls City Sacred Heart turned in a dominating defensive performance en route to a 50-12 victory over the Axtell Eagles Friday night in Axtell, Kansas.  The Irish held the Eagles to under 100 yards of total offense, blocked two punts, and forced two turnovers in the game.  That allowed Sacred Heart to overcome 11 penalties and three turnovers to pick up a win in their first road game of the season.

Axtell got on the board first, when Payton Heinen scooped up an Irish fumble on the second play of the game, and returned it for a touchdown to stake the Eagles to a 6-0 lead.  That lead would be short-lived, as the Irish got on the board less than two minutes later.  Sawyer Kean scampered 38 yards to paydirt to give the Irish a 7-6 lead with 10:11 remaining in the first quarter.  Sacred Heart added two more touchdowns in the quarter, an 18 yard run by Brandon Schawang and a two-yard run by Kean.

Sacred Heart took to the air to score two second quarter touchdowns.  Senior quarterback Chaz Dunn connected with Sean Strasheim on an 11 yard touchdown on the first play of the period, and he found Colin Niemeyer for a 25 yard scoring toss with 5:04 remaining in the first half.  

Axtell got its only offensive touchdown of the game late in the second quarter, when junior quarterback Tyler Jones connected with Payton Heinen on a 10 yard touchdown pass with 25 seconds left in the first half.  Sacred Heart led 34-12 at the half.

Neither offense was able to get much going in the second half.  The only points in the third quarter came when Sacred Heart blocked an Axtell punt in the end zone.  The ball trickled out the back of the end zone for a safety.

The Irish got two short touchdown runs from Brandon Schawang in the fourth quarter, thi first coming with 9:46 remaining and the second less than a minute later as the Irish were able to capitalize on an Axtell turnover on the ensuing possession.  

With the win, Sacred Heart improves to 3-0 on the season.  The Irish host Diller-Odell this coming Friday. Axtell falls to 2-1 with the loss.