By Andrew Preimesberger
Palo Alto Online Sports

Sacred Heart' Prep ran for a total of 424 yards and seven touchdowns as the Gators rolled to a 48-15 Central Coast Section Division IV football playoff win over visiting Pacific Grove on Saturday afternoon.

Second-seeded Sacred Heart improved to 10-1 overall while Pacific Grove ended its season at 7-4. The Gators move on to the semifinals and are set to take on No. 6 Soquel (9-2) next Saturday in Atherton at 1 p.m. Soquel advanced with a 49-42 win over No. 3 Carmel on Friday.

"It's our running game, it's what we do," said Sacred Heart coach Peter Lavorato. "I felt like we needed to get back to basics and run the ball -- the kids blocked it well."

The Gators came right out of the gate. On their third drive of the game, junior Andrew Segre burst down the sideline for a 21-yard touchdown putting Sacred Heart up 21-0 at the end of the first quarter. The touchdown was the Gators' third rushing touchdown of the quarter.

"We're a running team," said Segre. "We just need to put the ball on the ground and we did that today."

Sacred Heart senior quarterback Kevin Donahoe did some running of his own and ran for a 21-yard touchdown to put the Gators up 28-0 at the end of the first half. Donahoe finished with 65 rushing yards including two touchdowns.

Segre gave the Gators some insurance points in the third quarter when he ran in for a two-yard touchdown to give Sacred Heart the 34-0 advantage. The junior finished with 105 yards and two touchdowns.

Pacific Grove junior quarterback Luke Lowell threw a short pass to Kevin Tesky, who ran it all the way down for an 83-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter but it wasn't enough for the Breakers as they still trailed 41-15. Lowell had some passes that were right to receivers, but the Breakers totaled six dropped catches.

Sacred Heart sophomore Andrew Robinson ran in for a five-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to seal the win for the Gators. Robinson, who was brought up to varsity for CCS, finished with 76 yards and a touchdown.

"They (Soquel) have a really good running back," said Lavorato. "They also might be a little bit more stout on defense so we'll have to mix it up a bit and throw a little more.

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