The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals bounced back in a big way on Friday, September 11th. A week after falling to De Smet 54-0, St Mary hosted the fourth-ranked Alcester-Hudson Cubs at Rickeman Field. The Cardinals evened their record and gave the Cubs their first loss of the season in a 52-38 victory.
The Cubs scored two quick touchdowns in the first quarter. Alcester-Hudson led 12-0 with 5:28 to play in the quarter. St Mary, however, was able to settle into a groove. Connor Libis scored on a 36-yard run with 3:28 to go. A made two-point conversion cut the lead down to 12-8. After a defensive stop, the Cardinals scored on their first drive of the second quarter on a Noah Olund rushing touchdown. Another made two-point conversion gave St Mary a 16-12 lead with 11:18 to play in the half. The Cardinals continued to roll as Libis scored on a 30-yard touchdown run and two-point conversion to push the lead to 24-12 with 9:15 remaining. Libis scored again with 4:11 to play in the half on a 40-yard run as St Mary scored 32 unanswered points for a 32-12 lead. The Cubs stopped the run as they scored with 1:31 to play in the half to cut the lead to 32-20. That’s where the score remained at halftime.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, but Libis scored his fourth touchdown of the night on a 27-yard run and also made the two-point conversion to give the Cardinals a 40-20 lead with 8:06 to play in the game. Alcester-Hudson ran the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown to make the score 40-26 with 7:54 to go. The Cubs pulled within a touchdown after another score with 6:36 to play in the game. Libis scored touchdown number five on a 33-yard run with 5:19 on the clock to push the lead back to 14 points at 46-32.
The Cubs again pulled within one possession after a touchdown with 3:57 to play in the game. St Mary led 46-38 at that point in the game. The Cardinals were able to put the game out of reach when Libis scored for the sixth time with 2:21 to play to lead 52-38.
The Cardinals finished with 452 yards of total offense, 432 of those rushing yards. Alcester-Hudson had 447 total yards, 275 rushing yards and 172 passing yards.
Libis had 31 carries for 317 yards and six touchdowns. Ty Brown had seven carries for 54 yards. Noah Olund had 11 carries for 37 yards and a touchdown. CJ Smith was 1-3 passing for 20 yards and an interception. John Pica finished the night with 6.5 tackles. Nic Gaspar and Ashaun Roach-Valandra both had six tackles. Nick Wolles added 4.5 tackles. Max Herber, Noah Dennis, and Roach-Valandra all had a sack in the game.
The Cardinals (2-2) will travel to Avon on Friday, September 18th. The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.