The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal football team has not allowed flood damage to their home field slow them this season. St Mary had to find a different venue to play their homecoming game on Friday, October 4th. That place was McEnaney Field, home to the O’Gorman Knights.
The Cardinals hosted the Centerville Tornadoes for their homecoming game and cruised to a 52-0 win by halftime to improve to 6-0 on the season.
St Mary opened the game receiving the kickoff, and they scored early. Three plays into the game Connor Libis connected with Weston Geraets on a 58-yard pass, which Geraets ripped out of the hands of the defender, for an early 6-0 lead. After the St Mary defense forced and recovered a fumble, Eli Longville scored on an 18-yard run four plays later. Libis scored the two-point conversion, and the Cardinals led 14-0 about 10 plays into the game. Centerville took the ball to the Cardinal five yard line on their next drive, but the St Mary defense made a goal line stand and forced a turnover on downs. The Cardinals marched 95 yard down the field, and Libis scored on a four-yard run. Libis then hit Ty Brown on the two-point conversion to put St Mary ahead 22-0 with just seconds to play in the quarter.
The Tornadoes drove to the St Mary 20 yard line on their first drive of the second quarter, but Geraets intercepted a pass and returned the ball 89 yards for a Cardinal touchdown. Libis scored the two-point conversion again to push the St Mary lead to 30-0. St Mary forced another Centerville turnover on the Tornadoes’ next drive, this time an interception by Libis. Libis then scored on the next offensive play on a 10-yard run. Longville scored the two-point conversion to push the lead to 38-0. The St Mary Cardinals got two more scores on runs by Libis in the quarter for the 52-0 win.
St Mary finished with 247 yards of total offense, 163 rushing yards and 84 passing yards. Libis had 10 carries for 68 yards and three touchdowns. Longville had seven carries for 60 yards and a touchdown. Libis was also 4-7 passing for 84 yards and a touchdown. Geraets had 2 catches for 78 yards and a touchdown. Longville finished with six tackles. Libis had five tackles and an interception. Geraets added 4.5 tackles, an interception and return for touchdown, as well as a forced fumble.
Head coach Ross Flemmer said, “Our offensive and defensive line played well tonight controlling the line of scrimmage. The boys played hard and came away with a big win.”
The Cardinals (6-0) will travel to Colman to play the #1 ranked Colman-Egan Hawks in a showdown between # and #2 in 9B football. The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.