The De Smet Bulldogs spoiled the 2017 Homecoming for the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal football team on Friday, September 15th. The Bulldogs defeated St Mary 36-8 at Rickeman Field in Dell Rapids.
Neither team scored in the first quarter. Both teams had just one possession, and each defense forced a turnover on downs. De Smet, however, scored 24 unanswered points in the second quarter on three touchdowns. Cade Birkel scored first on a one-yard touchdown run with 9:33 to play in the second quarter. The two-point conversion was made on a run by Gage Gruenhagen. Birkel scored again with 4:49 to play on a 48-yard run. Birkel then connected with Trevin Holland for the two-point conversion. The final touchdown in the second quarter came with 2:31 to play after a St Mary fumble. Zach Wolkow scored on a four-yard run. The two-point conversion was made to give the Bulldogs a 24-0 lead at halftime.
St Mary’s second half drive ended in a fourth down stop deep in Bulldog territory, and one play later Wolkow was in the endzone again for De Smet after a 69-yard run with 6:31 to play in the quarter. The Cardinals were able to get on the scoreboard with 2:37 to go in the third quarter after a 16-yard touchdown pass from Eli Longville to Seth Bares. Connor Libis scored the two-point conversion. De Smet would get one more touchdown with just :02 left in the third quarter on a 22-yard run by Jared Hoefert for the final score of the game.
The Cardinals finished the game with 220 yards of offense, 179 rushing yards and 40 passing yards. De Smet had 296 yards of total offense, 275 rushing yards and 21 passing yards.
Payton Park led St Mary with seven carries for 55 yards. Libis had six carries for 41 yards. Longville was 2-4 passing for 40 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Libis had one catch for 28 yards. Bares had one catch for 16 yards and a touchdown. Defensively, Tate Hansen had nine tackles and one sack in the game. Weston Geraets also had nine tackles. Longville finished with 8.5 tackles, and Logan Gaspar had 6.5 tackles and a forced fumble.
St Mary (1-3) will travel to Castlewood on Friday, September 22nd. The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.