The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals come-from-behind win fell short as the Elkton/Lake Benton Elks earned a 28-20 win on Friday, October 5th in Elkton.
With the scored tied 6-6 early in the second quarter, the Elks scored the go-ahead touchdown with 7:23 to play in the first half to take a 14-6 lead. The score remained 14-6 at halftime.
Neither team was able to get on the board in the third quarter, and with one quarter to play, the Elks continued to lead 14-6. Elkton/Lake Benton scored early in the fourth quarter on a halfback pass to extend their lead to 20-6. St Mary answered with 7:39 to play on a 47-yard touchdown pass from Connor Libis to Ethan Geraets to cut the lead to 20-14. The Elks again were able to get a two score lead after a four-yard run with 3:04 to play to go ahead 28-14. St Mary was able to get a score with just :26 remaining to make the score 28-20, but Elkton/Lake Benton was able to run out the clock for the win.
The Cardinals finished the game with 263 yards of total offense, 120 rushing yards and 143 passing yards. The Elks had 266 total yards of offense, 236 rushing yards and 30 passing yards.
Payton Park led the ground attack for St Mary with 10 carries for 54 yards. Libis finished 9-21 passing for 143 yards, three touchdowns, and a two-point conversion. Weston Geraets had five catches for 86 yards and two touchdowns. E. Geraets had three catches for 51 yards, a touchdown, and two-point conversion. Eli Longville led the defense with nine tackles in the game. Ryan Eining had eight tackles, and Logan Wolles had seven and a half tackles.
St Mary (2-5) will close the regular season with a home game and senior night against Oldham-Ramona/Rutland on Friday, October 12th.