A second half surge by the Castlewood/Estelline Warriors gave them a Homecoming win over the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals 38-22 on Friday, September 16th, in Castlewood.
The Cardinals started the game off with a bang when Sam Schwebach scored on the second play of the game. He reeled off a 51-yard run to put St Mary ahead 6-0 with 11:51 to play in the first quarter. Neither team scored again the first, and the Cardinals led 6-0 after the first quarter. St Mary struck again with 6:38 left in the second quarter on a six-yard touchdown run by Dalton Houska. Evan Brown converted the two-point conversion to extend the Cardinal lead to 14-0. The Warriors answered on their next drive when Dalton Eng scored from 17 yards away to cut the lead to 14-8 with 3:52 remaining in the half. The Cardinals scored again before halftime when E. Brown scored on a nine-yard run with 1:02 left in the half. Houska scored the two-point conversion, and St Mary led 22-8 at halftime.
The Warriors scored on their first drive of the second half on a six-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Benike to Shelby Kerkvliet with 9:33 left in the third to cut the lead to 22-16. St Mary then went on a 6:00 drive, but the Cardinals turned the ball over on downs to the Castlewood/Estelline deep in Warrior territory. The Warriers then took the lead for the first time at 24-22 with 1:03 to go in the third quarter on a 34-yard touchdown run by Eng. The Cardinals were able to drive down the field again early in the fourth quarter, but turned the ball over on a fumble inside the five yard line. Castlewood/Estelline scored again with 6:41 to go in the game on Eng’s third touchdown to extend the lead to 30-22. Eng would find the endzone again with 2:11 to play on a three-yard run.
St Mary finished the night with 17 first downs and 307 yards of total offense. Houska had 25 carries for 95 yards in the game. Luke Brown was 3-5 passing for 30 yards. E. Brown had 12 carries for 61 yards and also one catch for 19 yards.
St Mary falls to 1-3 on the year. The Cardinals will host Arlington/Lake Preston on Homecoming Friday, September 23rd. The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.