The 2018 football season came to an end for the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals in the opening round of the South Dakota 9B Playoffs on Thursday, October 25th in Castlewood. The Castlewood Warriors beat the Cardinals 36-12 to advance to the quarterfinal round.
The first quarter was a defensive battle as neither team was able to put a score on the board. The Warriors got on the scoreboard in the second quarter with 10:22 to play on a seven-yard touchdown run by Noah Wiersma to go ahead 6-0. St Mary tied the game with 1:52 remaining in the half on a two-yard run by Connor Libis. Castlewood took the lead again with just seconds remaining on a one-yard touchdown run by Kaden Eng and two-point conversion. The Warriors led 14-6 at halftime.
Castlewood scored first in the third quarter on a five-yard run by Kevin Munoz with 7:18 to play. The two-point conversion was good extending the lead to 22-6. St Mary cut the lead after a 26-yard touchdown pass from Libis to Weston Geraets at 22-12. That’s where the score remained heading into the fourth quarter. Wiersma scored with 7:38 to play in the game after a Castlewood interception. The score pushed the lead to 28-12. The Warriors added one more score on another Wiersma touchdown with 2:20 to play.
W. Geraets finished with 12 carries for 81 yards. Ethan Geraets had 13 carries for 77 yards, and Libis finished with five carries for 20 yards and a touchdown. Libis was also 3-7 passing for 70 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. W. Geraets had two catches for 63 yards and a touchdown. Eli Longville led the team in tackles with 11 in the game. W. Geraets had 10 tackles. Ryan Eining finished with 7.5 tackles. Libis also had 6.5 tackles and a defensive interception.
St Mary finished their season with a 3-6 overall record.