The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals went step-for-step with the #1 team in the South Dakota 9A Media Poll, the De Smet Bulldogs, on Friday, October 15th for most of the game. The Bulldogs found a small two and a half minute window, which was the difference in the game. De Smet defeated the Cardinals 34-16.
The game was much closer than the score indicates. St Mary finished with 212 yards of total offense, 206 rushing yards and six passing yards. The Bulldogs had a total of 248 yards of offense, 157 passing yards and 91 rushing yards.
The Cardinals’ opening drive couldn’t have been scripted any better. They took six minutes and 11 seconds off the clock, and Nic Gaspar finished the drive with a three-yard touchdown run. CJ Smith had a pass to Gaspar for the two-point conversion, and St Mary led 8-0 with 5:49 to go in the opening quarter.
De Smet scored on their second drive of the game. Colt Wilkinson had a 24-yard touchdown pass to Kadyn Fast. Wilkinson then threw a pass to Blake Van Regenmorter for the two point conversion, and the game was tied 8-8 with 9:10 left in the second quarter. De Smet took the lead with 3:01 to go in the half on a 36-yard touchdown pass from Wilkinson to Fast. The two-point conversion was no good, and the score remained 14-8 at halftime.
The Cardinal defense continued to hang tough throughout the third quarter. They then put a score on the board after a forced fumble by Camden Gilbert and recovery by Gabe Lindeman. Lindeman scooped the ball around the 25-yard line of the Bulldogs and ran it into the endzone for a touchdown. Smith threw the two-point conversion pass to Gaspar, and with 1:43 left in the third quarter, St Mary led 16-14.
The third quarter ended with the Cardinals leading 16-14, but the next two and half minutes completely changed the game. Wilkinson scored on the first play of the fourth quarter on a 10-yard run. The two-point conversion was no good, but the Bulldogs led 20-16 with 11:53 to go. De Smet then got an interception on the next Cardinal drive. Rett Osthus socred on a 31-yard run on the very next play to give the Bulldogs a 26-16 lead. De Smet the executed a short kick-off and recovered the ball. Osthus struck again with a 23-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion was good, and De Smet led 34-16 with 9:37 to go in the game. St Mary was unable to get the ball into the endzone the remainder of the game.
“I’m very proud of how hard our kids played tonight. They left it all on the field and worked their tails off,” said head coach Ross Flemmer.
Noah Olund had 21 carries for 122 yards. Gaspar had 10 carries for 29 yards and a touchdown. Smith was 2-7 passing for six yards. Ty Brown and Olund each had a catch. Olund also led the team with eight tackles. John Pica and Smith both had five tackles. Gapsar and Brown had four tackles each. Lindeman had two sacks and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.
The Cardinals finished the regular season with a 4-3 record and will be the #5 seed in the Class 9B playoffs. Their first round playoff game will be at home on Thursday, October 15th at 6:00 p.m. against #12 Corisica-Stickney.