The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals fell to the Canistota Hawks in the opening game of the 2016 football season 42-6 on Friday, August 26th, in Canistota.
On the first offensive play of the game for St Mary, the Cardinals threw an interception. Canistota turned that into points after a three-yard touchdown run by Jacob White Lance with 7:23 to go in the first quarter. On the second offensive play of the game, the Cardinals snapped the ball over the head of Garret Frost into the endzone for a safety. Canistota then led 8-0 with 7:10 left in the first quarter. The Hawks scored again with 3:57 to go on a two-yard touchdown run by White Lance to go ahead 14-0. St Mary settled down in their third offensive drive, and with 1:50 left 
in the quarter Frost connected with Evan Brown on a 31-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 14-6.
Canistota would score three more times, though, in the second quarter. The first score came with 11:49 to go on a 28-yard run by White Lance. The second touchdown came at the 6:19 mark on a six-yard run by Scott Jolly. The final score of the half came with 2:30 to go and was an 18-yard pass from Jolly to Andrew Weber. The Hawks led 34-6 at halftime.
The final score of the game came on a 92-yard run by Austin Thu to make the score 42-6.
The Cardinals travel to Rutland to take on the Oldham-Ramona/Rutland Raiders on Friday, September 2nd. The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.