The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals put up 44 points in the first quarter on their way to a 56-12 win over the Oldham-Ramona/Rutland Raiders on Friday, September 14th, at Rickeman Field.
The Cardinals opened up the game with a kick-off return for a touchdown by Ben Bunkers. The 2-point conversion was good, and Dell Rapids St. Mary lead 8-0 13 seconds into the game. O-R-R responded with a touchdown run of their own 40 seconds later to close the gap to 8-6, but that was as close as the Raiders would get the rest of the game. Noel Hansen added a rushing touchdown about the 7:30 mark of the first quarter to put the Cardinals up 14-6. About a 1:30 later, Wes Heinricy connected with Bunkers on a TD-pass, and with another successful 2-point conversion, the Cardinals led 22-6. The Cardinal defense would add a touchdown about a minute later when Jonah Longville took the ball away from Dustin Riedel in the endzone for a touchdown. At the 3:34 mark still in the first quarter, Jacob Glazier put the ball in the endzone on a 3-yard touchdown run. The defense would add one last touchdown in the first quarter when Jared Scholten stripped the ball and ran it back for a touchdown. Dell Rapids St. Mary led 44-6 at the end of the first quarter.
The Cardinal defense would get their third touchdown of the night when Josh Brown returned a fumble at the 6:35 mark in the second quarter. Dell Rapids St. Mary took a halftime lead of 50-6. Oldham-Ramona/Rutland would score the only touchdown of the third quarter for either team on a break-away run by Riedel. Casey Hansen would get the final touchdown for the Cardinals on a QB-run with about 2:00 left in the game.
Dell Rapids St Mary ran for 185 yards and passed for 49 yards for a total of 231 total yards. Bunkers had eight carries for 32 yards. N. Hansen had five carries for 46 yards and a touchdown. Heinricy was 2-2 passing for 15 yards and a touchdown. C. Hansen was 2-3 passing for 34 yards. Christian Schnieders had seven tackles for the defense. Brown had 6.5 tackles, a fumble recovery for a touchdown and an interception.
Head Coach Flemmer said, “I thought we did a much better job of tackling this week. Our offensive line improved and we were able to run the ball much better. We still have a lot of work to do to get ready for Colman-Egan, but we are headed in the right direction. The kids played hard tonight and had fun.”
The win moves the Cardinals to 2-1 on the year. They will travel to Colman to take on Colman-Egan on Friday, September 21st.
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