The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals won their first ever state football championship in dramatic fashion on Thursday, November 11th.  CJ Smith threw a two-point conversion pass to Gabe Lindeman for the game-winning conversion to beat the Potter County Battlers 44-42 in the 9B Championship game at the Dakota Dome in Vermillion.

The game couldn’t have been more back-and-forth than it was for the entire duration.  The Cardinals struck first after a 32-yard interception return by John Pica for a touchdown with 10:33 to play in the second quarter.  Ty Brown got the two-point conversion to put St Mary ahead 8-0.  The Battlers tied the game just :46 later.  Grant Luikens threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Drake Bassett and the two-point conversion was good to tie the game 8-8 with 9:47 in the half.  Potter County had the advantage at halftime after Luikens ran a three-yard touchdown run into the end zone with 2:28 to play.  The Battlers led 14-8 at halftime.

St Mary did all of the scoring in the third quarter.  The Cardinals tied the game with 7:08 in the quarter after a one-yard touchdown run by Brown.  St Mary then took the lead with 2:33 in the quarter after a 27-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Tate Bunkers.  The two-point conversion was no good, and the Cardinals led 20-14 heading into the final quarter.

The Battlers put the pressure on the Cardinals in the fourth quarter.  Luikens had a 30-yard touchdown pass to Rider Falkenhagen with 11:53 to play in the game.  The two-point conversion was no good, and the game was tied 20-20.  After a fumble recovery by Potter County, Luikens scored on an eight-yard run with 7:08 to go.  The two-point conversion was good, and the Battlers led 28-20.

St Mary had one more scoring drive in them before the end of regulation.  Smith threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Nic Gaspar with 1:06 left in the game to finish a 10-play, 67-yard drive.  Smith connected with Gabe Lindeman for the two-point conversion to tie the game 28-28.  Potter County nearly won the game in regulation as they drove the ball deep into Cardinal territory.  The final play of regulation ended at the St Mary two-yard line as time expired.

The Cardinals went on offense first in the first overtime.  Gaspar had an eight-yard touchdown run, and then Smith threw a two-point conversion pass to Gaspar for a 36-28 lead.  The Battlers responded on their first offensive play of overtime when Luikens threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Drake Basset.  Luikens ran the two-point conversion into the end zone to tie the game 36-36.

Potter County got the ball first in the second overtime.  Again Luikens had a 10-yard touchdown pass, this time to Falkenhagen.  Luikens, though, was stopped short of the goal line on the two-point conversion attempt.  The Battlers led 42-36.  The Cardinals needed three plays, but Gaspar put the ball into the end zone on a two-yard run to tie the game 42-42.  On the two-point conversion, Smith threw a pass to Lindeman who caught it just beyond the goal line for the game-winning score.

The Cardinals finished with 345 yards of total offense, 247 rushing yards and 98 passing yards.  Potter County had 319 total yards, 297 passing yards and 22 passing yards.  St Mary held the ball on offense for 31:33 of the 48:00 minutes in the game. 

Gaspar, who was named a South Dakota High School Football Coaches Association Outstanding Back in the game, had 21 carries for 103 yards and two touchdowns.  Brown finished with 19 carries for 72 yards and a touchdown.  Noah Olund had 13 carries for 58 yards.  Smith was 5-12 passing for 98 yards and two touchdowns and one interception.  Gaspar had three catches for 65 yards and a touchdown.  Bunkers had a catch for 27 yards and a touchdown.  Lindeman also had a catch for six yards.

Pica led the team with 11 tackles in the game, one for a loss, and an interception returned for a touchdown.  Olund had seven tackles.  Ty Brown had six.  Lucas Flemmer, Lindeman, Gaspar, and Smith all had three tackles each.  Gaspar also had a fumble recovery and an interception.  Pica was named the South Dakota High School Football Coaches Association Outstanding Lineman for the game.

St Mary’s championship season ends with an 8-3 overall record.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal football team is headed back to the Dakota Dome for the 2021 South Dakota Class 9B championship game.  The #5 seeded Cardinals traveled to #1 Avon and handed the Pirates their first loss of the season on Friday, November 5th, and it was a goal line stand in the final seconds the preserved the win for St Mary.

The Cardinals started this game the same way they had throughout the playoffs.  They took the opening drive of the game down the field, and after a five minute drive, Nic Gaspar had a three-yard run for a 6-0 lead.  The St Mary defense then forced a fumble.  With 3:26 left in the opening quarter, Lucas Flemmer had an 18-yard run and then a two-point conversion for an early 14-0 Cardinal lead.  That’s when the fireworks erupted for the remainder of the quarter.

Just thirteen seconds later, Brady Bierema had a 59-yard touchdown run to put the Pirates on the board.  Seventeen seconds after that, Gaspar had a 69-yard touchdown run to push the Cardinal lead back to 14 points at 20-6.  Just over a minute later, Bierema had a 60-yard touchdown run.  Avon made the two-point conversion, and after the dust settled on the first quarter, St Mary had a 20-14 lead.

The defenses played strong in the middle two quarters.  Neither team had a score in the second quarter, and the Cardinals continued to lead 20-14 at halftime.  The Pirates got the only touchdown in the third quarter.  With 7:55 to play in the quarter, Bierema had another touchdown run, this time from six yards away to give Avon a 22-20 lead.

The Pirates added to the lead early in the fourth quarter.  With 10:06 left in the game, Riley Rucktaeshel had a 19-yard run, and Jaden Stahl made another two-point conversion to push the Avon lead to 30-20.  The Cardinals got some momentum back just nine seconds later.  Gaspar broke loose for a 68-yard touchdown to pull the Cardinals within four points at 30-26.

With just under three minutes left in the game, the St Mary defense forced an Avon punt.  The Cardinals marched down the field aided by a 55-yard pass from CJ Smith to Gaspar on third down.  Smith then had a 24-yard touchdown pass to Gabe Lindeman with 1:21 to go to put the Cardinals back in front 32-30.

Avon was not done.  They used a hurry-up style offense to push the ball all the way down to the Cardinal five-yard line with just seven seconds left in the game.  After a timeout, the Pirates ran a reverse to Bierema, and he ran to the left side of the field as Ty Brown tackled him just short of the goal line to send the Cardinals to the dome.

The Cardinals had 455 yards of total offense, 281 rushing yards and 174 passing yards.  Avon finished with 365 yards of offense, 347 rushing yards and 18 passing yards.

Gaspar had 17 carries for 209 yards and three touchdowns.  Flemmer had eight carries for 38 yards and a touchdown.  Brown had 11 carries for 30 yards.  Smith was 7-9 passing for 174 yards and a touchdown.  Gaspar had three catches for 96 yards.  Lindeman had two catches for 33 yards and a touchdown.  Flemmer had one catch for 23 yards, and Tate Bunkers had a catch for 22 yards.

Noah Olund led the defense with 11 tackles and a fumble recovery.  Smith had 9.5 tackles.  John Pica finished with nine tackles, and Lindeman had eight tackles, one sack, and one force fumble.  Gaspar had 7.5 tackles, Lamb added seven tackles, and Brown had six tackles and a fumble recovery.

“The boys played hard tonight.  They played a full 48 minutes and overcame a lot of diversity.  I am very proud of the way they played!” said head coach Ross Flemmer.  This was also Flemmer’s 150th win.

The Cardinals will play in the 9B championship game against Potter County at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 11th.

The 2021 Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal football team is taking a similar path as the 2020 team through this year’s playoffs with big road victories.  After a 40-0 win at home in the opening round, the Cardinals earned a 42-22 win on the road against the Gayville-Volin Raiders on Thursday, October 28th.

The Cardinals appeared to come into the quarterfinal game with a mission, and that mission was to run the ball up and down the field on the Raiders.  Mission accomplished as St Mary racked up 464 rushing yards in the game, along with 40 passing yards, for a total of 504 yards of offense.  Two players nearly had 200 yards of rushing.

St Mary set the tone in the opening drive of the game.  The drove the ball 70 yards in just over three minutes.  Noah Olund scored on a three-yard touchdown run with 8:41 to go in the opening quarter.  That was the only score of the first quarter.  The Raiders did hold a brief lead in the game.  Nate Quatier scored on a 36-yard run with 5:44 to play in the second quarter.  Gayville-Volin made the two-point conversion to take an 8-6 lead.

It wasn’t long before the Cardinals took the lead back.  Ty Brown scored on a two-yard run with 2:46 to give the Cardinals a 12-8 lead.  The St Mary defense then forced the Raiders to punt on their next drive, and the  Cardinals got the ball back with just over two minutes in the half.  That was enough time for one more score. Nic Gaspar had a six-yard touchdown run with :43 left in the half, after a 40-yard run by Brown put the Cardinals in the red zone.  St Mary took an 18-6 lead into halftime.

The Cardinals kicked off to start the second half, but executed an onside kick to get the ball.  St Mary drove the ball down the field, and Olund scored his second touchdown of the game on a one-yard run.  The Cardinals added another score late in the third quarter.  Gaspar had a four-yard run for a touchdown with 1:37 in the third quarter to give the Cardinals a 30-8 lead.

The Raiders weren’t quite ready to go away quietly.   Quatier threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Hirsch with :33 to go in the quarter to cut the lead to 30-14.  Gayville-Volin then executed their own successful onside kick to get the back.  They scored about a minute later.  With 11:26 to play in the game, Andrew Gustand had a 22-yard touchdown run followed by a two-point conversion.  The Raiders trailed by just eight points, 30-22.

The Cardinals responded.  Gaspar broke loose for a 48-yard touchdown run with 8:51 to go to push the lead to 36-22.  After a fourth down stop by the defense, the Cardinal offense got one more touchdown.  Olund had a one-yard score with 4:15 left in the game to seal the victory.

Brown finished with 21 carries for 195 yards and a touchdown.  Gaspar had 21 carries for 190 yards and three touchdowns.  Olund added 14 carries for 64 yards and three touchdowns.  CJ  Smith was 2-2 passing for 40 yards.  Gaspar had both catches.  Brown also led the team in tackles with eight and also had an interception.  John Pica had six tackles.  Gaspar finished with four tackles, and Olund had three tackles.  Gabe Lindeman and Kyle Bares each had 2.5 tackles.

“The boys played hard.  They got after it from start to finish.  I felt our defensive unit played a great game all the way around.  Our offensive line cleared the way.  It was a great team win tonight!” said head coach Ross Flemmer.

St Mary will travel to Avon on Friday, November 5th for the semifinal game.  The winner will play in the championship game on Thursday, November 11th.