The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals ended a three-game skid and got back into the win column with a 44-20 win over the Arlington Cardinals on Friday, September 16th. St Mary finished the game with 425 yards of offense, 409 of those yards on the ground. The defense held Arlington to 192 yards of offense, 187 of those rushing yards.
“The boys played hard tonight. They took care of business and did a lot of good things,” said head coach Ross Flemmer.
Tate Bunkers got the scoring started for St Mary with a five-yard touchdown run with 7:54 to play in the first quarter. St Mary scored again with 2:20 in the quarter on a two-yard pass from CJ Smith to Nic Gaspar. After a fumble by Arlington on their next offensive play recovered by St Mary, Smith had a 34-yard touchdown run with 1:50 on the clock. St Mary converted on two of the three two-point attempts giving them a 22-0 lead at the end of the quarter.
Bunkers scored again on a 14-yard touchdown run, and the two-point conversion was made with 2:19 to play in the half pushing the St Mary lead to 30-0. The score remained 30-0 in favor of St Mary at halftime.
Gaspar added 50-yard touchdown on the first offensive play of the third quarter. Another made two-point conversion with 11:48 on the clock gave St Mary a 38-0 lead. Arlington got their first touchdown moments later as they returned the kickoff for a touchdown. The final score for St Mary came late in the third quarter on a 13-yard touchdown run by Logan Bauer. Arlington got two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
Smith finished 2-3 passing for 16 yards and a touchdown. Camden Gilbert had a catch for 13 yards, and Gaspar had a three-yard touchdown catch. Gaspar also finished with five carries for 101 yards and a touchdown. Bunkers also had five carries for 78 yards and two touchdowns. Smith ended with six carries for 59 yards and a touchdown. Gilbert added three carries for 39 yards. Trimmier Hanson had six rushes for 58 yards, and Bauer had three runs for 19 yards and a touchdown.
Charlie Becker and Aiden Allen led the defense with four tackles each. Gaspar had three tackles and a forced fumble. Gabriel Lindeman, Owen Vargas, Thomas LaVoy, Lincoln LeBrun, and Connor Hanson all had three tackles each.
