The Cardinal football team would travel to Centerville on Friday to take on the 9A Tornadoes. St Mary’s came into this one undefeated, sitting at 4-0. Centerville came in at 2-1 with their lone loss coming against a good Alcestor-Hudson team. As Bauer splits the secondary, the Cardinals would take a close game in Centerville.
First Quarter
The first quarter was extremely uneventful for the Cardinals. An opening drive punt for St Mary’s led to Centerville’s Alec Austin running it for a touchdown. Facing a deficit for the first time the whole season, St Mary’s put the ball on the grass. Centerville would get the ball back off of the turnover with just under two minutes left in the quarter. Centerville would get down to the Cardinal 20 yard-line as the quarter ended.
Second Quarter
The Tornadoes would start the quarter by turning it over on downs on a Jake Heinitz pass break-up at the 22 yard-line. Junior quarterback Jaxon Baumberger faked a handoff and found a wide-open Logan Bauer. The junior-to-junior connection where Bauer splits the secondary the first time went for 75 yards for the touchdown on the play. A failed two-point conversion made it 7-6 Centerville leading. Centerville would waste down a load of the clock before punting it away. Senior Trimmier Hanson would step to quarterback next. Hanson would convert a fourth and long on his legs before finding Baumberger down field to get to the three yard-line. Hanson this time would take the handoff from Baumberger for the touchdown and then called his own number on the two-point. The lead was 14-7 at the end of the half.
Third Quarter
The Tornadoes would go three-and-out to start the second half. After taking possession, the Cardinals fumbled it leading to a long Centerville touchdown. The two-point was no good making it 14-13. St Mary’s would give it back to Centerville as the Tornadoes looked to completely capture momentum. However, the Cardinal defense came up huge, forcing the three-and-out. As a result of the Centerville punt, St Mary’s had it at the Tornado 30. Baumberger would look down field and find Bauer yet again for a 30 yard touchdown. Next up was Lincoln Lebrun getting in for the two-point to get up 22-13.
Fourth Quarter
As a result of Centerville driving down the field, one would think it would be a score. Heinitz, however, came up big on the goal-line with two pass break-ups to force a fourth down field goal attempt. Unfortunately for Centerville, the kick would be blocked. The Cardinals would waste down several minutes before Baumberger pitched out to Lebrun for a 25 yard touchdown. Hanson ended up with the two-point conversion to make it 30-13. Although Centerville was able to drive down and score to make it 30-21, Baumberger and the Cardinals were able to take to victory formation to kneel away the clock.
Wrap Up
Offensively for the Cardinals, they had 284 yards rushing with 137 yards through the air. Lebrun had 14 carries for 156 yards, a two-point conversion, and a touchdown. Hanson would finish with 21 carries for 101 yards, two two-point conversions, and a touchdown. Kade Lutt added five carries for 18 yards. On the other hand, through the air, Baumberger had three completions for 109 yards and two touchdowns. Hanson would finish with a throw of 31 yards. Bauer splits the secondary with three catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns with Baumberger adding a catch of 31 yards.
Also, defensively for the Cardinals, there were good performances. Lebrun had 10.5 tackles with Heinitz adding five and a half tackles with four pass breakups. Lutt and Bauer had four and a half tackles with Lutt adding a pass breakup. Hanson added yet another pass breakup along with four tackles. Carlo Pica tallied three and a half tackles with Alex Lindeman and Josh Leibl each having a sack.
Coach Ross Flemmer said of his players,
“The boys played hard tonight. They fought through adversity and really turned it up when they needed to. I was very proud of their efforts tonight!”
The Cardinals come back home on the 26th for their homecoming against the 3-1 Iroquois-Lake Preston Sharks. That game will be live on Big Sioux Media at https://www.youtube.com/@BigSiouxMedia
