Friday saw the Cardinals playing in Irene to take on the Irene-Wakonda Eagles. Coming into the game the Cardinals sat at 1-0 and the Eagles at 0-1. Though things started off slow for St. Mary’s, turning the ball over on the first play, they would dominate to the tune of 52-0. Friday saw Lincoln Lebrun run wild as the Cardinals blank Irene-Wakonda.
Quarter 1
As before mentioned, things got started slowly for the Cardinals. Quarterback Jaxon Baumberger and center Alex Lindeman messed up their timing and the ball was free on the ground. Irene-Wakonda pounced on it to take over at the Cardinals 45 yard-line. This would be their only time on St. Mary’s side of the 50 yard-line until 36 seconds left of the first half. After a 3-and-out on defense, senior Trimmier Hanson would go untouched into the end zone for a 53-yard touchdown. Junior Thomas Lavoy added the two-point conversion.
The Eagles couldn’t get anything going for their second straight drive and punted the ball away to the Cardinals. After a Baumberger-to-Hanson completion for 35 yards, junior Kade Lutt would punch in for a 15-yard touchdown. Baumberger would throw to junior Jake Heinitz for the two-point. After another drive for the Eagles totaling negative yards, Lebrun would find a wide open hole for a 51-yard touchdown. Lavoy walked in for the two-point conversion. After another punt for the Eagles, Lebrun took a handoff from Hanson 55 yards for his second touchdown of the night. Hanson took the quarterback power in for the two-point. The 1st quarter ended with the Cardinals up 32-0.
Quarter 2
The second quarter started with another Irene-Wakonda 3-and-out. On just the second play of the Cardinals ensuing drive, Lebrun found green again for a 54 yard score. Hanson would scramble into the end zone for the two-point conversion to bring the lead to 40-0. After going for it on 4th down and failing to convert, the Eagles would turn it over, and St. Mary’s would have it first and 10 from the Irene-Wakonda 34 yard-line. After a penalty backed the Cardinals up, they found themselves at second and 11 yards to go. Freshman Pano Skliris took a handoff from freshman Jacob Geraets for a 35-yard touchdown. A missed two-point made the score 46-0. Irene-Wakonda was able to waste away the rest of the first-half clock as St. Mary’s went into halftime up 46-0.
Quarter 3
Absolutely nothing happened in the third quarter. St. Mary’s had one possession where they drove down to the red zone. Geraets would throw an interception to give Irene-Wakonda the ball at their own nine-yard line.
Quarter 4
However you want to word it, the fourth quarter was lighting fast. Indeed this quarter went by fast, as Irene-Wakonda freshman Isaac Logue would role out to pass. He was hit as he threw the ball. Consequently freshman Colter Griffin intercepted the pass from Logue and waltzed into the end zone to make the score 52-0 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Stat Breakdown
Overall, it was a dominant showing from St. Mary’s. Firstly mentioned, Lebrun had a huge game. He rushed only four times for 167 yards and three touchdowns. Hanson had two carries for 53 yards and a touchdown while also hauling in a 34-yard reception. Skliris ran the ball three times for 58 yards and a touchdown. Lutt had a 15-yard touchdown on his lone carry of the night. Lavoy added 18 yards on the ground and Geraets added 45 rushing yards of his own. Baumberger completed a pass for 34 yards.
While on the defensive side, Gavin Pica totaled three tackles and a sack. Also finishing with three tackles were Logan Robinson, Geraets, and Skliris. Josh Leibl had two tackles and 1.5 sacks. To round out the defense, C. Griffin had two tackles and one interception he ran back for a touchdown.
Coach Ross Flemmer had this to say about the game.
“The boys played very well, after a slow start they really started rolling. The offensive line opened up some great holes and the backs did a great job of finding them. Defensively the guys played very physical and got after them. It was a great game on both sides of the ball.”
After the Cardinals blanked Irene-Wakonda, they will host Arlington next week. This game coming up against Arlington will be a battle of two 2-0 teams as the Cardinals and the Cardinals will do battle at 7:00 from the Dell Rapids Public School Field. This will be the home-opener for St. Mary’s. That game will of course be right here on Big Sioux Media under https://www.youtube.com/@BigSiouxMedia/streams.
