The St Mary’s Cardinals and Avon Pirates put on a show for the state in Dell Rapids on Friday, September 4th. The Cardinals erased a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter and remained undefeated with a 38-32 overtime victory.
Avon came to play that night. The Pirates scored first with 9:13 to go in the opening quarter on a 30-yard touchdown pass for a 6-0 lead. Brady Jewett and Logan Bauer connected on an eight-yard touchdown pass with 7:23 to play. The two-point conversion was good to put the Cardinals ahead 8-6. Avon regained the lead, 14-8, on an eight-yard touchdown pass with 3:53 remaining. Jewett and Bauer connected again with 2:26 left in the quarter on a 57-yard touchdown to tie the game 14-14.
The Pirates scored the only touchdown in the second quarter. They had a two-yard touchdown run with 7:42 play in the half. Avon held a 20-14 lead at halftime. Jewett had a 44-yard touchdown run about midway through the third quarter to tie the game 20-20. Avon would retake the lead, 26-20, with 3:27 to go in the quarter on a five-yard run. The quarter ended with the Pirates leading 26-20.
Avon built a 12-point lead, 32-20, after a one-yard touchdown run with 10:55 to go in regulation. Jewett and Bauer had their third touchdown connection of the game with 8:24 to go from 19 yards away to make the score 32-26. The Cardinal defense came up big by recovering a fumble with 4:50 remaining in the game. The St Mary’s offense took advantage of the opportunity. Jewett found Bauer for a three-yard touchdown pass with just :45 to go to tie the game 32-32.
The Pirates were not quite done. In a short amount of time, they were able to drive into Cardinal territory. With no time on the clock, the Cardinals were called for a pass interference penalty. This gave the Pirates an untimed down from the Cardinal 15-yard line. The Pirates set up for a game-winning field goal. The attempt was well short, and the Cardinals scooped up the ball to try to advance the other way. They would fumble the ball, but fortunately, players fell on the ball on the four yard line to end regulation.
Avon took the ball first in the overtime period. On a fourth down play, they completed a swing pass out to the right side and had what looked like open field to the end zone in front of them. Isaac Griffin made a great open-field tackle to stop the play and keep the Pirates off the board. On St Mary’s attempt in overtime, they had the ball inches away from the goal line on fourth down. Jewett ran a quarterback sneak up the middle and crossed the goal line for the gaming-winning score.
St Mary’s finished with 366 yards of total offense, 184 passing yards and 182 rushing yards. Avon had 442 yards of total offense, 367 rushing yards and 75 passing yards. Jewett was 10-13 passing for 184 yards and four touchdowns. Bauer had six catches for 102 yards and four touchdowns. Jake Heinitz had three receptions for 48 yards. Jewett also had 11 carries for 50 yards and two touchdowns. Thomas LaVoy had 16 carries and 109 rushing yards.
Kade Lutt led the defense with 10.5 tackles. Alex Lindeman had nine tackles. Jacob Geraets added 8.5 tackles. Ricky Liundeman had 6.5 tackles. Bauer finished with 5.5 tackles and forced fumble. Pano Skliris had five tackles with a fumble recovery. Griffin had two tackles and a fumble recovery.
