DELL RAPIDS — St. Mary’s punched its ticket to the 9B state championship game on Friday, November 6th, defeating Warner 36-20 in the semifinals at Dell Rapids High School.
The Cardinals struck first when Brady Jewett hit Jake Heinitz for a 13-yard touchdown pass with 10:08 left in the first quarter. The two-point conversion was good, giving St. Mary’s an early 8-0 lead. Warner answered with a one-yard touchdown run at the 5:30 mark, and the point after cut it to 8-7.
St. Mary’s regained breathing room in the second quarter. Jacob Geraets powered in on a one-yard touchdown run with 6:37 left, and the Cardinals converted the two-point try to go up 16-7. The Monarchs responded again late in the half with another one-yard touchdown run at 2:00, making it 16-14 at the break.
St. Mary’s opened the second half with another scoring strike. Jewett found Jaxon Baumberger for a four-yard touchdown pass with 1:55 left in the third quarter. The two-point attempt was no good, but the Cardinals carried a 22-14 lead into the fourth.
The Cardinals pulled away with two quick touchdowns in the final quarter. Jewett connected with Logan Bauer for a 48-yard touchdown pass at 11:54, and the two-point conversion was good to make it 30-14. Less than three minutes later, Jewett scored on a two-yard touchdown run at 8:54 to extend the lead to 36-14. Warner added a late 19-yard touchdown pass (two-point try no good), but St. Mary’s closed out the win to advance.
St Mary’s will play the Wall Eagles for the 9B Championship on Thursday, November 12th, at 10:00 a.m. in Vermillion.
By the numbers
St. Mary’s piled up 487 total yards 353 rushing and 134 passing while limiting Warner to 190 total yards.
Rushing (St. Mary’s)
- Thomas LaVoy: 20 carries, 161 yards; 2-point conversion
- Brady Jewett: 13 carries, 100 yards, TD; 2-point conversion
- Jacob Geraets: 15 carries, 69 yards, TD; 2-point conversio
- Jake Heinitz: 2 carries, 16 yards
- Pan Skliris: 4 carries, 7 yards
Passing/receiving (St. Mary’s)
- Brady Jewett: 7-of-12 passing, 134 yards, 3 TDs
- Jake Heinitz: 3 catches, 36 yards, TD
- Jaxon Baumberger: 2 catches, 45 yards, TD
- Logan Bauer: 1 catch, 48 yards, TD
Defense (St. Mary’s)
- Jacob Geraets: 7 tackles, fumble recovery
- Jaxon Baumberger: 6 tackles, INT, fumble recovery
- Josh Liebl: 3.5 tackles, sack
- Logan Bauer: 3 tackles, pass breakup
- Jake Heinitz: 2.5 tackles, INT, pass breakup
- Kade Lutt: 2.5 tackles
- Jacob Flemmer: 2.5 tackles
