The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals won their first ever state football championship in dramatic fashion on Thursday, November 11th.  CJ Smith threw a two-point conversion pass to Gabe Lindeman for the game-winning conversion to beat the Potter County Battlers 44-42 in the 9B Championship game at the Dakota Dome in Vermillion.

The game couldn’t have been more back-and-forth than it was for the entire duration.  The Cardinals struck first after a 32-yard interception return by John Pica for a touchdown with 10:33 to play in the second quarter.  Ty Brown got the two-point conversion to put St Mary ahead 8-0.  The Battlers tied the game just :46 later.  Grant Luikens threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Drake Bassett and the two-point conversion was good to tie the game 8-8 with 9:47 in the half.  Potter County had the advantage at halftime after Luikens ran a three-yard touchdown run into the end zone with 2:28 to play.  The Battlers led 14-8 at halftime.

St Mary did all of the scoring in the third quarter.  The Cardinals tied the game with 7:08 in the quarter after a one-yard touchdown run by Brown.  St Mary then took the lead with 2:33 in the quarter after a 27-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Tate Bunkers.  The two-point conversion was no good, and the Cardinals led 20-14 heading into the final quarter.

The Battlers put the pressure on the Cardinals in the fourth quarter.  Luikens had a 30-yard touchdown pass to Rider Falkenhagen with 11:53 to play in the game.  The two-point conversion was no good, and the game was tied 20-20.  After a fumble recovery by Potter County, Luikens scored on an eight-yard run with 7:08 to go.  The two-point conversion was good, and the Battlers led 28-20.

St Mary had one more scoring drive in them before the end of regulation.  Smith threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Nic Gaspar with 1:06 left in the game to finish a 10-play, 67-yard drive.  Smith connected with Gabe Lindeman for the two-point conversion to tie the game 28-28.  Potter County nearly won the game in regulation as they drove the ball deep into Cardinal territory.  The final play of regulation ended at the St Mary two-yard line as time expired.

The Cardinals went on offense first in the first overtime.  Gaspar had an eight-yard touchdown run, and then Smith threw a two-point conversion pass to Gaspar for a 36-28 lead.  The Battlers responded on their first offensive play of overtime when Luikens threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Drake Basset.  Luikens ran the two-point conversion into the end zone to tie the game 36-36.

Potter County got the ball first in the second overtime.  Again Luikens had a 10-yard touchdown pass, this time to Falkenhagen.  Luikens, though, was stopped short of the goal line on the two-point conversion attempt.  The Battlers led 42-36.  The Cardinals needed three plays, but Gaspar put the ball into the end zone on a two-yard run to tie the game 42-42.  On the two-point conversion, Smith threw a pass to Lindeman who caught it just beyond the goal line for the game-winning score.

The Cardinals finished with 345 yards of total offense, 247 rushing yards and 98 passing yards.  Potter County had 319 total yards, 297 passing yards and 22 passing yards.  St Mary held the ball on offense for 31:33 of the 48:00 minutes in the game. 

Gaspar, who was named a South Dakota High School Football Coaches Association Outstanding Back in the game, had 21 carries for 103 yards and two touchdowns.  Brown finished with 19 carries for 72 yards and a touchdown.  Noah Olund had 13 carries for 58 yards.  Smith was 5-12 passing for 98 yards and two touchdowns and one interception.  Gaspar had three catches for 65 yards and a touchdown.  Bunkers had a catch for 27 yards and a touchdown.  Lindeman also had a catch for six yards.

Pica led the team with 11 tackles in the game, one for a loss, and an interception returned for a touchdown.  Olund had seven tackles.  Ty Brown had six.  Lucas Flemmer, Lindeman, Gaspar, and Smith all had three tackles each.  Gaspar also had a fumble recovery and an interception.  Pica was named the South Dakota High School Football Coaches Association Outstanding Lineman for the game.

St Mary’s championship season ends with an 8-3 overall record.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal football team is headed back to the Dakota Dome for the 2021 South Dakota Class 9B championship game.  The #5 seeded Cardinals traveled to #1 Avon and handed the Pirates their first loss of the season on Friday, November 5th, and it was a goal line stand in the final seconds the preserved the win for St Mary.

The Cardinals started this game the same way they had throughout the playoffs.  They took the opening drive of the game down the field, and after a five minute drive, Nic Gaspar had a three-yard run for a 6-0 lead.  The St Mary defense then forced a fumble.  With 3:26 left in the opening quarter, Lucas Flemmer had an 18-yard run and then a two-point conversion for an early 14-0 Cardinal lead.  That’s when the fireworks erupted for the remainder of the quarter.

Just thirteen seconds later, Brady Bierema had a 59-yard touchdown run to put the Pirates on the board.  Seventeen seconds after that, Gaspar had a 69-yard touchdown run to push the Cardinal lead back to 14 points at 20-6.  Just over a minute later, Bierema had a 60-yard touchdown run.  Avon made the two-point conversion, and after the dust settled on the first quarter, St Mary had a 20-14 lead.

The defenses played strong in the middle two quarters.  Neither team had a score in the second quarter, and the Cardinals continued to lead 20-14 at halftime.  The Pirates got the only touchdown in the third quarter.  With 7:55 to play in the quarter, Bierema had another touchdown run, this time from six yards away to give Avon a 22-20 lead.

The Pirates added to the lead early in the fourth quarter.  With 10:06 left in the game, Riley Rucktaeshel had a 19-yard run, and Jaden Stahl made another two-point conversion to push the Avon lead to 30-20.  The Cardinals got some momentum back just nine seconds later.  Gaspar broke loose for a 68-yard touchdown to pull the Cardinals within four points at 30-26.

With just under three minutes left in the game, the St Mary defense forced an Avon punt.  The Cardinals marched down the field aided by a 55-yard pass from CJ Smith to Gaspar on third down.  Smith then had a 24-yard touchdown pass to Gabe Lindeman with 1:21 to go to put the Cardinals back in front 32-30.

Avon was not done.  They used a hurry-up style offense to push the ball all the way down to the Cardinal five-yard line with just seven seconds left in the game.  After a timeout, the Pirates ran a reverse to Bierema, and he ran to the left side of the field as Ty Brown tackled him just short of the goal line to send the Cardinals to the dome.

The Cardinals had 455 yards of total offense, 281 rushing yards and 174 passing yards.  Avon finished with 365 yards of offense, 347 rushing yards and 18 passing yards.

Gaspar had 17 carries for 209 yards and three touchdowns.  Flemmer had eight carries for 38 yards and a touchdown.  Brown had 11 carries for 30 yards.  Smith was 7-9 passing for 174 yards and a touchdown.  Gaspar had three catches for 96 yards.  Lindeman had two catches for 33 yards and a touchdown.  Flemmer had one catch for 23 yards, and Tate Bunkers had a catch for 22 yards.

Noah Olund led the defense with 11 tackles and a fumble recovery.  Smith had 9.5 tackles.  John Pica finished with nine tackles, and Lindeman had eight tackles, one sack, and one force fumble.  Gaspar had 7.5 tackles, Lamb added seven tackles, and Brown had six tackles and a fumble recovery.

“The boys played hard tonight.  They played a full 48 minutes and overcame a lot of diversity.  I am very proud of the way they played!” said head coach Ross Flemmer.  This was also Flemmer’s 150th win.

The Cardinals will play in the 9B championship game against Potter County at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 11th.

The 2021 Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal football team is taking a similar path as the 2020 team through this year’s playoffs with big road victories.  After a 40-0 win at home in the opening round, the Cardinals earned a 42-22 win on the road against the Gayville-Volin Raiders on Thursday, October 28th.

The Cardinals appeared to come into the quarterfinal game with a mission, and that mission was to run the ball up and down the field on the Raiders.  Mission accomplished as St Mary racked up 464 rushing yards in the game, along with 40 passing yards, for a total of 504 yards of offense.  Two players nearly had 200 yards of rushing.

St Mary set the tone in the opening drive of the game.  The drove the ball 70 yards in just over three minutes.  Noah Olund scored on a three-yard touchdown run with 8:41 to go in the opening quarter.  That was the only score of the first quarter.  The Raiders did hold a brief lead in the game.  Nate Quatier scored on a 36-yard run with 5:44 to play in the second quarter.  Gayville-Volin made the two-point conversion to take an 8-6 lead.

It wasn’t long before the Cardinals took the lead back.  Ty Brown scored on a two-yard run with 2:46 to give the Cardinals a 12-8 lead.  The St Mary defense then forced the Raiders to punt on their next drive, and the  Cardinals got the ball back with just over two minutes in the half.  That was enough time for one more score. Nic Gaspar had a six-yard touchdown run with :43 left in the half, after a 40-yard run by Brown put the Cardinals in the red zone.  St Mary took an 18-6 lead into halftime.

The Cardinals kicked off to start the second half, but executed an onside kick to get the ball.  St Mary drove the ball down the field, and Olund scored his second touchdown of the game on a one-yard run.  The Cardinals added another score late in the third quarter.  Gaspar had a four-yard run for a touchdown with 1:37 in the third quarter to give the Cardinals a 30-8 lead.

The Raiders weren’t quite ready to go away quietly.   Quatier threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Hirsch with :33 to go in the quarter to cut the lead to 30-14.  Gayville-Volin then executed their own successful onside kick to get the back.  They scored about a minute later.  With 11:26 to play in the game, Andrew Gustand had a 22-yard touchdown run followed by a two-point conversion.  The Raiders trailed by just eight points, 30-22.

The Cardinals responded.  Gaspar broke loose for a 48-yard touchdown run with 8:51 to go to push the lead to 36-22.  After a fourth down stop by the defense, the Cardinal offense got one more touchdown.  Olund had a one-yard score with 4:15 left in the game to seal the victory.

Brown finished with 21 carries for 195 yards and a touchdown.  Gaspar had 21 carries for 190 yards and three touchdowns.  Olund added 14 carries for 64 yards and three touchdowns.  CJ  Smith was 2-2 passing for 40 yards.  Gaspar had both catches.  Brown also led the team in tackles with eight and also had an interception.  John Pica had six tackles.  Gaspar finished with four tackles, and Olund had three tackles.  Gabe Lindeman and Kyle Bares each had 2.5 tackles.

“The boys played hard.  They got after it from start to finish.  I felt our defensive unit played a great game all the way around.  Our offensive line cleared the way.  It was a great team win tonight!” said head coach Ross Flemmer.

St Mary will travel to Avon on Friday, November 5th for the semifinal game.  The winner will play in the championship game on Thursday, November 11th.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals cruised into the quarterfinals of the 9B playoffs after a 40-0 win in the opening round over Corsica-Stickney on Thursday, October 21st.  Once the Cardinal offense found the endzone for the first time in the opening quarter, they were almost unstoppable.

Nic Gaspar got the scoring started with a three-yard touchdown run with 4:38 in the first quarter.  Lucas Flemmer scored two and a half minutes later on a 16-yard run to make a 12-0 score.  Ty Brown had an 11-yard touchdown run with 9:18 in the second quarter.  Noah Olund was the fourth Cardinal to score after a one-yard run with 4:25 to play in the half.  St Mary got their first two-point conversion on the fourth attempt on a pass from CJ Smith to Gabe Lindeman.  After a Corsica-Stickney Jaguar fumble, Smith connected with Lindeman, this time for a touchdown from 10 yards away with :27 to play in the first half.

The Cardinals led 32-0 at halftime.  Brown scored on the first offensive play of the third quarter on a 50-yard run.  Flemmer scored the two-point conversion to give St Mary a 40-0 lead with 11:41 to play in the third quarter.  That touchdown invoked the running clock the rest of the game.

St Mary finished with a total of 372 yards of offense, 297 rushing yards and 75 passing yards.  The Jaguars were held to just 79 yards of total offense, 43 rushing yards and 36 passing yards.  The Cardinals were 5-7 on third down attempts while holding the Jaguars to 1-8.

Brown led the ground attack with eight carries for 107 yards and two touchdowns.  Gaspar had eight carries for 66 yards and a touchdown.  Flemmer finished with 11 rushes for 61 yards and a touchdown, and Olund had 10 carries for 47 yards and a touchdown.  Smith was 4-6 passing for 75 yards a touchdown.  Gaspar had two catches for 53 yards.  Lindman had an 11-yard touchdown catch, and Brown had an 11-yard catch.

Gaspar had a team-high nine tackles.  Lindeman and John Pica both had eight tackles in the game.  Pica also had a fumble recovery.  Brown finished with five tackles and two interceptions.  Aiden Allen added four tackles.

The Cardinals will play the Gayville-Volin Raiders in Gayville on Thursday, October 28th.  Kickoff will be at 7:00 p.m.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals went step-for-step with the #1 team in the South Dakota 9A Media Poll, the De Smet Bulldogs, on Friday, October 15th for most of the game.  The Bulldogs found a small two and a half minute window, which was the difference in the game.  De Smet defeated the Cardinals 34-16.

The game was much closer than the score indicates.  St Mary finished with 212 yards of total offense, 206 rushing yards and six passing yards.  The Bulldogs had a total of 248 yards of offense, 157 passing yards and 91 rushing yards.

The Cardinals’ opening drive couldn’t have been scripted any better.  They took six minutes and 11 seconds off the clock, and Nic Gaspar finished the drive with a three-yard touchdown run.  CJ Smith had a pass to Gaspar for the two-point conversion, and St Mary led 8-0 with 5:49 to go in the opening quarter.

De Smet scored on their second drive of the game.  Colt Wilkinson had a 24-yard touchdown pass to Kadyn Fast.  Wilkinson then threw a pass to Blake Van Regenmorter for the two point conversion, and the game was tied 8-8 with 9:10 left in the second quarter.  De Smet took the lead with 3:01 to go in the half on a 36-yard touchdown pass from Wilkinson to Fast.  The two-point conversion was no good, and the score remained 14-8 at halftime.

The Cardinal defense continued to hang tough throughout the third quarter.  They then put a score on the board after a forced fumble by Camden Gilbert and recovery by Gabe Lindeman.  Lindeman scooped the ball around the 25-yard line of the Bulldogs and ran it into the endzone for a touchdown.  Smith threw the two-point conversion pass to Gaspar, and with 1:43 left in the third quarter, St Mary led 16-14.

The third quarter ended with the Cardinals leading 16-14, but the next two and half minutes completely changed the game.  Wilkinson scored on the first play of the fourth quarter on a 10-yard run.  The two-point conversion was no good, but the Bulldogs led 20-16 with 11:53 to go.  De Smet then got an interception on the next Cardinal drive.  Rett Osthus socred on a 31-yard run on the very next play to give the Bulldogs a 26-16 lead.  De Smet the executed a short kick-off and recovered the ball.  Osthus struck again with a 23-yard touchdown run.  The two-point conversion was good, and De Smet led 34-16 with 9:37 to go in the game.  St Mary was unable to get the ball into the endzone the remainder of the game.

“I’m very proud of how hard our kids played tonight.  They left it all on the field and worked their tails off,” said head coach Ross Flemmer.

Noah Olund had 21 carries for 122 yards.  Gaspar had 10 carries for 29 yards and a touchdown.  Smith was 2-7 passing for six yards.  Ty Brown and Olund each had a catch.  Olund also led the team with eight tackles.  John Pica and Smith both had five tackles.  Gapsar and Brown had four tackles each.  Lindeman had two sacks and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.

The Cardinals finished the regular season with a 4-3 record and will be the #5 seed in the Class 9B playoffs.  Their first round playoff game will be at home on Thursday, October 15th at 6:00 p.m. against #12 Corisica-Stickney.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals was strong in all aspects of the game in a 52-0 over the Estelline/Hendricks Redhawks on Saturday, October 2nd.  The Cardinals scored on every offensive possession, and the defense held the Redhawks to just 15 yards of total offense.

St Mary scored two times in the first quarter.  Nic Gaspar scored on an 18-yard run with 6:20 to go in the quarter.  CJ Smith had a 52-yard touchdown pass to Ty Brown with 3:56 in the quarter, and the Cardinals led 14-0 at the first quarter break.

The Cardinals then scored four more touchdowns in the second quarter.  Gaspar had a 37-yard touchdown run with 10:56 to go.  Brown followed with a 22 yard touchdown run at the midway point of the second quarter.  Lucas Flemmer added a touchdown at thee 2:36 mark on a 32-yard run.  Anthony Geraets got a three-yard touchdown run with only :36 left in the half.  St Mary converted on all four two-point conversion attempts as well for a 46-0 halftime lead.

The game came to an end after the first St Mary offense possession of the second half.  Camden Gilbert got the final score of the game on a one-yard run with 4:41 left in the third quarter.

St Mary finished with 346 yards of total offense, 279 rushing yards and 67 passing yards.  Flemmer had 11 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown.  Gaspar had five carries for 76 yards and two touchdowns.  Brown finished with six carries for 71 yards and a touchdown.  Gilbert had 29 rushing yards with a touchdown, and Geraets had 17 yards and a touchdown.

Smith was 1-2 passing for 52 yards and a touchdown.  Owen Vargas was 1-1 passing for 16 yards.  Brown had the 52-yard touchdown catch.  Gilbert had the 16-yard reception from Vargas.

Noah Olund led the team in tackles with 6.5.  Gabe Lindeman and John Pica both had three tackles.  Brown also had three tackles and an interception.  Gaspar had a sack, forced fumble, and fumble recovery.

Head coach Ross Flemmer said, “I felt our offensive line did a good job opening holes, and our backs did a good job hitting them. We passed the ball efficiently which led to some big plays. Defensively our defensive line did a great job, and our defense as a whole did a great job the whole game. The kids played hard and took care of business.”

The Cardinals will have a bye week next week.  Their next game will be Homecoming on Friday, October 15th.

Nic Gaspar found the endzone four times to help lead the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals to a 34-6 win over the Oldham-Ramona/Rutland Raiders at Rickeman Field on Friday, September 24th.

St Mary struck first when CJ Smith scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak with 7:26 to play in the opening quarter.  That was the only score of the quarter, and the Cardinals lead 6-0.   Gaspar’s first touchdown was on a three-yard run with 11:55 to play in the second quarter.  He also scored the two-point conversion to make the score 14-0.   The Raiders scored about four minutes later.  Will Matson had an eight-yard run with 7:47 to go.  The two-point conversion was no good, and the Cardinals led 14-6 at halftime.

Gaspar’s second touchdown came at the halfway point of the third quarter.  With 5:35 to go, Gaspar scored on another three-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 20-6.  Gaspar added a one-yard score on the first play of the fourth quarter to extend the St Mary lead to 26-6.  The final touchdown for Gaspar was at the 6:03 mark of the fourth quarter.  He scored on a 43-yard run.  Smith connected with Gabe Lindeman on the two-point conversion to make the score 34-6.

The Cardinals finished with 340 yards of offense, 280 rushing yards and 60 passing yards.  The Raiders had 152 yards of offense, 131 rushing yards and 21 passing yards.

Ty Brown had 21 carries for 119 yards.  Gaspar finished with 16 carries for 90 yards and four touchdowns.  Tate Bunkers had five carries for 35 yards, and Lucas Flemmer had 8 carries for 24 yards.  Smith was 3-8 passing for 60 yards.  Gaspar also had two catches for 56 yards.  Lindeman had a catch for four yards. 

Lindeman led the team in tackles with nine and two sacks.  John Pica had eight tackles with a forced fumble and recovery.  Noah Olund finished with seven tackles.

Head coach Ross Flemmer said, “I felt that all of our kids played hard.  They kept fighting and made a lot of big plays happen throughout the game. Our defensive line played exceptionally well and applied pressure throughout the whole game. I felt our team improved a lot these past couple weeks, and it showed tonight.”

St Mary (3-2) will travel to Estelline to play the Estelline/Hendricks Redhawks on Saturday, October 2nd.

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
O-R-R Raiders	0	6	0	0	6
St Mary Cardinals	6	8	6	14	34

After the first three possessions of the game resulted in touchdowns, the defenses played strong for most of the rest of the game between the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals and Colman-Egan Hawks on Friday, September 10th in Colman.  That is until the Cardinals scored two touchdowns in the last five minutes of the game in a 36-8 victory.

The Cardinals scored on the first offensive possession of the game when Ty Brown scored on a five-yard run with 8:29 to play in the quarter for a 6-0 lead.  Colman-Egan scored two plays later when Dawson Tolley scored on a 52-yard run with 7:42 in the first.  Tolley also scored the two-point conversion for a short-lived 8-6 lead.  The Cardinals made sure the lead was short lived when they scored again with 5:56 remaining in the quarter.  Tate Bunkers scored on a five-yard run, and Nic Gaspar scored the two-point conversion for a 14-8 lead.

The next St Mary touchdown would not come until late in the second quarter.  CJ Smith had a one-yard touchdown run with 2:57 to play in the first half.  The two-point conversion was no good, and the Cardinals led 20-8 at halftime.  The scored remained 20-8 through the entire third quarter and most of the fourth quarter.  Lucas Flemmer had a six-yard run with 4:45 to play in the game.  Smith completed a pass to Gabe Lindeman for the two-point conversion.  The Cardinals scored again with :57 when Brown scored on a two-yard run.  Smith completed the pass to Flemmer for the two-point conversion.

St Mary finished with 382 yards of total offense, 362 rushing yards and  20 passing yards.  They had a total of 19 first downs and were 4-9 on third down attempts.  The Hawks had 202 yards of total offense, 180 rushing yards and 22 passing yards.

The Cardinals nearly had three rushers with over 100 yards in the game.  Brown finished with 16 carries for 117 yards and two touchdowns.  Flemmer had 11 carries for 103 yards and a touchdown.  Gaspar finished just one yard shy of 100 with 99 yards on 16 carries.  Bunkers had seven carries for 45 yards and a touchdown.  Smith was 1-3 passing for 20 yards.  Noah Olund had the 20-yard catch.  Lindeman led the defense with 13 total tackles and one sack.  John Pica had nine tackles.  Kyle Bares finished with eight tackles.  Gaspar finished with four tackles.  Smith and Brown each had an interception, and Gaspar and Flemmer had a fumble recovery.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals hosted the Avon Pirates on Friday, September 3rd at Rickeman Field.  After St Mary scored the first touchdown, Avon scored 48 straight points on their way to a 48-14 win over the Cardinals.

CJ Smith completed a 23-yard touchdown pass to Tate Bunkers with 3:17 to play in the opening quarter for the first score of the game.  That was the only lead the Cardinals would hold.  The Pirates tied the game after a 20-yard Brady Bierema run, and then they took the lead on a two-point conversion by Jaden Stahl.  Avon led 8-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Avon controlled the game through the middle two quarters.  Bierema had a 27-yard touchdown run, Stahl had a seven-yard touchdown run, and Riley Rucktaeschel had a four-yard touchdown run to give the Pirates a 28-6 halftime lead.  They added to that score with two third-quarter touchdowns.  Bierema scored two more times on runs of 15 yards and five yards.

Tyler Tjeerdsma scored the final touchdown for Avon with 10:14 to play in the fourth quarter.  The Cardinals got another score when Lucas Flemmer had a 54-yard touchdown run with 9:45 to go in the game.  Owen Vargas completed a pass to Camden Gilbert for the two-point conversion.

St Mary was held to 195 yards of total offense, 131 rushing yards and 64 passing yards.  They had a total of six first downs.  The Cardinals were 0-7 on third down attempts and 0-4 on fourth down.  Avon finished with 381 yards of offense, 362 rushing yards and 19 passing yards.  The Pirates had 23 first downs and were 7-10 on third down attempts.

Flemmer finished the game with three carries for 65 yards and a touchdown.  Smith had five carries for 38 yards.  Gabe Lindeman had five runs for 18 yards.  Smith was 5-13 passing for 64 yards with a touchdown and an interception.  Bunkers had two catches for 60 yards and a touchdown.  John Pica had 14 tackles in the game.  Ty Brown finished with 11 tackles.  Lindeman had nine tackles, and Noah Olund and Nic Gaspar both had seven tackles each.

The Cardinals travel to Colman to play the Colman-Egan Hawks on Friday, September 10th.

	1	2	3	4	Final
Avon	8	20	14	6	48
St. Mary	6	0	0	8	14

A week after opening the season with a loss, the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals bounced back with a big win over Alcester-Hudson in Alcester on Friday, August 27th.  The Cardinals built a 24-0 lead in the first half and cruised to a 40-0 victory.

CJ Smith put the Cardinals on the board first with a two-yard run and then also scored the two-point conversion with 1:36 in the opening quarter.  Just a couple of minutes later, Gabe Lindeman scored on a 10-yard run in the opening seconds of the second quarter.  Smith scored the two-point conversion, and St Mary led 16-0 with 11:53 to play in the first half.  St Mary also scored in the final seconds of the half.  Smith hit Nic Gaspar with a 10-yard pass for a touchdown.  Gaspar also scored the two-point conversion for a 24-0 halftime lead.

Neither team scored in the third quarter, but the Cardinals scored in the first minute of the fourth quarter.  Lindeman had another 10-yard run.  Smith then completed a pass to Noah Olund for the two-point conversion with 11:15 to go in the game.  The final score came with 5:16 to play in the game.  Lucas Flemmer scored on a 46-yard run, and then Camden Gilbert scored the two-point conversion for the 40-0 lead.

St Mary had a total of 380 yards of offense, 277 rushing yards and 103 passing yards.  The Cubs were held to just 90 yards of total offense, 84 rushing yards and only six passing yards.

Lindeman had 18 carries for 118 yards and two touchdowns.  Gaspar had five carries for 62 yards.  Flemmer finished with three carries and 47 yards with a touchdown.  Smith had nine carries for 25 yards and a touchdown.  Ty Brown had three carries for 24 yards.  Smith was 7-12 passing for 103 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.  Gaspar had four catches for 67 yards and a touchdown.  Flemmer had a catch for 17 yards, and Brown had a catch for 14 yards.

Lindeman also led the defense with eight tackles and a forced fumble.  John Pica had five tackles and a forced fumble.  Olund had four tackles.  Kyle Bares had 3.5 tackles and a forced fumble, and Brown also had 3.5 tackles and a forced fumble.

St Mary will host Avon on Friday, September 3rd.