The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals started their 2021 football season at home on Friday, August 23rd.  The Cardinals hosted the Gayville-Volin Raiders, and it was the Raiders who went home victorious, 42-8.

The Cardinals looked to get the momentum very early in the game.  Gabriel Lamb dropped Nate Quatier for a loss on the first play of the game, and then CJ Smith intercepted Quatier’s pass on the next play.  St Mary had the ball two plays after the opening kickoff.  The momentum would be short lived however.  The Raiders forced and recovered a fumble three plays later. 

Kyle Hirsch scored with 7:37 in the first quarter for the Raiders.  They converted the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead.  St Mary had to punt on their second drive.  The Raiders then marched down the field on their next possession.  Hirisch had a 22-yard touchdown run with 4:06 left in the first quarter.  Anther two-point conversion pushed the lead to 16-0. 

St Mary continued to struggle a bit offensively in their next drive.  The Raiders forced and recovered another fumble late in the quarter.  The Cardinal defense was able to hold Gayville-Volin to a punt, but the punt returned was fumbled by St Mary and recovered by the Raiders.  The Raiders turned that into points after a one-yard touchdown run by Quatier.  Another two-point conversion made the score 24-0. 

The Raiders stopped a Cardinal drive that was moving in a positive direction for St Mary.  This time the drive stopped on an interception that was returned 48 yards for a touchdown by Ben Rumsey with 9:19 to play in the first half.  Gayville-Volin got another interception later in the second quarter, this time by Hirsch.  They turned that into  more points, scoring with 1:05 to play in the second quarter, and the Raiders led 36-0 at halftime.

St Mary took the kickoff to start the second half.  The Cardinals looked to be headed towards a score late in the third quarter, but the Raiders got their third interception of the game.  Rumsey intercepted a pass in the endzone and ran it back all the way for a Raider touchdown with 4:31 to play in the third quarter to make the score 42-0.  St Mary was able to find the endzone with 7:37 left in the game.  Smith connected with Camden Gilbert on a 23-yard touchdown pass.  Smith then completed a pass to Lucas Flemmer for the two point conversion.

The Raiders finished with 201 yards of offense, 104 passing yards and 97 rushing yards.  The Cardinals finished with 189 yards of offense, 107 rushing yards and 82 passing yards, but turned the ball over six times.

Ty Brown had 11 carries for 66 yards.  Gabriel Lindeman had three carries for 20 yards.  Smith finished the game 5-12 passing for 82 yards and three interceptions.  Gilbert had two catches for 32 yards and a touchdown.  Tate Bunkers had a catch for 34 yards, and Brown had a catch for 10 yards. 

Noah Olund led the defense with eight tackles.  Brown finished with five tackles.  Nic Gaspar had 4.5 tackles, and Bunkers and Kyle Bares both had four tackles each.  Smith also had an interception.

The Cardinals (0-1) will travel to play the Alcester-Hudson Cubs on Friday, August 27th.

	1	2	3	4	Final
Gayville-Volin	16	20	6	0	42
Dell Rapids St Mary	0	0	0	8	8

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals made a trip to the Dakota Dome in Vermillion for the third time in school history on Thursday, November 12th to play for the South Dakota Class 9B Championship.  The other two trips to the championship game were in 2002 and 2009 for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals went into the game with a 7-2 record to play the 9-1 Wolsey-Wessington Warbirds.  A big first half by the Warbirds proved to be the difference as Wolsey-Wessington earned a 32-14 win over St Mary.

Wolsey-Wessington received the ball to start the game and put a score on the board in just over a minute and a half.  The Warbirds drove the ball 62 yards on six plays and scored with 10:17 to play in the first quarter for a 6-0 lead.  St Mary put together an 11-play drive that last six minutes in their opening drive of the game, but they were stopped and turned the ball over on downs to the Warbirds.  Wolsey-Wessington took over possession and score in six plays again going 63 yards.  The Warbirds led 12-0 with 2:13 to play in the opening quarter.

The Cardinals looked like they were going to find the endzone on their next drive.  But once again the Warbirds forced a turnover on downs on their own 16 yard line to keep St Mary off the scoreboard.  Wolsey-Wessington got one more score late in the second quarter.  The final touchdown came with :47 to play in the half, and Wolsey-Wessington led 18-0 at halftime.

St Mary received the ball to start the third quarter and found a spark in the opening drive of the second half.  The Cardinals marched down the field in six plays.  Connor Libis threw a touchdown pass to Nic Gaspar of 45 yards.  Ashaun Roach-Valandra threw a pass to Sam Palmer for the two-point conversion, and the Cardinals cut the lead to 18-8 with 9:00 to play in the third quarter.   The St Mary defense held Wolsey-Wessington out of the endzone in their lone possession of the third quarter.  The Warbirds got the ball do the Cardinal 10-yard line, but St Mary stopped them on fourth down to force a turnover on downs. 

Working with some momentum, the Cardinals unfortunately had their next possession stopped on their own 38 yard line one play into the fourth quarter.  The Warbirds turned that stop into a score as they went 38 yards on seven plays to extend the lead to 26-8 with 7:59 to play.  St Mary scored again just over a minute later.  Libis connected with Palmer on a 45-yard touchdown pass with 6:49 to go in the game.  The two-point conversion was no good, and the Cardinals trailed 26-14.  The Warbirds were able to put the game out of reach after a nine-play, 58-yard drive that resulted in another score with 2:53 to go in the game for a 32-14 lead.

St Mary finished the game with 309 yards of total offense, 181 rushing yards and 128 passing yards.  The Warbirds had 357 yards of total offense, 185 rushing yards and 173 passing yards.  The Cardinals were 3-10 on third down and 2-7 on fourth down conversions.  Wolsey-Wessington finished 7-10 on third down and 1-2 on fourth down conversions.  Neither team committed a turnover in the game.

Libis finished the game with 26 carries for 133 yards and was also 9-13 passing for 123 yards and two touchdowns.  Noah Olund had eight carries for 38 yards, and Roach-Valandra had three carries for nine yards.  Palmer had a touchdown catch of 45 yards.  Gaspar had a touchdown catch of 45 yards.  Roach-Valandra had seven catches for 24 yards, and Noah Dennis had a catch for 11 yards. 

Roach-Valandra and Libis both finished with 10 tackles each in the game.   Max Herber and Samuel Lack both had six tackles, and Nick Wolles had five tackles.

The Cardinals finish their wild 2020 season with a 7-3 record.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal football team is headed to the Dakota Dome.  The Cardinals beat a Region 4 opponent for the third time in the playoffs on Friday, November 6th.

Six days after making the 357 mile trip to Faith, the Cardinals had to travel 264 miles to Kadoka for a semifinal match-up with the Kadoka Area Kougars.  The only thing similar between the quarterfinals and the semifinals was being on the same side of the state.

Instead of the Cardinals getting out to a quick start, the Kougars set the tone in the first half.  With a little help from a penalty early in their opening drive, Kodoka scored with 1:15 in the first quarter on a 35-yard touchdown run by Gaven Sudbeck.  After an interception early in the second quarter, the Kougars struck again with 9:23 to play in the first half when TJ Hamar threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Sudbeck.   The Kougars scored for a third time on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Hamar to Dawson Reckling with 3:48 to play in the first half.

Kadoka Area led 20-0 at halftime after dominating the game in every area.  The Kougars had a total of 192 yards of offense and held the Cardinals to 127 yards and forced two turnovers.  St Mary took full advantage of halftime to stop the momentum Kadoka had built and make the necessary adjustments.

The Cardinals began their comeback at the very start of the third quarter.  The defense held Kadoka to just three yards on three plays and forced a punt.  St Mary scored on their opening drive of the third quarter.  CJ Smith connected with Ashaun Roach-Valandra for a 19-yard touchdown on fourth down with 8:09 to play in the third quarter to cut the lead to 20-6.

St Mary forced the Kougars to punt on their next two drives, and the Cardinals scored again on the very first play of the fourth quarter.  Smith and Roach-Valandra connected again, this time from 10 yards away.  They also made the two-point conversion, and with 11:51 to go in the game, St Mary trailed 20-14.  The Cardinal defense did not budge again and forced another punt.  The momentum had certainly shifted to St Mary, and the offense put another score on the board.  Connor Libis scored on a seven-yard run with 8:54 on the clock.  Roach-Valandra ran the ball into the endzone for the two-point conversion to give St Mary a 22-20 lead.

The Kougars didn’t go away quietly.  Again aided by a penalty on fourth down, Kadoka took advantage as Sudbeck scored on a five-yard run with 4:43 to play.  The two point conversion was good, and the Kougars went back in front 28-22.

St Mary magic was still in the air.  On the next Cardinal drive, Smith found Roach-Valandra again on fourth down for a 26-yard gain to keep the drive alive.  Libis followed with a 21-yard run a few plays later to give St Mary a first and goal.  Libis ended the drive with another seven-yard touchdown run to tie the game 28-28 with 1:15 to go.  Smith wisely tucked the ball and ran through a huge hole on the two-point conversion to give the Cardinals the lead again at 30-28.  The final drive by Kadoka ended with an interception by Libis at the Cardinal 34 yard line with :45 on the clock.  St Mary was able to run out the clock to win the game.

It was a tale of two halves for St Mary.  After allowing 192 yards in the first half, the Cardinal defense allowed just 38 yards in the second half.  The offense for St Mary had 232 yards in the second half for a total of 359 yards and scored 24 of their 30 second half points in the fourth quarter.  The Cardinals also finished the game 4-for-7 on fourth down attempts.

Libis finished the game with 35 carries for 252 yards and two touchdowns.  He also had two catches for 19 yards.  Noah Olund had five carries for 20 yards, and Nic Gaspar had two carries for 10 yards.  Smith finished 5-8 passing for 74 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception.  Roach-Valandra had three catches for 55 yards and two touchdowns.

The defense was led by Max Herber with 11 tackles, one of those being a sack. John Pica had 10 tackles.  Samuel Lack finished with eight tackles, and Roach-Valandra had six tackles.

The Cardinals (7-2) will play Wolsey-Wessington for the 9B championship on Thursday, November 12th at 3:00 p.m. at the Dakota Dome in Vermillion.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals had to wait 27 days to get a game played since their last game on October 2nd.  And in that time, they also watched the opening round of the 9B playoffs.  But once the Cardinals took to the field in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, October 29th, they made sure more football would be played this season.

The Cardinals made the long bus ride to Faith and then handled the Longhorns with a 40-22 victory.

St Mary scored 22 points in the opening quarter and never looked back.  Noah Olund had two rushing touchdowns in the first two Cardinal possessions and Connor Libis added another one for a 22-8 lead after the first quarter of play.   Olund scored his third touchdown with 10:42 to play in the second quarter.  Libis then ended the half with a touchdown run with :30 on the clock as St Mary went into halftime leading 34-8.

Faith was able to make some adjustments on defense in the second half, and their offense got going as well.  The Longhorns scored a touchdown in the third quarter to make the score 34-14.  Faith would get another touchdown early in the fourth quarter after a blocked put, and all the sudden the Longhorns cut the lead to 34-22.

St Mary responded on the very next drive.  They would put together a nine-play drive that ended with a 16-yard touchdown by Libis with 5:25 to play in the game.  That touchdown proved to be the game-clinching score as the Cardinal defense held the remainder of the game.

The Cardinals finished the night with 352 yards of total offense, all of which were rushing yards.  Faith had 202 yards of offense, 70 rushing yards and 202 passing yards.

Libis had 29 carries for 202 yards and three touchdowns.  Olund had 18 carries for 63 yards and three touchdowns.  Nic Gaspar finished with nine carries for 80 yards.  Ashaun Roach-Valandra led the defense with seven tackles and two sacks.  Noah Dennis finished with six tackles, and John Pica added five tackles.  Nick Wolles, Libis, and Olund all had an interception in the first half of the game.

St Mary (6-2) will travel to Kadoka to play the Kadoka Area Kougars on Friday, November 6th.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

The 2020 Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal football season has not gone according to play to say the least.  The Cardinals currently have a 4-2 season record and have advanced to the quarterfinals of the 9B playoffs, but they have not played a down of football since Friday, October 2nd.

The Cardinals were one of the first team to have their scheduled altered due to the Covid pandemic.  St Mary was scheduled to open the season in Estelline against Estelline/Hendricks on Friday, August 21st, but the Redhawks had to cancel that game due to Covid.  In less than 24 hours after that announcement, the Cardinals found a new season-opener opponent in Florence/Henry.

St Mary started their season with a 1-2 record in their first three games.  They were able to turn things around at home against Alcester-Hudson with a 52-38 victory on Friday, September 11th.  They followed that win with two big road wins over Avon on September 18th and Centerville on October 2nd.

Things then went sideways for the Cardinals.  Their final two regular season games had to be cancelled due to Covid.  St Mary was scheduled to play Colman-Egan on October 9th.  That game was then moved to Monday, October 12th, but ultimately cancelled when St Mary closed the school during Homecoming week October 12th through the 16th.  That also meant the Homecoming game against Elkton-Lake Benton was also cancelled.

Despite having the last two games cancelled, St Mary qualified for the 9B playoffs as the #1 seed in Region 2.  School was back in session, and the team was back on the practice field.  Everything was set for the Cardinals to host the Bison Cardinals on Thursday, October 22nd in the opening round of the playoffs.

Then the team received the news on the evening of Wednesday, October 21st.  Bison was forfeiting the playoff game and will not be making the trip to Dell Rapids.  This news coming less than 24 hours before the scheduled kickoff.

“It’s very disappointing for the team. The team, as well as the coaches and our administration, have already put a lot of time into this game, and then to have to find out they are backing out from a third party is ridiculous. How Bison handled the situation from start to finish was just absurd. I feel bad for the kids missing out on a game because another team who had plenty of time to figure things out decided to pull out less than 24 hours before kickoff,” said head coach Ross Flemmer.

St Mary will not move their focus to the quarterfinals.  The Cardinals will travel to Faith and play the Faith Longhorns on Thursday, October 29th.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal football team won their third straight game, and fourth overall, on Friday, October 2nd in Centerville.  The Cardinals defeated the Tornadoes 55-16.

St Mary scored early and often in the game.  They put up 41 points in the first half on their way to the big victory.

The Cardinals finished with 416 total yards of offense, 356 rushing yards and 60 passing yards.  Centerville finished with 199 yards of total offense, 123 passing yards and 76 rushing yards.  The Cardinal defense forced six turnovers in the game.

Connor Libis had nine carries in the game for 106 yards and three touchdowns.  Luke Geraets had eight carries for 50 yards.  Same Palmer finished with three carries for 45 yards.  CJ Smith was 3-3 passing with 60 yards and a touchdown.  Ashaun Roach-Valandra had all three catches for the 60 yards and a touchdown.

Libis had four tackles in the game.  Nick Wolles finished with 3.5 tackles.  Nic Gaspar added 3.5 tackles.  Palmer had two tackles and two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.  John Pica added two tackles, one interception and one forced fumble.

“The offensive line did a great job opening holes, and the defensive line forced a lot of pressure the whole game,” said head coach Ross Flemmer.

St Mary (4-2) will host the Colman/Egan Hawks on Friday, October 9th.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal football team had another big offensive game on Friday, September 18th, in Avon.  The Cardinals defeated the Pirates 46-8 for their second win in a row.

Connor Libis got the scoring started for the Cardinals on an 18-yard touchdown run with 10:31 in the first quarter.  Libis scored again on a 57-yard touchdown later in the quarter.  Libis added another long touchdown run, this time from 58 yards away.  St Mary led 22-0 with 2:11 to play in the first quarter.

Noah Olund scored on a three-yard touchdown run just seconds into the second quarter.  St Mary led 30-0 with 11:14 to play in the first half.  CJ Smith connected with Libis on a 22-yard pass with 6:53 in the second quarter.  The final score of the game for the Cardinals came with :10 to play in the half on a seven-yard touchdown run by Nic Gaspar.  The Cardinals led 46-0 at halftime.  The Pirates got their lone touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

Head coach Ross Flemmer said, “Our offensive and defensive lines played a great game.”

Libis finished the game with eight carries for 169 yards and three touchdowns.  He also had two catches for 56 yards and a receiving touchdown.  Gaspar had seven carries for 61 yards and a touchdown.  Sam Palmer had five carries for 30 yards.  Smith was 5-7 passing for 118 yards with a touchdown and an interception.  Ashaun Roach-Valandra had three catches for 40 yards.  Noah Dennis led the team with six tackles.  John Pica and Ty Brown both had four tackles each.

The Cardinals (3-2) will have a bye week on Friday, September 28th.  They will be back in action on Friday, October 2nd at Centerville.

In a battle of top five teams, the De Smet Bulldogs stunned the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals on Friday, September 4th at Rickeman Field in Dell Rapids.  The Bulldogs were firing on all cylinders and went home with a 54-0 win over the Cardinals.  The game ended in the middle of the third quarter.

De Smet scored 22 first quarter points.  They added 26 more in the second quarter for a 48-0 halftime lead.  The game-ending score came with 4:31 to play in the third quarter.

The Bulldog defense stifled the Cardinals.  St Mary only gained 37 yards of total offense, all rushing yards.  De Smet had a total of 327 yards, 245 rushing yards and 82 passing yards.

Samuel Lack led the team with six tackles.  Ty Brown finished with four tackles.  Noah Olund and Sam Palmer both recorded 3.5 tackles.

Prior to the game, the St Mary seniors were recognized.  This year’s seniors are Noah Dennis, Max Herber, Austin Greene-Lebrun, Jon Bares, Ashaun Roach-Valandra, Hunter Griffin, Samuel Lack, Nick Wolles, Sam Palmer, and Connor Libis.

St Mary (1-2) will host Alcester-Hudson on Friday, September 11th.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

	1	2	3	4		Final
De Smet	22	26	6	X		54
Dell Rapids St Mary	0	0	0	X		0

Playing in their second straight road game to start the season, the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals earned their first victory with a 26-6 win over the Castlewood Warriors in Castlewood.

St Mary scored in the opening quarter on a two-yard run by Connor Libis for a 6-0 lead.  Libis scored again in the quarter from the three-yard line to extend the lead to 12-0.  After a turnover, Noah Olund added an 11-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.  Libis scored the two-point conversion to give the Cardinals a 20-0 lead.  Castlewood got a touchdown before halftime to make the score 20-6.

The final score for the Cardinals and the game was in the third quarter.  Libis connected with Ty Brown on a 23-yard pass to give the Cardinals a 26-6 advantage.

The Cardinals finished with 364 yards of total offense, 313 rushing yards and 51 passing yards.  Castlewood finished with 168 yards of offense, 85 rushing yards and 83 passing yards.

Nic Gaspar had 13 carries for 135 yards.  Libis finished with 18 carries for 95 yards and two touchdowns.  Gabriel Lindeman had 14 carries for 55 yards.  Libis was also 5-7 passing for 51 yards and a touchdown.  Brown had two catches for 33 yards and a touchdown.  Ashaun Roach-Valandra had two catches for 10 yards.  Libis had 5.5 tackles in the game.  Roach-Valandra had 4.5 tackles with three sacks.  Max Herber had three tackles with two sacks and two fumble recoveries.

St Mary (1-1) will have their first home game on Friday, September 4th when they host De Smet.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

	1	2	3	4		Final
Dell Rapids St Mary	12	8	6	0		26
Castlewood	0	6	0	0		6

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals kicked off their 2020 season on the road at Henry against the Florence/Henry Falcons on Friday, August 21st.  This was not the original opponent for the Cardinals.  St Mary was originally scheduled to play the Estelline/Hendricks Redhawks, but that game was cancelled due to Covid earlier in the week.  The Cardinals were able to find a replacement game with Florence/Henry less than 24 hours later.

With all the details finalized, St Mary made the trip to Henry on Friday afternoon.  Unfortunately, the Falcons were victorious by a score of a 18-6.

The Cardinals controlled the pace of the game in the first quarter.  Even though their opening drive didn’t result in a score, St Mary held the ball for over six minutes.  After holding the Falcons to just three plays on their first offensive possession, St Mary got the first score of the game on a 10-yard touchdown run by Connor Libis with 0:48 to play in the first quarter.  The two-point conversion was no good, and St Mary led 6-0.

Florence/Henry was able to get the offense going late in the second quarter and in the third quarter.  After a turnover by the Cardinals, the Falcons tied the game with 4:56 to play in the second quarter on a 10-yard run by Ashton Hanson.  Their two-point conversion failed, and the game was tied 6-6 at halftime.

The Falcons then used two big plays in the third quarter to take the victory from St Mary.  In the first possession of the second half, Mehki Keller scored on a 59-yard run with 10:15 to play to give Florence/Henry a 12-6 lead.  The Falcons struck again with 3:18 to go in the third quarter when Hanson scored on a 55-yard run to push the lead to 18-6.  That score was enough to give the Falcons the win.

St Mary finished the game with a total of 10 first downs compared to just four for the Falcons.  The Cardinals had 158 rushing yards and 37 passing yards.  Libis was 4-12 passing for 37 yards.  Ashaun Roach-Valandra had two catches for 28 yards.  Gabriel Lindeman led the team in rushing with 20 carries for 94 yards.  Libis had 21 carries for 60 yards.

The Cardinals (0-1) will travel to Castlewood on Friday, August 28th.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

	1	2	3	4		Final
Dell Rapids St Mary	6	0	0	0		6
Florence/Henry	0	6	12	0		18