A quarterback sneak by Broderick Poppinga with :16 left in the game on fourth and goal from the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal one yard into the endzone was the winning score for DeSmet as the DeSmet Bulldogs handed the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals a heart-breaking loss in the opening round of the South Dakota High School 9B football playoffs on Tuesday, October 27th, in Dell Rapids.  The late score put the Bulldogs ahead 42-38, and they held the Cardinals for the win.

Both offenses lit up the scoreboard in the first half as the two teams combined for a total of 52 points in the first two quarters.  St Mary took the opening drive of the game for a score when Christian Schnieders on a one-yard run to put the Cardinals ahead 6-0.  DeSmet took their first lead of the game with 5:08 to go in the first quarter on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Poppinga to Adam Aughenbaugh and then a successful two-point conversion to go ahead 8-6.  The Cardinals answered back quickly as they scored with 2:16 to play in the first quarter on a six-yard run by Josh Brown.  Schnieders scored the two-point conversion, and St Mary held on to a 14-8 lead the rest of the way through the first quarter.

The Bulldogs scored 22 unanswered points in the second quarter.  The first touchdown came with 11:33 to go on a 13-yard pass from Poppinga to Tate Munger, and De Smet led 16-14 after the two-point conversion.  The pair connected again with 9:36 to go, after a Cardinal fumble, on a 19-yard pass play.  The two-point conversion was successful again, and the Bulldogs led 24-14.  DeSmet had their largest lead of the night with 4:06 to play in the second quarter when Matt Larson scored on a three-yard run to give the Bulldogs a 30-14 lead.  St Mary was able to cut the lead in half with 3:16 to go when Brown broke loose for a 44-yard touchdown.  Schnieders scored the two-point conversion, and the Cardinals cut the lead to 30-22 by halftime.

St Mary continued the momentum in the third quarter.  The Cardinals scored on their first two drives of the second half, which both got started after a Schnieders interception.  St Mary scored with 5:30 to go in the third quarter on a one-yard run by Dalton Houska.  Schnieders again scored the two-point conversion to tie the game at 30-30.  The Cardinals regained the lead with 11:56 left in the game on a two-yard touchdown run by Brown.  Schnieders put the Cardinals ahead 38-30 after the two-point conversion.  DeSmet cut the lead to two points with 9:38 to go on a five-yard touchdown run by Larson.

The Bulldog game-winning drive started with 5:18 to go after DeSmet regained possession on a turnover-on-downs.  The Bulldogs drove the field down to the St Mary eight yard line to set up a first and goal with 1:17 to play.  DeSmet was held out of the endzone on first, second and third downs by the Cardinal defense.  But with just :20 to go on fourth and goal, Poppinga found his way across the goal line for the winning score.

The Cardinals would have one last chance to pull out the win.  After the kickoff St Mary had the fall first and 10 from their own 10 yard line with :16 left in the game.  Brown carried the ball all the way down to the Bulldog 38 yard line before being pushed out of bounds with :06 left to play.  Garret Frost took the snap and dropped back to pass.  Frost’s pass intended for Jacob Glaizer or Noah Fiegen fell incomplete.  The clock did not start when the play was put into motion and still showed :04 after the play was complete.  The officials declared that the time would have expired, and the game was ended on that play.

The Cardinals have their season come to an end with a record of 6-3.

Highlights

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal football team won their final regular season game of the year 38-16 over the Colman/Egan Hawks on Friday, October 16th, in Colman.

The first quarter was a defensive battle as neither team was able to score.  However the Cardinals were able to break the tie and score with 11:17 to go in the second quarter on a 14-yard touchdown run by Josh Brown.  Christian Schnieders scored the two-point conversion to give St Mary an 8-0 lead.  After forcing the Hawks to punt after three plays, the Cardinals scored again on their next drive with 8:22 to play in the half on a two-yard run by Brown to go ahead 14-0.  The St Mary defense again held the Hawks to just three plays before another punt, and Brown set up the St Mary offense with a 50-yard punt return.  Schnieders scored with 5:25 left in the second quarter on a one-yard run to put the Cardinals ahead 20-0.

St Mary scored first again in the second half.  Schnieders scored his second touchdown of the game with 8:03 left in the third quarter on a five-yard run, and the Cardinals led 26-0.  Schnieders scored for the third time in the game with 1:39 remaining in the third quarter on a 12-yard run to put St Mary ahead 32-0.  Colman/Egan finally got on the scoreboard with :27 to go in the third quarter on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Bodee Groos to Josh Giese.  The two-point conversion was good on a pass from Groos to Walker Olivier to make it a 32-8 St Mary lead.  The Cardinals answered right back with 10:15 to go in the game on a 49-yard touchdown run by Brown to push the lead to 38-8.  The Hawks scored with 8:38 to go on a two-yard run by Groos.  Groos connected with Colt Hawkins for the two-point conversion to make the score 38-16, but that was the last time Colman/Egan would touch the ball.  St Mary ran out the final 8:38 of the game for the win.

Brown finished the night with 27 carries for 258 yards and three touchdowns.  He also had four tackles and one interception on defense.  Schnieders tallied 18 carries for 131 yards and three touchdowns.  Dalton Houska finished with six carries for 24 yards.  Defensively for the Cardinals, Garret Frost had 5.5 tackles.  Noah Fiegen ended the night with 7.5 tackles and 2.5 sacks.  Zach Geraets added six tackles and 1.5 sacks.

The Cardinals finish the regular season 6-2.  St Mary will have their open date on Thursday, October 22nd, and will await their opponent for the first round of the playoffs which will be on Tuesday, October 27th.

Highlights

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals and Deubrook Area Dolphins combined for a total of 120 points and 918 yards of offense on Friday, October 9th, in Dell Rapids.  The Cardinals defeated the Dolphins 78-42.

St Mary had a total of 618 yards of offense.  Josh Brown finished the game with 26 carries for 319 yards and seven touchdowns.  Christian Schnieders had 20 carries for 254 yards and four touchdowns.

Schnieders also led the defense for the Cardinals with 9.5 tackles and one sack.  Dalton Houska finished with nine tackles.  Jacob Frost added 6.5 tackles and two sacks, while Jacob Glazier returned to action with 8.5 tackles.

The Cardinals improve to 5-2 on the year.  St Mary will end it’s regular season schedule in Colman against the Colman-Egan Hawks on Friday, October 16th.

Highlights

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals lit up the scoreboard in Elkton on Friday, October 2nd, with a 60-22 win over the Elkton/Lake Benton Elks.   The Cardinals ended up scoring in every quarter in the game.

St Mary got out to an early 8-0 lead after a two-yard touchdown run by Christian Schnieders with 7:39 to go in the first quarter.  The Elks answered right back with 5:33 to go on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Blaine Hefti to Devin Sopko to make the score 8-6.  The Cardinals would have a 16-6 lead at the end of the first quarter as Josh Brown scored on a four-yard run with 2:51 left in the quarter.

St Mary scored the next two touchdowns in the second quarter.  The first score came with 11:02 to go on a 21-yard run by Schnieders.  The Cardinals scored again with 7:03 left in the half on an 11-yard run by Dalton Houska to go ahead 32-6.  Elkton/Lake Benton scored their second touchdown of the game with 4:49 to go when Hefti connected with Trevor Sik on a 38-yard touchdown pass to make the score 32-14.  St Mary added one more score in the second half with 3:07 to go on a 43-yard run by Brown to give the Cardinals a 40-14 halftime lead.

The Elks scored the first touchdown on the second half with 10:12 to go in the third quarter on a 25-yard pass from Hefti to Braden Nielsen making the score 40-22.  However, the Cardinals scored the final three touchdowns of the game.  Schnieders added another touchdown on a tw0-yard run. Brown scored for the third time on a 30-yard run in the fourth quarter, and Garret Frost scored on a 20-yard touchdown run.

St Mary finished with 486 rushing yards and 45 passing yards for a total of 531 yards of offense.  The Elks had 63 rushing yards and 219 passing yards for a total of 282 yards.

Brown had 16 carries for 244 yards and three touchdowns.  Schnieders had 17 carries for 144 yards and three touchdowns.  Frost had five carries for 44 yards and a touchdown.  Houska finished with three carries for 31 yards and a touchdown.

Casey Hansen was 1-2 passing for 26 yards.  Frost was 1-1 passing with 19 yards.  Schnieders had two catches for 45 yards.    Houska led the defense with nine tackles in the game.  Schnieders added eight tackles, and Frost finished with 6.5 tackles.

The Cardinals improve to 4-2 on the year.  St Mary will host Deubrook Area on Friday, October 2nd, in the final regular season game of the year.

Highlights

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal’s winning streak ended at three games as the Arlington/Lake Preston Badgers defeated the Cardinals 19-8 on Friday, September 25th, in Lake Preston.  The Badgers scored in three of the four quarters and held St Mary to just one touchdown in the game.

The Badgers scored the first touchdown with 7:27 to go in the first quarter on a three-yard touchdown pass from Luke Weber to Nicholas Fuhr.  The extra-point was blocked and the Badgers led 6-0 after the first quarter.  Arlington/Lake Preston scored again late in the first half when Weber ran the ball for a two-yard touchdown.  The two-point conversion was no-good, and the Badgers extended their lead to 12-0 at halftime.

The Cardinals were able to get the offense going in the second half, but a fumble, a penalty that negated a touchdown, and being held at the goal-line on fourth down all kept the Cardinals off the board and gave all the momentum to the Badgers.  Arlington/Lake Preston turned a late fourth-quarter interception into a touchdown with 2:03 to go in the game.  Weber scored for the second time on a 17-yard run to put Arlington ahead 19-0.  St Mary picked up their only score with :21 remaining in the game on an 11-yard touchdown run by Casey Hansen.

The Cardinals finished the game with 237 yards of total offense, 197 rushing yards and 40 passing yards.  The Badgers had 216 yards of offense.  Josh Brown had 21 carries for 98 yards in the game.  Weber led the ground attack for the Badgers with 34 carries for 149 yards and two touchdowns.  Hansen finished 3-8 passing for St Mary with 40 yards and one interception.  Christian Schnieders and Brown led the defense with 8.5 tackles each.

The Cardinals fall to 3-2 on the year.  St Mary will travel to Elkton to take on the Elkton/Lake Benton Elks on Friday, October 2nd.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

Highlights

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal football team forced five turnovers on their way to a 24-0 Homecoming win over the Castlewood/Estelline Warriors on Friday, September 18th, in Dell Rapids.

Neither team scored in the first quarter.  The first touchdown of the game came with 7:20 to go in the second quarter when Josh Brown scored on a one-yard run.  J. Brown also scored the two-point conversion to give St Mary an 8-0 lead at halftime.  The Warriors had the ball to begin the third quarter and kept the ball for over seven minutes on their opening drive of the second half.  The Cardinals held defensively keeping the Warriors off the board.  J. Brown picked up another touchdown with 10:50 to go in the game on a five-yard run.  Casey Hansen found Logan Gaspar in the end zone for the two-point conversion.  J. Brown scored again with 5:10 in the game giving St Mary a 24-0 lead.

St Mary finished with 288 yards of total offense, 228 rushing yards and 60 passing yards.  J. Brown had 20 carries for 138 yards and three touchdowns.  Hansen was 4-10 passing for 60 yards and one interception.  Jacob Glazier had a catch for 20 yards.  Evan Brown had a catch for 26 yards, and Gaspar had a catch for 13 yards.  The Cardinals defense was led by Dalton Houska with 11.5 tackles, one fumble recovery, and one interception.  Garret Frost finished with 11.5 tackles.  Hansen had eight tackles.  Sam Schwebach had six tackles and two fumble recoveries.

The Cardinals improve to 3-1 on the year.  St Mary will travel to Lake Preston on Friday to take on Arlington/Lake Preston on Friday, September 25th.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

Highlights

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal football team converted on all five of their two-point conversions.  The De Smet Bulldogs converted on just two of their five two-point conversions.  That difference led to the St Mary Cardinals picking up a 40-34 win over the De Smet Bulldogs on Friday, September 11th, in De Smet in a back-and-forth, exciting ball game.

The offenses for both teams put up a total of 30 combined points in the first quarter.  The Bulldogs took the opening kickoff and scored in less than two minutes.  With 10:10 to go, Matt Larson scored on a five-yard touchdown run to give De Smet an early 6-0 lead.  The Cardinals answered back in less than two minutes.  Josh Brown scored the first of his five touchdowns with 8:18 to go from 14 yards.  Jacob Glazier ran the ball for the two-point conversion to give St Mary an 8-6 lead.

De Smet didn’t waste any time in jumping back into the lead.  Larson found the end zone again, this time on a 38-yard pass from Broderick Poppinga with 5:36 to go in the first quarter.  Larson also scored the two-point conversion, and De Smet led 14-8.  St Mary answered right back with 2:25 left in the quarter.  Brown scored again on a 15-yard run.  Casey Hansen hit Glazier with a pass for the two-points to put the Cardinals back in front 16-14.

The defenses found their groove in the second and third quarters.  St Mary scored the only touchdown of the second quarter with 3:42 to go.  Brown scored for the third time on a five-yard run, and Glazier again converted the two-points to give the Cardinals a 24-14 lead heading into halftime.  The Cardinal offense ran into some troubles in the third quarter.  St Mary was intercepted, lost a fumble, and turned the ball over on downs in their three possessions in the third quarter.  The Bulldogs turned those turnovers into a third quarter touchdown with 7:09 left.  Poppinga tossed Adam Aughenbaugh a three-yard touchdown pass.  The two-point conversion was no good, but the Bulldogs pulled within four at 24-20.

De Smet took the lead with 10:02 to go in the game when Poppinga and Aughenbaugh connected again on a five-yard touchdown pass.  The two-point conversion was again no good, but De Smet took a 26-24 lead.  The Cardinals regained the lead 32 seconds later when Brown scored his fourth touchdown on a 38-yard run.  Brown also scored the two-point conversion to give St Mary a 32-26 lead.  The Bulldogs would again jump out in front with 6:52 to go on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Poppinga to Aughenbaugh again.  The two connected for the two-point conversion, and De Smet held a 34-32 lead.  The lead was short-lived as Brown ran the ensuing kickoff back for an 80-yard touchdown with 6:39 left in the game.  Glazier again scored the two-point conversion, and the St Mary Cardinals went on to hold De Smet for the 40-34 win.

The two teams combined for 706 yards of total offense.  St Mary finished with 338 total yards, and De Smet had 368 total yards.

Brown finished the night with 20 carries for 201 yards and four rushing touchdowns.  Brown also added a kickoff return for a touchdown.  Glazier ran the ball 15 times for 68 yards.  Hansen was 2-3 passing for 54 yards and an interception.  Both completed passes went to Glazier.  Christian Schnieders led the defense with 14 tackles and a half sack.  Dalton Houska tallied 11 tackles.  Brown and Garret Frost each had seven tackles.

The Cardinals improve to 2-1 on the year.  St Mary will host Castlewood/Estelline on Friday, September 18th for Homecoming.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

Highlights