The Dell Rapids St. Mary Cardinal football team (3-1) fell to the 9AA #2 Arlington Cardinals 34-6 in Arlington on Friday, September 26th. Arlington was out rushed by St. Mary by 50 yards, but five big plays and a strong defensive front for Arlington when St Mary was in Arlington territory proved to be the difference in the game.

Arlington scored first on the third play of the game with a 64-yard touchdown run by Alex Heuer. After possessions by both teams, Arlington struck again with a 50-yard touchdown run by Andrew King to end the first quarter.  Arlington lead 13-0.

St. Mary came out in the second quarter with a 52-yard kick off return by Jacob Glazier. St. Mary was then shut down by Arlington’s defense on the drive. Arlington scored on another big play later in the quarter.  Arlington recovered a fumbled punt, and the turnover led to a touchdown on a pass play from King to Heuer.

St Mary got on the board with a one-yard touchdown run by Josh Brown, but on the ensuing kicking off, Arlington’s Luke Weber returned the kickoff for a touchdown to make the score 28-6.  Arlington added another score later in the game for the 34-6 win.

Coach Flemmer said that when playing a good team like Arlington you cannot give the momentum back after good things happen.

St. Mary will host Castlewood (2-2) on Friday, October 3rd, for Homecoming.

Highlights

The Dell Rapid St. Mary Cardinal football team improved their record to 2-0 in impressive fashion by beating the Elkton/Lake Benton Elks 52-14 on Friday, September 12th, in Dell Rapids.

The Elks started the game with a 2-yard touchdown run. After that touchdown the Cardinal offense took control of the game.  St. Mary scored their first touchdown on a 24-yard pass play from Wes Heinricy to Noah Fiegen. St. Mary scored again on a 15-yard touchdown run by Josh Brown. The Cardinals added to their lead in the second quarter on a 12-yard touchdown run by Brown.  St. Mary also scored on touchdown runs by Hienricy, Jacob Glazier, and Mitch Brown in the game.  J. Brown finished the night offensively with 179 yards on 20 carries and three touchdowns.

Defensively the Cardinals were just as impressive. The Cardinals had three interceptions – one by Hienricy, one by Glazier, and one by Casey Hansen. The Cardinals were led by Dalton Houska with 9.5 tackles and a sack.

The Cardinals will travel to Colman/Egan to take on the Hawks on Friday, September 19th.

Highlights

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal football team avenged last year’s loss to the Deubrook Dolphins with a 30-14 win in White on Friday, September 5th.

The Cardinals scored first in the opening quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by Christian Schnieders.  Two times in the first quarter the Dolphins were in a goal-to-go situation, but the Cardinal defense held strong forcing a turnover on downs and a fumble to keep Deubrook out of the endzone.  St Mary held a 6-0 lead after the first quarter.

However, Deubrook scored first in the second quarter on a 47-yard touchdown pass.  The two-point conversion was good, and the Dolphins had their only lead of the game at 8-6.  St Mary regained the lead later in the second quarter for good on a Josh Brown touchdown run and took a 14-8 lead into halftime.

After a three and out opening drive by the Dolphins, the Cardinals partially blocked a punt to give themselves great field position for their next drive.  St Mary pushed their lead to 22-8 after a 29-yard touchdown run by Brown, his second of the game.

Deubrook would not go away quietly as they scored on their first play in the fourth quarter on a 22-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 22-14.  Brown would make sure the Cardinals would not lose as he found the endzone for the third time midway through the fourth quarter on a 46-yard touchdown run to seal the victory.

Dell Rapids St Mary finished the game with 267 rushing yards and 83 passing yards for a total of 350 yards of offense.  Brown led the team with 16 carries for 153 yards and three touchdowns.  Jacob Glazier had 10 carries for 63 yards, and Schnieders had eight carries for 34 yards and a touchdown.  Wes Heinricy was 6-11 passing for 83 yards in the game.  Noah Fiegen had three catches for 44 yards, Brown added two catches for 33 yards, and Garett Frost had a catch for six yards.  Defensively for the Cardinals, Glazier had 7.5 tackles, one interception and one fumble recovery.  Schnieders had 6.5 tackles.  Heinricy finished with six tackles, two sacks, one forced fumble, and a fumble recovery, and Zach Geraets added five tackles and one sack.

The St Mary Cardinals are 1-0 on the season and will host Elkton-Lake Benton on Friday, September 12th in their first home game of the year.

Four Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals were selected as Dakota Valley Conference All-Conference players.  They are Leon Maxwell, Josh Brown, Christian Schnieders, and Ben Bunkers.  Jonah Longville and Jared Scholten were honorable mention selections.  Head Coach Ross Flemmer was also voted the Dakota Valley Conference Coach of the Year!

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals picked up a win over the Langord Lions 50-20 in the first round of the 9B South Dakota High School football playoffs on Tuesday, October 28th, in Dell Rapids.

The Cardinals scored on their opening drive with 7:49 to go in the first quarter on a 5-yard touchdown run by Christian Schnieders.  St Mary added another touchdown with 1:30 to go in the quarter on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Wes Heinricy to Jared Scholten.  The Cardinals led 14-0 after the first quarter.

St Mary scored three times in the second quarter.  Jacob Glazier had a 36-yard touchdown run with 10:36 to go in the half.  Ben Bunkers followed that with a 16-yard touchdown run at the 8:15 mark of the second quarter.  Schnieders then picked up his second touchdown of the game on a 1-yard touchdown with 3:33 left in the half to give St Mary a 34-0 lead.  Langford scored with 3:13 to go in the half on a 36-yard touchdown pass from Bo Fries to Chance Olson.  The Cardinals had a 34-6 lead at halftime.

The Cardinals scored first in the second half on a 5-yard touchdown run by Bunkers with 7:58 to go in the third quarter.  The touchdown gave the Cardinals a 42-14 lead.  Langford scored their second touchdown of the game at the 6:05 mark of the third quarter on a 26-yard touchdown run by Fries.  But Dell Rapids St Mary would score one more time before the end of the third quarter on a 1-yard touchdown pass from Heinricy to Josh Brown.  The Cardinals led 50-14 at the end of the third quarter.  Langford scored one more touchdown in the game on a 3-yard touchdown run by Lincoln Gibbs with 5:30 left in the game.

Brown had 21 carries for 153 yards in the game.  Bunkers finished with 16 carries for 105 yards and two touchdowns.  Schnieders had eight carries for 33 yards and two touchdowns.  Glazier had four carries in the game for 36 yards and a touchdown.  Heinricy finished 3-5 passing for 19 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.  Scholten had a 14-yard touchdown reception, and Brown also had a touchdown catch of one yard.

Defensively for Dell Rapids St Mary, Glazier and Scholten each had seven tackles.  Brown finished the game with six tackles.  Bunkers had three tackles and two interceptions in the game.The Cardinals improve to 8-1 on the year.  They will travel to Avon on Monday, November 4th, for the second round of the playoffs.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals defeated the #1 team in 9AA, the Arlington Cardinals, by a score of 38-30 on Friday, October 18th.  St Mary put up 404 yards of total offense in the game, 365 rushing yards and 39 passing yards.  Josh Brown finished the game with 23 carries for 172 yards and three touchdowns.  Ben Bunkers had 16 carries for 108 yards and a touchdown.  Christian Schnieders also had 11 carries for 81 yards.  Wes Heinricy was 1-3 passing for 22 yards and a touchdown.  Bunkers was 1-4 passing for 17 yards.  Noah Fiegen had a 22-yard touchdown reception.

Defensively for St Mary, Jared Scholten had nine tackles in the game.  Brown finished with 7.5 tackles.  Leon Maxwell had six tackles and one sack.  Fiegen had two sacks in the game, and Jonah Longville finished with three tackles and a sack.  Heinricy had four tackles and a late-game interception that would seal the win for St Mary.

Head coach Ross Flemmer said, “It was a big win for us.  It was a fun, hard-hitting, well-fought game by both teams.  Our kids fought back from adversity and played hard.  Our defense really picked it up in the second half and did a great job.  Our defensive and offensive line really did a great job.”

The win improves St Mary’s record to 6-1 on the year.  Dell Rapids St Mary will finish up the year in Lake Preston on Thursday, October 24th.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals defeated the Estelline Redmen 48-14 on Friday, October 11th, in Dell Rapids.  The Cardinals held Estelline to just 90 yards of total offense, 14 rushing yards and 76 passing yards, in the game.  Meanwhile, Dell Rapids St Mary racked up 358 yards of total offense, 311 rushing and 47 passing.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals lost a close and exciting game to the Deubrook Dolphins in White on Friday, October 4th, by a score of 40-38.  The battle of two of the top teams in class 9B and 9AA had a 40-minute weather delay midway through the third quarter.

Deubrook scored early on a 10-yard touchdown run by Riley Hanson with 10:47 in the first quarter to give the Dolphins a quick 6-0 lead.  The Cardinals answered right back on a 35-yard touchdown run by Josh Brown to tie the game at 6-6 with 9:32 to go in the first quarter.  Deubrook picked up another touchdown on a 67-yard run by Hanson to go ahead 14-6 at the 7:03 mark.  But Dell Rapids St Mary would tie the game with 3:07 to go in the first on a 31-yard touchdown run by Brown.  The game was tied 14-14 at the end of the first quarter.

The Dolphins scored the only touchdown of the second quarter for either team on a 5-yard pass play from Dustin Trooien to Quinn Peterson.  The extra point gave Deubrook a 21-14 lead going into halftime.

Dell Rapids St Mary struck first on a 36-yard touchdown run by Brown at the 8:19 mark of the third quarter.  The 2-point conversion was no good, and the Dolphins lead 21-20.  With 6:07 to go in the third, the game was delayed.  When play resumed, Deubrook scored with 3:17 left in the quarter on another Hanson touchdown run, this time for 77 yards.  The extra point was no good, and the Dolphins had a 27-20 lead after the third quarter.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, West Heinricy hit Ben Bunkers with a 21-yard touchdown pass.   Again, St Mary could not convert on the 2-point conversion, and again trailed by one at 27-26.  Deubrook would extend the lead again on Hanson’s 40 yard touchdown run, his fourth of the game, at the 9:35 mark.  Deubrook’s extra point attempt was no good, and the Dolphins lead 33-26.  Dell Rapids St Mary would score about four minutes later on a 5-yard touchdown run by Jacob Glazier.  The 2-point conversion failed yet again, and the Cardinals were within one point at 33-32.  With 4:25 in the game, Hanson found the end zone for the fifth time on a 5-yard touchdown run.  The extra point was good, and that gave Deubrook a 40-32 lead.  Dell Rapids St Mary would score one more touchdown with 1:08 to go on a 13-yard touchdown run by Bunkers.  But once again, the 2-point conversion failed, and the Cardinals trailed by two points at 40-38.  The onside kick attempted went out of bounds, and Deubrook ran out the clock for the win.

Brown had 28 carries for 200 yards and three touchdowns.  Bunkers had 17 carries for 126 yards and a touchdown.  Heinricy went 3-6 passing for 45 yards and a touchdown.  Defensively for the Cardinals, Christian Schnieders had 6.5 tackles and one forced fumble.  Bunkers had five tackles and a fumble recovery.  Brown had 5.5 tackles and a fumble recovery.  Jared Scholten finished the game with 4.5 tackles.

Head coach Ross Flemmer said, “The kids played hard, they kept fighting back and worked hard the whole game.  Our offensive line did an outstanding job of opening holes for our backs.  Defensively we had some trouble bottling up their running game, but came up big on several 3rd and 4th downs and got some turnovers from them. I was very proud of how our kids handled themselves in the face of adversity.”

Dell Rapids St Mary falls to 4-1 on the year.  The Cardinals will host Estelline on Friday, October 11th.

Highlights