Inspired second half helps Flatonia upset St. Paul, 21-17
by Cedric Inglehart
Friday, September 16, 2011
Gonzales Cannon Article | St. Paul Cardinal Football | Shiner Home Page
SHINER -- It was supposed to a night of celebration, but instead the theme centered around redemption.
The much-maligned Flatonia defense underwent a halftime rejuvenation to pitch a second half shutout to overcome a 10-point deficit and spoil Homecoming for St. Paul with a 21-17 win. After giving up 830 yards in their first three games, the Bulldogs (2-2) allowed 261 total yards to St. Paul but they held the Cardinals to just two first downs in the game’s final two quarters.
"We didn’t play very well in the first half," said Flatonia head coach Chris Freytag. "At halftime there was some doubt in the schemes we were running, but we decided to stick with it and just play better. Defensively we played lights out in the second half."
"The bottom line is our defense is getting better. We tackled terribly in the first half, but we really improved in the second half. St. Paul is a good football team and Coach Johnston does a great job, but our kids caught on fire when we needed to. We needed this win in the worst way."
If the play of the Bulldog defense was the game’s top story, then a close second was the play of their offensive line. Without the services of last year’s leading rusher Andres Melendez, Flatonia ran for 232 yards behind the gutsy efforts of sophomores Mitchell Mica and Dalton Griffen. Mica finished ran 21 times for a game-high 109 yards and two touchdowns, while Griffen contributed with 48 yards.
"Mitchell had been fumbling the ball and we weren’t sure if we were going to give him the ball tonight," said Freytag. "He played the game of his life tonight. We got him back on track and that makes us a much better ball club. Their skill guys were as good as our skill guys, but up front we dominated them and that was the difference in the game."
The Cardinals passing attack from the spread was lacking. Plagued by spats of inaccuracy all night, Dakota Kresta only completed 12 of his 32 passes for 138 yards. There were also several drops by St. Paul receivers including three by the sure-handed Justin Natal, who also dropped one in the end zone.
"We could not complete passes tonight," said St. Paul head coach Paul Johnston. "We missed a lot of open receivers deep. Flatonia did a good job of taking some stuff away from us, but we just didn’t execute. You’ve got to give credit to Flatonia, but by the same token we beat ourselves with the mental mistakes. I made some bad calls and mistakes that I have to correct, so you can put a lot of this on me."
St. Paul (3-1) opened the game hitting on all cylinders. The Cardinals marched down the field with an 11-play drive that culminated in a one-yard plunge by Adam Hollenbach. Cole Hybner’s extra point kick was good and St. Paul held the early 7-0 lead.
Flatonia tried to answer on the ensuing drive, but two costly penalties thwarted their scoring attempt and they were forced to boot a 44-yard punt that gave the Cardinals possession at their own 37.
St. Paul wasted no time getting back on the scoreboard, as Hollenbach hauled in a screen pass on the drive’s fifth play and took it 37 yards for his second score of the game. Hybner’s kick was good and the Cardinals were up 14-0 midway through the opening frame.
After punting away again on their next possession, Flatonia’s special teams gave the Bulldogs a jump start. On fourth and six from the Cardinal 46, Miguel Grifaldo blocked a punt and it was recovered by Aaron Manzano at the St. Paul 20.
Alternating runs by Griffen and Mica resulted in a seven-yard Mica scoring run and Flatonia was on the board for the first time. Will Bruns made the extra point kick to cut the lead to 14-7 at the 8:33 mark of the second quarter.
St. Paul turned the ball on downs on their next possession and Flatonia responded by mounting a 12-play drive that went all the way down to the Cardinal 14. However their scoring attempt was frittered away when Colby Mica fumbled a quarterback sneak on fourth down and one, and Brett Hodges recovered it at the Cardinal 18.
The Cardinals then ran a beautifully executed two-minute drive - highlighted by a 26-yard strike from Kresta to Hodges - and Hybner booted a 25-yard field goal with one second left to allow St. Paul to take a 17-7 advantage into the intermission.
The Bulldogs went three and out on the opening possession of the second half, but caught another break when St. Paul was facing a fourth and five on their first possession of the third quarter. A low kick on the punt ricocheted off a Flatonia player and was recovered by Christihan Rodriguez at the Cardinal 35.
On the third play of the drive, Colby Mica scampered 45 yards for an apparent score but it was called back due to a holding penalty. Three plays later, they turned the ball over on downs after an incomplete pass.
The Cardinals went three and out, but the punt attempt by Martin Kennedy went awry when he was pressured and tried to run for the first down. He lost five yards on the play and Flatonia took over at the Cardinal 25.
Three plays later, Colby Mica snuck it in from the one and Bruns made another extra point kick to narrow the lead to 17-14 midway through the third quarter.
The Bulldogs forced another three and out, and after eight straight running plays Mitchell Mica found the end zone from four yards out. Bruns’ kick made it 21-17 early in the final quarter.
The Cardinals went on to run seven plays before turning the ball over on downs again. Eight plays later Flatonia was preparing to punt on fourth and 12, but St. Paul was flagged for a roughing the kicker penalty that kept the drive alive. They drove the ball down to the Cardinal 16 before failing to convert on a fourth and three run.
St. Paul benefitted from a pass interference call on first down to put the ball at their 29. After two incomplete passes, Kresta was sacked on third down by Manzano with 1:39 left to play. Kresta tried to connect with Kennedy on fourth and long but Griffin had tight coverage and the ball went back to Flatonia, who ran out the rest of the clock with three straight kneel downs.
GAME STATISTICS:
statistics source: http://www.gonzalescannon.com/node/6584Flatonia St. Paul First downs 13 12 Rushes-yds 54-232 26-123 Passing yds 0 138 Passes 0-10-0 12-33-0 Punts-avg 3-38 1-23 Penalties-yds 6-60 2-29 Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0 SCORING SUMMARY: 1 2 3 4 -- Final Flatonia 0 7 7 7 -- 21 St. Paul 14 3 0 0 -- 17 SCORING DETAILS: First Quarter S - Adam Hollenbach 1 run (Cole Hybner kick), 8:13 S - Hollenbach 37 pass from Dakota Kresta (Hybner kick), 4:14 Second Quarter F - Mitchell Mica 7 run (Will Bruns kick), 8:33 S - Hybner 25 field goal, 0:01 Third Quarter F - Colby Mica 1 run (Bruns kick), 5:42 Fourth Quarter F - M. Mica 4 run (Bruns kick), 11:49 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS: Rushing Flatonia: Mitchell Mica 21-109, Colby Mica 10-51, Dalton Griffin 19-48, Zane Ponder 2-18, Daniel Flores 2-6. St. Paul: Martin Kennedy 5-47, Adam Hollenbach 7-39, Dakota Kresta 11-30, Justin Natal 1-6, Brett Hodges 2-1 Passing Flatonia: Colby Mica 0-10-0. St. Paul: Dakota Kresta 12-32-138, Martin Kennedy 0-1-0 . Receiving Flatonia: none. St. Paul: Adam Hollenbach 3-49, Justin Natal 4-28, Brett Hodges 1-26, Martin Kennedy 3-24, Cole Hybner 1-11.
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