The St. Paul Cardinals won a battle between two reigning state champions Friday by beating Austin Regents 25-21, while Shiner, Yoakum and Hallettsville all recorded morale-boosting wins in area football action.
St. Paul, the reigning TAPPS Class 2A champ, scored three first-half touchdowns and made them stand up in a defensive second half to turn back Austin Regents, the defending 3A champ.
Martin Kennedy returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a score and the Cardinals never looked back in defeating Regents.
A 40-yard TD strike from Dakota Hybner to Justin Natal made it 14-0 for the Cardinals before Regents came back on a 55-yard scoring bomb from Andrew Meynig to Cole Gilmore. But St. Paul made it 22-8 at intermission when Adam Hollenbach broke loose on a 24-yard scoring run.
In the second half, Regents got scoring runs from Douglas and Andrew Meynig but couldn't overcome the Cardinal lead, and St. Paul added a 23-yard Cole Hybner field goal for the final margin.
GAME STATISTICS:
statistics source: http://www.gonzalescannon.com/node/6584Team Statistics Austin St. Paul First Downs 19 12 Yards Rushing 39-188 40-158 Yards Passing 170 194 Passes 10-29-2 8-18-2 Punts 1-32 3-81 Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0 Penalties-yards 10-65 8-73 SCORING SUMMARY: 1 2 3 4 -- Final St. Paul 14 8 0 3 -- 25 Austin Regents 8 0 7 6 -- 21 SCORING DETAILS: First Quarter STP - Martin Kennedy 80 kick return (Cole Hybner kick). STP - Justin Natal 40 pass from Dakota Kresta (Cole Hybner kick). REG - Cole Gilmore 55 pass from Andrew Meynig (Andrew Meynig run). Second Quarter STP - Adam Hollenbach 24 run (Justin Natal run). Third Quarter REG - Douglas Meynig 21 run (Ethan Kim kick). Fourth Quarter STP - Cole Hybner 23 field goal. REG - Andrew Meynig 7 run (kick failed). INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS: Rushing St. Paul, A. Hollenbach 13-75, M. Kennedy 10-57. Passing St. Paul, D. Kresta 18-8-194-2. Receiving St. Paul, J. Natal 5-158, A. Hollenbach 3-36.