Cardinals run wild on Pettus, 60-21
Dave Mundy, Gonzales Cannon Editor
Friday, August 31, 2012
Gonzales Cannon Article | St. Paul Cardinal Football | Shiner Home Page
SHINER -- The St. Paul Cardinals may have developed a new school cheer.
This one's easy. It goes, "Meep-Meep!" Then you stick out your tongue and disappear over the horizon at the speed of light.
Just about the time the Pettus Eagles thought they'd crept back into the game Wile E. Coyote-style Friday, Adam Hollenbach and friends did the Roadrunner on them.
Hollenbach scored three third-quarter touchdowns -- including two on runs of 83 and 53 on successive offensive plays -- and Mitchell McElroy's pick-six hammered home the point as the Cardinals roared off with a 60-21 season-opening win Friday.
"It's good to get a win, but we've got a long way to go," said St. Paul coach Jake Wachsmuth, who celebrated his return to the Cardinal program with the win. "It was a typical first game. I told the kids that yeah, we did some things that were good, but if we play like this five weeks from now, we will lose."
It was an evening of big plays by both teams, but the Cardinals' 27-point explosion in the third quarter left the Eagles' hopes for a come-from-behind win skidding over the cliff.
St. Paul, leading 27-14 at halftime, opened the second half on an off-note when Pettus' Darren Capistran picked off an overthrown Dakota Kresta pass. But the St. Paul defense held, and an Eagle punt rolled dead at the Cardinal 17-yard line.
On the next snap from scrimmage, Hollenbach found a seam on the right side and zipped into the secondary, racing 83 yards for a score which made it 35-14.
Another defensive stop and another punt later, Hollenbach repeated the feat, this time from 53 yards away. And to add insult to injury, three plays after Hollenbach's second TD made it 41-14, Mitchell stepped in front of a John Grayson pass and raced down the sidelines with a 28-yard return for an insurmountable 47-14 lead with 5:07 still remaining in the third period.
A 20-yard burst by Martin Kennedy, coupled with a personal-foul penalty against the Eagles, set the stage for Hollenbach's third score of the quarter, a 16-yarder with 3:00 left in the period to make it a 54-14 ball game.
The Cardinals got off to a good start in the contest, but the Eagles got some big plays of their own from Casey Jones and Staton Lindemann to threaten the state's top-ranked TAPPS Division IV team.
A 30-yard punt return by Kennedy set up St. Paul's first score, as Kresta concluded a short 22-yard drive with a 14-yard quarterback scramble.
The Cardinals' defensive front, anchored by Laddie Patek and Tyler Morgan, gave the Pettus backs fits and forced another punt. The Cardinals responded with another scoring drive, covering 47 yards in just four plays, with Kennedy bolting 15 yards for the payoff to make it a 13-0 ball game.
A fumble recovery by Morgan stopped a Pettus threat at the St. Paul 12-yard line, and the Cardinals mounted a 13-play, 88-yard march. Hollenbach scored from nine yards out to take a 19-0 lead.
Pettus -- a 9-3 Class 2A playoff team a year ago -- wasn't about to roll over, however. On the Eagles' next play, Jones got the edge around right end and turned it into a 66-yard scoring run. Jones finished his evening with 184 rushing yards on just 10 carries.
The Eagles followed with a defensive stop of their own, and a play later Grayson found Lindeman behind two defenders and turned it into a 51-yard touchdown pass.
The Cardinals answered in kind just before the first half ended, when Kresta capped a 55- yard, four-play drive by drilling Kennedy with a strike on a crossing pattern which the senior turned into a 41-yard TD play and a 27-14 lead.
The Eagles got their final score midway through the fourth quarter, with Jones wrapping up a five-play, 50-yard march with a 14-yard scoring run.
The Cardinals' second offense put together a ball-control drive of their own as the clock wound down, running 10 plays and covering 50 yards before T.J. Bell crashed into the end zone from a yard out for the final score.
Wachsmuth said that although the margin of victory was satisfying, some of the sloppy play was not; the Cardinals had 60 penalty yards and fumbled four times.
"You're never in as good a shape to start the season as you want to be, but the good thing is it's stuff these kids know," he said. "And you've got to give Pettus credit, they've got some guys on that team who are some good players. There was a period of time there where they were giving it to us.
"We'll get better," he said. "When you get a big lead like that, you tend to let your defense down a little. But we'll get better."
GAME STATISTICS:
statistics source: http://www.gonzalescannon.com/node/10837TEAM STATISTICS: Pettus St.Paul First Downs 10 21 Rushes-Yards 34-211 47-458 Passing Yards 72 45 Passes 3-10-1 2-5-1 Fumbles-Lost 2-1 4-1 Penalties-Yards 7-70 6-60 Punts-Avg 5-33. 8 0 SCORING SUMMARY: 1 2 3 4 -- Final Pettus 0 14 0 7 -- 21 St. Paul 13 14 27 6 -- 60 SCORING DETAILS: First Quarter StP -- Dakota Kresta 14 run (Adam Hollenbach kick) StP -- Martin Kennedy 15 run (kick failed) Second Quarter StP -- Hollenbach 9 run (kick failed) PET -- Casey Jones 66 (Dylan Dunn kick) PET -- Staton Lindemann 51 pass from John Grayson (Dunn kick) StP -- Kennedy 41 pass from Kresta (Kennedy pass from Kresta) Third Quarter StP -- Hollenbach 83 run (Hollenbach run) StP -- Hollenbach 53 run (pass failed) StP -- Mitchell McElroy 28 interception return (kick failed) StP -- Hollenbach 16 run (Hollenbach kick) Fourth Quarter PET -- Jones 14 run (Dunn kick) StP -- T.J. Bell 1 run (kick failed) INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS: Rushing Pettus, Josh Herrera 10-35, Casey Jones 10-184, John Grayson 8-(-26), Stayton Lindemann 3-13, Pete Garcia 2-1. St. Paul, Mitchell McElroy 2-8, Adam Hollenbach 15-254, Martin Kennedy 10-88, Dakota Kresta 6-60, T.J. Bell 10-61, Marco Ynclan 3-(-15), Jed Janecek 1-3. Passing Pettus, John Grayson 3-10-1-72. St. Paul, Dakota Kresta 2-5-1-45. Receiving Pettus, Stayton Lindemann 1-51, Kyle McJunkins 1-11, Casey Jones 1-3. St. Paul, Martin Kennedy 2-45.St. Paul Cardinal Football | Shiner Home Page
GO CARDINALS !
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