Weimar comeback sinks St. Paul, 22-21
Mark Lube, Gonzales Cannon Sports Editor
Friday, September 21, 2012
Gonzales Cannon Article | St. Paul Cardinal Football | Shiner Home Page
SHINER -- When the Cardinals trailed Weimar 16-7 late in the third quarter, head coach Jake Wachsmuth implored them to be patient and persistent.
Mitchell McElroy clears the path with a block near the 25 yard-line for Dakota Kresta to score a go-ahead TD in the fourth quarter. Gonzales Cannon photos
St. Paul (2-2) was able to snag two touchdowns and hold a 21-16 lead with under six minutes left in the game.
"I told them to keep playing," he said. "Just play about the next play because there is nothing you do about the plays before it."
But Weimar (2-1) was able to take advantage of some St. Paul errors on both sides of the ball and come away with a 22-21 clawer Friday night at Comanche Stadium
"The Cardinals were inconsistent in their play," Wachsmuth said.
"We have to execute better," he said. "We would make some plays and then would make a critical mistake on offense or defense."
"We gave a long run after we had scored and later, we missed some blocking assignments that put us in a bad situation. We just have to execute better."
The Wildcats opened the third quarter with an 11-play march that moved them from their 35 down to the St. Paul 22, relying on counters and inside runs by Jakyle Harris.
At that point, Harris took an option pitch from quarterback Seth Helmcamp but boggled it and dropped it to the ground where Cardinal linebacker Tyler Morgan dove on top of it.
However, St. Paul was unable to capitalize on the takeaway and punted to the 'Cat 39.
A penalty backed Weimar to its own 34 and Harris took the handoff and sliced through the inside for a 66-yard touchdown score. Helmcamp scored the two-point play on the ground to put Weimar ahead 16-7 with 3:59 to play in the third.
A couple of penalties on the kickoff play allowed St. Paul to start at Weimar’s 34 and the home team took advantage of the early Christmas gifts.
Quarterback Dakota Kresta picked up 17 yards on a quarterback run and Adam Hollenbach scooted 14 more to the 3 where he punched it on the next play.
Kresta threw to Martin Kennedy in the corner of the end zone for the two-point conversion, bringing the Cardinals to within 16-15.
The Cats’ next drive started at the minus-34 and only had 1-yard net gain after a delay of game call negated some rushing yardage. Helmcamp converted a third-and-9 play with a 20-yard pass to Jalen Almeida to the Cardinal 45.
Weimar stalled out and had a 26-yard punt to the Cardinal 22.
Hollenbach gained 3 yards followed by a 2-yard counter by Kennedy.
The third-down pass by Kresta was no good and St. Paul punted the ball away. Weimar fared no better in three plays and punted as well.
At the Cardinal 34, two runs by Hollenbach totaled 13 yards and Kennedy took an option pitch from Kresta for 8 to the Weimar 45. Hollenbach had runs of 5 and 6 yards to the 34. Kennedy was dropped for a loss at the 36. On the next play, Kresta got the ball on a designed- quarterback keeper, took it around the left side and took advantage of a Mitchell McElroy block that allowed Kresta to beat out any further Weimar defenders to the end zone. The two- point conversion was no good, but St. Paul was back in the lead , 21-16, with 5:42 to play.
The 'Cats responded quickly with a 61-yard drive in three plays and 54 seconds.
Helmcamp took the ball on first down with a quarterback draw up the middle worth about 51 yards. DeLuxus Gordon gained 7 yards on the counter and and scored from the 3 on the next play to put Weimar up 22-21 with less than five minutes left.
Jared Markham recovered the short kickoff at the Cardinal 49. Hollenbach and Kresta alternated runs to get St. Paul to the 39 of Weimar. Kennedy lost 4 yards on a counter and Kresta moved the Cardinals to the 42. On fourth-and 13 play from the 42, Kresta was sacked back at the 45 and lost the football. Gordon recovered and returned it inside the Cardinal 20 but a holding call on the return pushed the ball back to the 35.Weimar then chose to run out the remaining 1:41.
The Cardinals opened the game with a 7-0 lead as Hollenbach carried the team on a 56-yard, nine-play drive that used almost five minutes. Kresta and Kennedy contributed some carries, and Hollenbach capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run.
Weimar answered with a five-play 62-yard drive and was aggressive early as Helmcamp pitched to Juwan Almedia to set up a halfback pass to Payton Wells for a 38-yard gain on the first play.
Several plays later, Gordon sneaked in from the 2. The snap on the extra point was mishandled but Helmcamp managed to pull up the ball and find Wells for the two-point pass.
For the rest of the half, the two teams traded some punts and each failed a fourth-down attempt and Weimar led narrowly 8-7 at halftime.
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statistics source: http://www.gonzalescannon.com/node/10837TEAM STATISTICS: Weimar St.Paul First downs 10 11 Rushes-yards 35-206 41-205 Passing yards 126 15 Passing 8-13-0 2-10-0 Punts-yards 3-91 5-165 Fumbles-lost 4-1 1-1 Penalties-yards 8-55 5-30 SCORING SUMMARY: 1 2 3 4 -- Final Weimar 8 0 8 6 -- 22 St. Paul 7 0 8 6 -- 21 SCORING DETAILS: First Quarter SP - Adam Hollenbach 5 run (Hollenbach kick) W - DeLuxus Gordon 2 run (Payton Wells from Seth Helmcamp) Second Quarter no score Third Quarter W - Jakyle Harris 66 run (Helmcamp run) SP - Hollenbach 3 run (Martin Kennedy from Dakota Kresta) Fourth Quarter SP - Kresta 36 run (run failed) W - Gordon 3 run (pass failed) INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS: Rushing Weimar: Jakyle Harris 12-109, Seth Helmcamp 12-60, DeLuxus Gordon 6-22, Jalen Almeida 3-7, Reece Kunschick 1-6, Juwan Almeida 1-2. St. Paul: Adam Hollenbach 21-107, Dakota Kresta 10-72, Martin Kennedy 7-18, Mitchell McElroy 2-8. Passing Weimar:Helmcamp 7-12-0-126, Juwan Almedia 1-1-0-38. St. Paul: Kresta 2-10-0-15. Receiving Weimar: Payton Wells 3-52, Torre Johnson 3-50, Jalen Almedia 1-20, Juwan Almedia 1-4. St. Paul: Jared Markham 1-9, Martin Kennedy 1-6.St. Paul Cardinal Football | Shiner Home Page
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