Gonzales Inquirer On-Line

Cardinals score early, hang on for 27-24 victory
by Jason Chlapek, Gonzales Inquirer Sports
Tuesday, November 29, 2011

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St. Paul quarterback Dakota Kresta (7) carries the ball during the Cardinals’ 27-24 win over The Woodlands Christian Saturday at Buffalo Stadium in Giddings. Kresta completed 7-of-11 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown in the victory despite throwing into strong wind gusts throughout the evening. St. Paul now faces Sacred Heart at 6 p.m. Saturday at Wildcat Stadium in Temple for the TAPPS Division IV state championship.
photo by Alex Casares / Gonzales Inquirer
GIDDINGS -- There have been plenty of big runs for Adam Hollenbach during his high school football career.

He had some big runs Saturday night as well, including a 75-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. But Hollenbach’s biggest run of his 171-yard night was his final carry -- a 6-yard gain to give the St. Paul football team the first down it needed to run out the clock and clinch a return to the TAPPS Division IV state championship game with a 27-24 victory over The Woodlands Christian in a DIV state semifinal contest Saturday at Giddings High School.

"It felt good to run the ball again," Hollenbach said. "I knew I would get that first down on my last carry. I just pushed forward until I got the distance."

St. Paul (11-2) faces an all-too-familiar foe in Saturday’s DIV state title game -- Sacred Heart. The teams meet at 6 p.m. Saturday at Wildcat Stadium in Temple.

The Cardinals struck early as they scored 20 points on three of their first four possessions to seize a 20-0 lead. Martin Kennedy sparked things early by returning the opening kickoff 65 yards to The Woodlands’ 25-yard line.

Six plays later, Kennedy capped the drive with a 7-yard score to give St. Paul a 7-0 lead at the 8:56 mark of the first quarter. The Cardinals ran the ball on every play during the drive.

While the Warriors could not muster anything on their first two drives, they did down a punt at the St. Paul 1 late in the first quarter. But five plays later, Hollenbach took a jet sweep handoff and found an opening for a 75-yard touchdown run to increase the Cardinals’ lead to 14-0 with 1:31 left in the opening quarter.

On both scoring drives and the second one, which stalled at The Woodlands’ 36, St. Paul ran the football. Mother Nature had an effect on the play calling, according to Cardinals’ coach Paul Johnston.

"With the strong wind, we had to run the ball when we could," Johnston said. "We didn’t throw the ball as much as we would’ve liked though."

The wind certainly played a factor on the Warriors’ ensuing drive. After stalling at the 50, Todd Eaglin’s punt into the eastbound wind blew the kick backward as the ball was downed at his team’s 42.

Eaglin’s punt of minus-8 yards gave St. Paul great field position once again, and the Cardinals took advantage. Dakota Kresta hit Hollenbach for a 28-yard score to cap a five-play, 42-yard drive and put St. Paul on top, 20-0, with 7:22 remaining in the second quarter.

The Cardinals led 20-0 at halftime, but The Woodlands came to life in the third quarter. Eaglin reeled off a 35-yard run before scoring from six yards out to cut the St. Paul lead to 20-6 at the 10:12 mark of the third quarter.

Neither team scored again in the third quarter as the Cardinals punted once and turned the ball over on downs during their two possessions in the period, while the Warriors punted and threw an interception on their last two drives in the third. Following a St. Paul fumble early in the fourth quarter, The Woodlands struck again.

Eaglin gained 25 yards on the first play of the ensuing drive before hitting James Bento for a 33- yard touchdown. Bento missed the extra point to leave the score at 20-12 with 10:33 left in the fourth quarter.

After a missed field goal attempt by the Cardinals, the Warriors had a chance to pull even. But Eaglin’s pass under pressure went into the hands of Kennedy, who returned the interception 25 yards for a score to give St. Paul a 27-12 lead with 5:10 left to play in regulation.

"A lot of their fans thought their quarterback was down, but the referees didn’t rule him down, and there is no instant replay in high school," Kennedy said of his game-clinching interception return. "I was in the right place at the right time, and Laddie (Patek) put great pressure on the quarterback."

Down but not out, The Woodlands kept fighting. Eaglin hit Bento for a 26-yard gain to the Cardinals’ 43 before hitting the receiver again for a 43-yard score two plays later to cut the lead to 27-18 at the 4:15 mark of the fourth quarter.

Things became interesting as St. Paul lost its third fumble of the night on the ensuing possession, and Eaglin struck again by scoring on a 55-yard run on the next play to cut the lead to 27-24 with 2:33 left to play. But the Warriors failed to recover the onside kick, and a trio of Hollenbach carries netted 12 yards and allowed the Cardinals to run out the clock.

"It’s great to be back in the state championship game," Hollenbach said. "We had a slow start, but we kept getting better as the season progressed."

While this is St. Paul’s second consecutive state title game appearance, this is the first time Johnston has been the head coach in a state game. He became the Cardinals’ head coach in late July.

"I’m extremely excited," Johnston said. "We have unbelievable support from our fans and the community, and it’s a blessing to be a part of this."

The Cardinals go into Saturday’s game as defending state champions. St. Paul also goes into this game with three consecutive wins over Sacred Heart, including a 14-12 win over the Indians on Oct. 29 in Hallettsville.

"We did what we had to do to get here," Kennedy said. "We worked as a team and we had faith that we’d be back in the state championship game. We beat Sacred Heart once this year, and we can do it again."


GAME STATISTICS:
statistics source: http://www.gonzalescannon.com/node/7379

  TEAM STATISTICS:
                     St. Paul      Woodlands
  First downs        17            13
  Rushes-Yards       48-243        31-176
  Passing Yards      127           124
  Passes             7-11-0        9-27-3
  Punts-Avg          2-31          3-28.3
  Fumbles-Lost       5-3           1-0
  Penalties-Yards    5-45          3-40


SCORING SUMMARY:
                     1   2   3   4  --  Final
  St. Paul          14   6   0   7  --  27
  Woodlands Chr.     0   0   6  18  --  24


SCORING DETAILS:

  First Quarter
     StP -- Adam Hollenbach 7 run (Cole Hybner kick)
     StP -- Hollenbach 75 run (Hybner kick)

  Second Quarter
     StP -- Hollenbach 28 pass from Dakota Kresta (kick failed)

  Third Quarter
     TWC -- Todd Eaglin 3 run (run failed)

  Fourth Quarter
     TWC -- James Bento 33 pass from Eaglin (kick failed)
     StP -- Martin Kennedy 24 interception return (Hybner kick)
     TWC -- Bento 43 pass from Eaglin (kick failed)
     TWC -- Eaglin 55 run (run failed)


INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

  Rushing
     St. Paul, Adam Hollenbach 17-181, Martin Kennedy 9-40, Brett Hodges 6-10,
       Dakota Kresta 13-24, Team 3-(-12).
     Woodlands Christian, Todd Eaglin 21-146, Michael Sacks 6-25,
       Jeffrey Chen 3-5, Cray Noah 1-0.

  Passing
     St. Paul, Dakota Kresta 7-11-0-127.
     Woodlands Christian, Todd Eaglin 9-27-3-124.

  Receiving
     St. Paul, Adam Hollenbach 3-41, Justin Natal 2-22, Cole Hybner 1-51,
       Martin Kennedy 1-13.
     Woodlands Christian, Cray Noah 5-22, James Bento 3-103, Marcos Mora 1-(-1).
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