Cardinals open district with
49-0 rout of Schertz John Paul
Thursday, October 1, 2015
St. Paul Cardinal Football | St. Paul Cardinal Sports
St. Paul opened TAPPS Division II District 3 play with a 49-0 blowout over John Paul II on Friday night (September 25, 2015).
Quarterback Austin Barton looks downfield for the open pass. He completed 10 passes out of 10 attempts in Friday’s win.
[ NOTE: click on photo to enlarge ]all photos by Stephanie Kasper
According to Coach Jake Wachsmuth, the extent of their victory came as a bit of a surprise. "I thought we could beat them, but I didn’t know we’d beat them like that" he said. "John Paul isn’t a bad team. That team has won some games and has some good players. We had to play really well, more of a complete game. I didn’t expect that."
The game started off a little slow and experienced a 20 minute lightning delay midway through the first quarter.
The Cardinals came out of the delay firing though and put their first points on the board with a 1-yard run by Jed Janecek.
In the second quarter, the offense exploded with 4 touchdowns, scoring on every possession that quarter.
The first came on a 12 yard pass from Austin Barton to Ryan Geiger, one of his 5 receptions of the night. The Cardinals followed that up with an 11 yard run into the end zone by T.J. Bell and a successful 2-point conversion pass to Geiger.
Barton and Colton Machart teamed up for the third touchdown of the quarter with a 27- yard pass and Bell rounded out the half with one more rushing TD for a halftime score of 35-0.
The third quarter saw another Barton-Geiger touchdown pass, this time for 48 yards, and the Cards finished up their scoring on a 36- yard run by Conor Kresta at the tail end of the fourth quarter.
T.J. Bell hangs on to the ball as he goes down on a Guardian tackle.
[ NOTE: click on photo to enlarge ]
The Cardinals have mostly used a run-heavy offense this season, but they switched things up a little this game and focused on their passing game. Wachsmuth said, "They were definitely determined to stop some of the things we do running the ball. We’ve always known we can throw it. We’ve got guys who can catch the ball - Geiger, Machart, Marco Ynclan. It’s just a matter of giving them opportunities. We’re going to do what it takes."
Quarterback Austin Barton responded incredibly well to the challenge. He completed every single one of his pass attempts, going 10 for 10 on the night for 242 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also kicked 5 for 6 on extra points.
"My line gave me the protection I needed and my receivers did a great job getting open," Barton said. "I don’t know, I just felt it tonight. I feel great about how hard we played tonight, and I think we can keep playing strong through district."
Even on this light running night, the Cardinals racked up 251 rushing yards on 29 rushing attempts. Bell led with 52 yards, Tre’Zell Perry added 46, Barton had 45, Kresta contributed 41, and Janecek ran for 40.
St. Paul’s defense remained dominate all night, holding the Guardians to 55 total yards – 50 rushing and 5 passing – and just 2 first downs. Barton commented, " Keeping them from scoring, keeping that goose egg on the scoreboard was a big highlight. That was a big plus for us."
The Cardinals, now 5-0 on the season and 1-0 in district, remain forward focused. Wachsmuth said, "We might be half way through the regular season, but we’re only one game into district. Those first four games, in the big picture, they don’t really mean a lot. It’s just one at a time."
Their next district challenge will come on Friday (October 2, 2015) at Comanche Stadium against Marble Falls Faith Academy at 7:30pm.
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