St. Paul, Shiner play season openers this week
Thursday, September 7, 2017
by Mark Lube, Sports Editor
St. Paul Cardinal Football | St. Paul Cardinal Sports
The Shiner Comanches and Shiner St. Paul Cardinals will play their first regular-season games this week after weather conditions resulted in the scheduled season openers being canceled.
St. Paul Cardinals at Bryan St. Joseph Eagles
The Cardinals will start 2017 at Bryan St. Joseph at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow ( Friday, September 8, 2017 ) after their September 1st game with Yorktown was called off.
St. Paul returned to the practice field this week after time off last week as the players helped out in the community to help individuals affected by the hurricane.
“It will be our first game and we have some questions going into it; hopefully we will find some answers,” Cardinals head coach Jake Wachsmuth said. “We are always a work in progress. Every week, who the opponent is does matter but we just want to continue getting better.”
The Eagles had a bit of a tough year in 2016, going 3-7 (2-3 in district). St. Joseph returns 14 lettermen, six offense and seven defensive starters.
“Their offense this year will be a traditional quarterback-under-center,” Wachsmuth said.
“They will run their plays out of the I-Formation and have committed to running the ball more. They have a good receiver and athletic quarterback.”
Quarterback John Navejar will pace the Eagles offensive along with running back Phillip Blaszak, receiver Joshua Saldua and lineman Patrick Patke.
Wachsmuth said St. Joseph will try to make a big play over the top after several plays of running the ball.
St. Joseph’s defense will be led by linebackers Christian Olvera and Matthew Nelson.
Wachsmuth said the St. Paul offense will need to not have mental mistakes and protect the football as well as execute.
“At this time of the year, we have all of our plays in but need to make sure we execute them well,” he said.
The Cardinals won the 2016 game 59-14.
Following this game, St. Paul will return to Shiner to host Flatonia and Austin Hyde Park in non-district games.
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Mark Lube is the sports editor for the Shiner Gazette. Contact him at 361-594-3346 or shinersports@sbcglobal.net |
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