Carson Reese finds himself in the grasp of the Royal player Donald Holden on Friday. The backup running back finished with 64 yards and a touchdown as St. Paul won 55-12. [ NOTE: click photo to enlarge ]

photo by Mark Lube

St. Paul made it four wins in four games in district with a 55-12 win over San Antonio St. Gerard ( on Friday, October 20, 2017 ).

Cardinals head coach Wachsmuth praised the Royals for making strides in their program.

“I have a lot of respect for St. Gerard. They are a program that is improving,” Wachsmuth said.

The Cardinals still had to deal with penalty and turnover bug.

“We still had penalties and turnovers. Everything we have wanted to not do, we have done,” Wachsmuth said. “With football, you go week by week and try to get better. We also did not start the game with enough energy.”

St. Paul had a short week as they will play at rival Hallettsville Sacred Heart tonight (Thursday) instead of tomorrow (Friday).

“Everything moves up a day.” Wachsmuth said. “It’s the same thing for Sacred Heart. Neither team has an advantage.”

The Cardinals forced a turnover on the game’s first series at the Royal 11. A five-yard penalty backed them a little before Joseph Natal had a 4-yard run and Conor Kresta scored from 12 yards out. A bad snap on the point after resulted in missed two-point pass to give St. Paul a 6-0 lead.

Cardinals defenders Cole Brown (52), Patrick Green (28) and Dalton Jahn (9) assist with a take down of St. Gerard’s Romelo Portillo. [ NOTE: click photo to enlarge ]

photo by Lori Raabe

St. Gerard utilized a short-passing game to move the ball inside the Cardinal 30 but the drive ended as River Haynes intercepted a Ricky Mesquitti pass. The Cardinals then drove 91 yards with Natal gaining 22 yards on the second play and later catching a 27-yard pass. Kresta capped the drive with a 37-yard run and also converted the two-point run for a 14-0 Cardinal lead.

Natal had a 20-yard run to cap about a 10-play, 78-yard drive with 6:52 left in the first half. St. Paul connected again as quarterback Kai Giese scored on a 16-yard run at the 3:06 mark.

The Royals got on the board as Jonathan Garcia fielded a kickoff inside his own end zone and went the distance. They missed the two-point pass and were down 28-6.

St. Paul finished another drive as Kresta had an 11-yard run with just 37 seconds left. Haynes had quarterback bootlegs of 11 and 6 on the drive, the latter play got more yardage after a Royal penalty.

To open the third quarter, St. Paul overcame a mishaps on the snap with runs of 23 and 26 yards by Tre’Zell Jenkins-Perry who then capped the drive with a 12-yard run to give St. Paul a 41-6 lead.

After a Royal punt, the teams traded fumbles and St. Paul took advantage of the St. Gerard turnover with a 6-yard run by Giese with about four minutes left in the third quarter. Later in the third, Royals got another score as Mesquitti tossed a 65-yard touchdown to Donald Holden. The two-point play was missed, leaving the Royals down 48-12.

In the fourth quarter, running back Carson Reese scored on a 3-yard run for the final touchdown.

GAME STATISTICS

   Shiner St. Paul 55, San Antonio St. Gerard 12
     Friday, October 20, 2017, 7:30 p.m.
     Comanche Stadium, Shiner


  SCORING SUMMARY:

                                 1    2    3    4      F
    SA St. Gerard                0    6    6    0  -- 12
    Shiner St. Paul             14   21   13    7  -- 55


  SCORING DETAILS:

    First Quarter
      SSP  — Conor Kresta 12 run (run failed), 11:06 1Q.
      SSP  — Kresta 37 run (Kresta run), 1:07 1Q.

    Second Quarter
      SSP  — Joseph Natal 20 run (Frank Benes kick), 6:52 2Q.
      SSP  — Kai Giese 16 run (Benes kick), 3:06 2Q.
      SASG — Jonathan Garcia 100 kickoff return (pass failed), 2:51 2Q.
      SSP  — Kresta 11 run (Benes kick), 0:37 2Q.

    Third Quarter
      SSP  — Tre’Zell Jenkins-Perry 12 run ( kick failed), 10:10 3Q.
      SSP  — Giese 6 run (Sam Benes kick), 4:11 3Q.
      SASG — Donald Holden 65 pass from Ricky Mesquiti (pass failed), 0:47 3Q.

    Fourth Quarter
      SSP  — Carson Reese 3 run (Sam Benes kick), 8:48 4Q.


  TEAM STATISTICS:

                    St. Gerard       St. Paul
    First downs              5            24
    Rushes-yards      17-(-15)        39-393
    Passing yards          118            48
    Passes              9-15-1           2-5
    Fumbles-lost           3-2           3-1
    Penalties-yards       6-60          6-25
    Punts-aver          3-33.0         0-0.0


  INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

  Rushing
    SASG: Romelo Portillo 5-2, Davionne Hastings 3-(-1), Donald Holden 2-(-1), Ricky Mesquiti 7-(-15).
    SSP:  Conor Kresta 12-117, Tre’Zell Jenkins-Perry 5-80, Joseph Natal 5-76, Carson Reese 10-64,
          River Haynes 3-26, Kai Giese 4-24, Reid Yackel 2-7, Frank Benes 1-(-1).

  Passing
    SASG: Mesquiti 9-15-1-118.
    SSP:  Haynes 1-4-0-27, Giese 1-1-0-21.

  Receiving
    SASG: Holden 6-95, Jonathan Garcia 3-23.
    SSP:  Natal 2-48.