Conor Kresta, Garrett Wauston and other Cardinals team up on a Sacred Heart ball carrier Thursday night in the 16-6 St. Paul win. [ NOTE: click photo to enlarge ]

photo by Lori Raabe

HALLETTSVILLE — The St. Paul defense bent a little bit but did not break as it held Sacred Heart’s attack in check and compensated for the struggles of its comrades on offense.

The Cardinals remained unbeaten in district and kept their win streak in the Lavaca County rivalry with the Indians intact as well with a 16-6 hotly-contested game Thursday night at Brahmas Memorial Stadium.

The Cardinals got an interception on the Indians first drive, earned a safety after pinning Sacred Heart inside their own 10 and prevented a fourth-down conversion by the Indians at the Cardinal 4.

“Our defense played well. Sacred Heart got a short field the first time with a couple of penalties. That hurt. Sacred Heart drove the ball to start the second half but we got a big stop,” St. Paul head coach Jake Wachsmuth said. “They did get us on a big play (passing). If you only give up six points, you should win.”

In most games, St. Paul would make a big play on the ground but Sacred Heart did not give any up, save for a a couple of 10-plus yard runs by Conor Kresta and Joseph Natal. And some pass completions for more than 20 yards.

“We have not been consistent all the time. Credit to Sacred Heart. They made some plays; they did not give up a lot of big plays; they made us grind it out,” Wachsmuth said. We had to grind for everything (on offense). We’d obviously like to do some things better but they played hard.” St. Paul had the ball for over 28 minutes and had drives of 11 and 19 yards.

Wachsmuth said holding the ball for such a long time was not part of the game plan.

“Credit to Sacred Heart. We were trying to find things that would get us four or five yards. We were fortunate to find them but Sacred Heart made adjustments,” he said.

St. Paul took the opening kickoff and after that, over half the quarter as they drove nearly 50 yards, on the feet of Conor Kresta and Joseph Natal with a couple of runs by quarterback River Haynes.

The Cardinals ate up little chunks of yards at a time save for a 14-yard run by Natal from the fullback spot. Eventually St. Paul got inside the 20, down to the 16, but Haynes was tackled for a loss, threw incomplete and then scrambled for 2 yards on a 4-and-16 play, giving the ball over on downs after a 7:43 drive.

With draws plays and the option, and some passes, all of the shotgun, Sacred Heart had a six-minute drive that saw it reach the red zone but St. Paul’s defense made stop as Haynes intercepted a Sam Brown pass.

Runs by Kresta and Natal helped St. Paul cross the 50 after the interception and on a 2-and-1 play, Haynes went deep to Kai Giese and connected for the 42-yard touchdown, giving the Cardinals a 7-0 lead with less than seven minutes to play in the first half.

St. Paul forced a punt by the Indians on the next drive but then stalled out as well. The Cardinals killed a 51- yard punt at the Indian 5 and took advantage of Sacred Heart’s bad field position as running back Corey Heger was brought down in the end zone by several Cardinal defenders to gift St. Paul an additional two points.

However, after returning the free kick to the Indians 32, Haynes was picked off by Jared Brown, ending any threat of another Cardinal touchdown before halftime.

The Indians opened the second half in a similar fashion as to what St. Paul did at the start of the first — a long drive that got them close to the goal line.

Sam Brown had a 19-yard pass to Jordan Janak early in the drive and Dusty Burroughs went 14 yards on a draw play to the St. Paul 8. Later, on fourth-and-goal from the 4, Sam Brown’s pass was incomplete and St. Paul took over with 7:23 left in the third.

The Cardinals then one-upped their firstquarter drive as they went the distance in 19 plays and over 10 minutes off the clock, ending the drive with a 3-yard run by Kresta to put them up 16-0 with 8:37 left to play.

After trading punts, the Indians found themselves at their 32 and Sam Brown connected with Heger on a 68- yard pass, ending the shut out. The two-point pass was knocked down, Sacred Heart then attempted the onsides kick, St. Paul recovered and ran out the clock.

GAME STATISTICS

   Shiner St. Paul 16, Hallettsville Sacred Heart 6
     Thursday, October 26, 2017, 7:30 p.m.
     Brahmas Memorial Stadium, Hallettsville


  SCORING SUMMARY

                                 1    2    3    4      F
    Shiner St. Paul              0    9    0    7  -- 16
    Hallettsville Sacred Heart   0    0    0    6  --  6


  SCORING DETAILS:

    First Quarter
       no score

    Second Quarter
      SSP — Kai Giese 42 pass from River Haynes (Frank Benes kick), 6:59 2Q.
      SSP — Safety, 0:50 2Q.

    Third Quarter
      no score

    Fourth Quarter
      SSP — Conor Kresta 3 run (Benes kick), 8:37 4Q.
      HSH — Corey Heger 68 pass from Sam Brown (pass failed), 2:40 4Q.


  TEAM STATISTICS:

                      St. Paul  Sacred Heart
    First downs             15            10
    Rushing yards       51-174         24-34
    Passing yards           67           125
    Passes               3-6-1        7-13-1
    Fumbles-lost           0-0           1-0
    Penalties-yards       5-62          2-15
    Punts               2-36.0        2-28.5


  INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

  Rushing
    SSP: Conor Kresta 26-118, Joseph Natal 12-66, Tre’Zell Jenkins-Perry 2-0, River Haynes 11-(-10).
    HSH: Dusty Burroughs 10-28, Sam Brown 11-11, Corey Heger 3-(-5).

  Passing
    SSP: Haynes 3-6-1-67.
    HSH: Brown 7-13-1-125.

  Receiving
    SSP: Natal 2-25, Kai Giese 1-42.
    HSH: Jordan Janak 3-33, Heger 2-68, Jared Brown 1-15, Burroughs 1-9.