St. Paul’s Carson Reese (middle) battles a stiff arm from Weimar quarterback Clay Barton as Patrick Green (right) charges in to help in the game against Weimar on Friday ( September 28, 2018 ). [ NOTE: click photo to enlarge ]

photo by Mark Lube

For a good chunk of the first half, the St. Paul Cardinals were staying alongside the Weimar Wildcats.

Then Weimar scored 42 unanswered points, from a 14-13 Cardinal advantage nearly halfway through the second period, for a 55-14 win Friday night ( September 28, 2018 ) at Comanche Stadium in the 2018 Homecoming game.

“For about a quarter and a half, we were matching up to them,” Cardinals head coach Jake Wachsmuth said.

“We made some mistakes but were matching them. You just learn that you are going to have to play all four quarters. You are not going to get to a team like Weimar playing just a couple of quarters. To do what you want to do, you will have to play a full game.”

Weimar opened the game with a seven-play, 57-yard drive to get on the board early.

Quarterback Clay Barton had a 7-yard run to the Cardinal 44 on fourth down and later tossed a 27-yard pass to Da’Vondre Almeida down to the St. Paul 22 where Ravon’Dre Wicks scored on the ground on the next play. The extra point was missed, leaving Weimar ahead 6-0.

St. Paul came back with a 66-yard drive, getting carries primarily from Carson Reese and Joseph Natal. After a 37-yard run to the ‘Cat 5 by Natal, Reese punched it in from the 12 two plays later and St. Paul led 7-6.

Weimar returned the kickoff just a little past the 50 but a fourth-down pass by Barton at the 35 failed. St. Paul went three and out and Weimar took one play to score, a 61- yard run by Wicks for a 13-7 advantage.

The Cardinals coughed up the ball on the next drive but held on defense as Weimar missed convert a fourth down at the St. Paul 39.

Natal had a 14-yard gain to the ‘Cat 47. On the next play, a personal foul advanced the ball to the 32 and quarterback Zak Johnson hit tight end Cole Brown for 11 yards. Several plays later, Johnson found Brown for a 5-yard touchdown pass and 14-13 advantage.

On the next play for Weimar, Barton raced 58 yards for a 27-14 Weimar lead.

The ‘Cats took advantage of an interception at their own 20 after St. Paul had some good gains on the ground. Wicks had a 30-yard rush to the 45 and penalty against St. Paul moved the ball to the Cardinals 40. Barton had a 28-yard run to give Weimar a 27- 14 lead with 1:23 left in the second quarter.

The Cardinals received the second-half kickoff but a third-down sacked took the air out of the tires on the drive and St. Paul punted.

Weimar capped the 54-yard drive with a 19-yard pass from Barton to Almeida for a 34-14 lead.

Less than a minute later, the ‘Cats were up 41-14 as Dylerick Ellison took an interception 45 yards for a score.

Almeida took a 5-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Joey Ramirez with 9:44 left in the game and Weimar concluded scoring with a 3-yard run by Jose Ramirez with 6:35 left to play.

Defensively for St. Paul, Jared Pesek had three tackles; Gerard Nunez had one tackle, on assist; Kellen Opela had one assist; Noah Boedeker had two tackles; Dalton Jahn had three tackles, one assist; Atley Pilat had three assists, one tackle; Johnson had four tackles, one tackle for loss.

Reese had seven assists, five tackles; Brown had three assists, two tackles, one tackle for loss; Patrick Green had four tackles, four assists; Caden Malinovsky had one tackle, one assist.

Luke Darilek had four tackles, two assists; Ted Machacek had one assist; Matthew Malinovsky had one tackle, one assist; Weston Geiger had five assists, four tackles, two tackles for loss; Grant Barta added one tackle, one assist.

GAME STATISTICS

  Weimar 55, Shiner St. Paul 14
    September 28, 2018, 7:30 p.m.
    Comanche Stadium, Shiner


  SCORING SUMMARY

                       1    2    3    4      F
    Weimar             6   21   14   14  -- 55
    St. Paul           7    7    0    0  -- 14


  SCORING DETAILS:

    W -   Ravon’Dre Wicks 22 run (kick fa7iled), 9:03 1Q.
    SSP - Carson Reese 12 run (Sam Benes kick), 4:04 1Q.

    W -   Wicks 61 run (Sam Riedlinger kick), 11:37 2Q.
    SSP - Cole Brown 5 pass from Zak Johnson (Benes kick), 7:00 2Q.
    W -   Clay Barton 58 run (Reidlinger kick), 6:44 2Q.
    W -   Barton 28 run (Reidlinger kick), 1:23 2Q.

    W -   Almeida 5 pass from Barton (Riedlinger kick), 3:42 3Q.
    W -   Dylerick Ellison 45 interception return (Reidlinger kick), 2:47 3Q.

    W -   Almeida 19 pass from Joey Ramirez (Riedlinger kick), 9:44 4Q.
    W -   Jose Ramirez 3 run (Riedlinger kick), 6:35 4Q.


  TEAM STATISTICS:

                      Weimar     St. Paul
    First downs           19           13
    Rushes-yards      40-345       46-232
    Passing yards         84           16
    Passes              4-11        2-6-2
    Penalties-yards     8-70         6-65
    Fumbles-lost         1-0          5-4
    Punts-aver         0-0.0      3-31.66


  INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

    Rushing
      W:   Ravon’Dre Wicks 14-140, Clay Barton 8-129, Jose Ramirez 4-38, Reed Purdy 7-19,
           Brandon Duque 1-10, Joey Ramirez 3-5, Jordan Garza 2-4, Da’Vondre Almeida 1-0.
      SSP: Carson Reese 20-116, Joseph Natal 11-113, Noah Boedeker 7-17,  Patrick Green 2-6,
           Gerard Nunez 1-2, Zak Johnson 5-(-22).

    Passing
      W:   Barton 3-10-0-65, Joey Ramirez 1-1-0-19.
      SSP: Johnson 2-6-2-16.

    Receiving
      W:   Almeida 4-84.
      SSP: Cole Brown 2-16.