Cardinal quarterback Kai Giese searches for way past Sacred Heart’s Derrick Janak (59) and Wesley Liere Friday night at Comanche Stadium. St. Paul heads to San Antonio St. Gerard to close out the regular season tonight ( Friday, November 8, 2018 ). [ NOTE: click photo to enlarge ]

photo by Mark Lube

In the days before St. Paul hosted rival Hallettsville Sacred Heart, St. Paul head coach Jake Wachsmuth advised his players to expect the Indians were going to bring it. And sure enough, the Indians came into Comanche Stadium pretty hot.

Sacred Heart led just 9-7 at the half but turned up the stovetop burners in the second half, outscoring the Cardinals 19-0 for a 28-7 win.

“Sacred Heart played great. They came out from the get-go. I told our guys Sacred Heart was going to be fired up and get after it, and they did,” Wachsmuth said. “I think the better team won.”

The Indians moved the ball through the air and on the ground while their defense limited St. Paul to 177 yards.

Quarterback Sam Brown passed for 185 yards and one touchdown and ran for one as well.

“He made a ton of plays,” Wachsmuth said. “That catch on the goal line when it was 15-7, we had three guys on the receiver but somehow he caught it. Brown made other plays. He is a good player. Sacred Heart just played better.”

Both teams faced plenty of third and fourth downs in the second half but Sacred Heart faired better on both offense and defense in those situations.

“We had them in third downs and fourth downs (that Sacred Heart converted). But when we were in those situations, the Indians came up with stops,” Wachsmuth said.

St. Paul got some energy late in the second quarter and ended the half with a touchdown to trail just by a couple of points.

“It looked like we had a spark in the second quarter but we could not sustain (the momentum). At halftime, down 9-7 we felt maybe (we were still in it) if we could come out and play well to start the second half but Sacred Heart just came out and whipped us,” he said.

The Indians opened the game with a 54-yard drive, throwing the ball on the first three plays to net 19 yards before pounding the rock on the ground. They finished the drive with a 13-yard run by Austin Kraatz at the 8:16 mark of the first quarter but missed the extra point for a 6-0 lead.

The Cardinals’ first play from scrimmage was an 8-yard pass from Kai Giese to Dalton Jahn and then St. Paul kept its proverbial feet on the ground, getting runs from Giese and tailback Joseph Natal. Natal had a 2-yard gain on fourth down to keep the drive alive but Sacred Heart snatched up a loose ball at its 30 and returned it 14 yards.

The Indians picked up one first down at the drive but had to punt, and their defense forced St. Paul into a three-and- out situation.

After starting at the Cardinal 43, Sacred Heart got to the 21 and a Brown-to-Kraatz pass for 14 yards took them to the 7 but three straight incomplete passes prompted a 24-yard field goal by Josh Steffek and the Indians were ahead 9-0.

The Cardinals then took over six minutes and 13 plays to drive 63 yards; Natal got a majority of the carries and Giese had an 18-yard pass to Jahn on a third down. Natal capped the drive with no time left on the clock with a 1-yard scoring run on fourth down.

To open the third period, St. Paul started at its 25 and drove into Indian land, helped by a 19-yard run by Giese. However, the Indian defense brought Natal down for a 3-yard loss on fourth down.

Sacred Heart then drove 56 yards for another score with a pass from Brown to Dalton Grahmann for 39 to the Cardinal 11 to convert a third down and Kraatz scored on an 8-yard run a few plays later but the point after was blocked.

The Indians forced another punt and got the ball at their 32. Brown then went 3-for-4 on four plays for 53 yards to help get the ball inside the Cardinal 20. Two plays later, Brown fumbled, recovered and was dropped for a 12-yard loss. He had an 11-yard scramble on the next play negated by a penalty but managed to find Cory Heger for a 25-yard touchdown pass on fourth down despite St. Paul having three defenders cover him. Once again, St. Paul blocked the point after.

Sacred Heart scored one last time after pinning St. Paul inside their own 10 and forcing a punt to the Cardinal 35. Brown scored on the third play on a 27-yard scramble and the Indians converted the point after for a 28-7 lead.

St. Paul continued to fight, attempting and missing a fourth-down attempt on the its final two drives.

GAME STATISTICS

  Sacred Heart 28, St. Paul 7
    November 2, 2018, 7:30 p.m.
    Comanche Stadium, Shiner


  SCORING SUMMARY

                      1    2    3    4      F
    Sacred Heart      6    3    6   13  -- 28
    Shiner St. Paul   0    7    0    0  --  7


  SCORING DETAILS:

    HSH - Austin Kraatz 13 run (kick failed), 8:16 1Q.

    HSH - Josh Steffek 24 FG, 6:11 2Q.
    SSP - Joseph Natal 1 run (Sam Benes kick), 0:00 2Q.

    HSH - Kraatz 8 run (kick blocked), 4:51 3Q.

    HSH - Cory Heger 25 pass from Sam Brown (kick blocked), 11:31 4Q.
    HSH - Brown 27 run (Steffek kick), 8:04 4Q.


  TEAM STATISTICS:

                 Sacred Heart    St. Paul
    First downs            14          10
    Rushes-yards       25-112       36-95
    Passing yards         185          82
    Passes              12-21        8-14
    Penalties-yards      1-10        3-28
    Fumbles-lost          1-0         1-1
    Punts-aver         1-41.0      3-36.0


  INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

    Rushing
      HSH: Austin Kraatz 10-52, Sam Brown 5-33, Cory Heger 5-24, Lane Leopold 3-7, Reagan Hicks 2-(-4).
      SSP: Joseph Natal 22-73, Kai Giese 11-16, Noah Boedeker 2-3, Zak Johnson 1-3.

    Passing
      HSH: Brown 12-21-0-185.
      SSP: Giese 8-14-0-82.

    Receiving
      HSH: Heger 4-67, Jared Brown 4-62, Dalton Grahmann 2-41, Kraatz 2-15.
      SSP: Dalton Jahn 6-57, Natal 1-19, Atley Pilat 1-6.