Cardinals' offensive balance paves way
for another championship game
Mark Lube, Gonzales Cannon Sports
Friday, November 30, 2012
Gonzales Cannon Article | St. Paul Cardinal Football | Shiner Home Page
GIDDINGS -- St. Paul is usually known to run around, over, under and right through opponents.
Leightin Pilat breaks into the open on one of his two long touchdown runs in the first quarter. photos by Mark Lube, Gonzales Cannon
But Friday night in the TAPPS Division III state semifinal game against Hallettsville Sacred Heart at Buffaloes Stadium, the Cardinals displayed their aerial capability as quarterback Dakota Kresta hit 9-of-10 passes for 208 yards including two touchdowns to Dylan Barton of 64 and 60-yards in a 49-35 shootout with the Indians that will send St. Paul to the Division III title game for the third straight year.
Barton finished with six receptions for 173 yards while Kresta also ran for another score.
"We mix it up running and passing really well," Kresta said. "It works so well because you get someone flying up and my tight end (Barton) sneaks out and makes a big play. It was beautiful."
St. Paul senior Adam Hollenbach rushed for 136 yards and four touchdowns to pace the 211-yard St. Paul rushing game.
Sacred Heart (9-4) had won two of the last three against St. Paul with the 21-7 win last year in the title game and the regular-season game, 28-21, back on Nov. 9.
St. Paul running back Adam Hollenbach is tackled by Cade Brewer.
"Biggest difference in this game is we won," St. Paul head coach Jake Wachsmuth said in the simplest of answers. "We made some mistakes and Sacred Heart made some. I am not sure it was a pretty game, but it is not usually a pretty game when our two schools meet. It was a very physical game and we ended up catching the breaks when we needed to."
He said Kresta made some great throws in the game and Barton had two good touchdowns catches.
"I am very proud of both of them," Wachsmuth said. "Our offensive line blocked well at times for our backs and sometimes we were able to make runs when the blocks were not there. The Indians played good defense."
The Cardinals and Indians appeared to be evenly-matched with both teams making big plays. The Indians matched the two big plays by Barton with 65- and 78-yard runs by quarterback Leightin Pilat and a 71-yard touchdown run by running back Jonathan Vanek.
"It was a good physical game and St. Paul is a good team," said Indians head coach Pat Henke. "They had a good game plan and we did as well. They outscored us. It was a great football game."
The Indians had a turnover late in the third quarter while working to overcome a 35-28 deficit. St. Paul took advantage and drove 55 yards in 12 plays and over five minutes to go up, 41-28 on a 1-yard plunge by Hollenbach.
"That turnover really hurt us because we were going to tie it up," Henke said. "That turnover was a big play and it came back to haunt us."
Sacred Heart also committed a turnover late in the first half, negating a chance to tie or take the lead at halftime. Henke said turnovers cause more damage in a playoff game.
Adam Hollenbach brings down Jonathan Vanek any way he can before Vanek can cross the goal line.
The Indians answered with a 72-yard drive to close down to 41-35. A fumble and a sack dropped the Indians back to their 24 for third and 14. A Pilat pass was picked off by Hollenbach, but Sacred Heart received a break as St. Paul was flagged for pass interference and the Indians maintained possession. A few plays later, a Scott Stoner pass was incomplete but St. Paul was whistled again for pass interference and Sacred Heart got first down at the Cardinal 43. Pilat later had a 14-yard scramble which helped set up a 14-yard run by Vanek.
St. Paul then put the game away with 10-play, 75-yard drive. Hollenbach gained 8 on the first play and was aided by a personal foul against Sacred Heart to move the ball to the minus-48. Kennedy hauled in a 17-yard pass from Kresta to move into Sacred Heart territory. St. Paul eventually faced fourth down at the 20 and Kresta ended up scrambling into the end zone for the last score.
St. Paul forced the Indians into a three-and-out on the game’s first drive. A short punt set up the Cardinals inside Sacred Heart territory and it took St. Paul seven plays to march 44 yards.
St. Paul assistant coach Cole Franco congratulates Martin Kennedy on the St. Paul win.
A personal foul on the second play moved St. Paul back past the 50 into their side of the field, but Kresta hooked up with Barton for 33 yards to negate the damage by the penalty. Hollenbach later scooted in from the 1 and St. Paul led 6-0.
The Indians responded fast, going 75 yards in three plays. Vanek had two carries of 5 yards each and Pilat ran a naked bootleg, got a couple of key blocks and was off to the races. Sacred Heart also missed the point after for a 6-6 tie.
After forcing St. Paul to punt, the Indians drove 80 yards in two plays -- Pilat had an option keeper up the middle for a 78-yard score. He hit Cade Brewer for two and Sacred Heart led 14-6.
The Cardinals then took their turn at a fast score. They went 86 yards in three plays and the Kresta-to-Barton pass for 64 yards was the touchdown. St. Paul missed the two-point conversion and Sacred Heart led 14-12 at the end of the first.
St. Paul had another length drive after stopping the Indians on fourth down at the Cardinal 36 in which as Pilat pass for a teammate in the end zone was overthrown a little.
The Cardinals were aided by two personal-foul calls against the Indians totaling 24 yards. Hollenbach converted a third down with an 8-yard run on a toss play and later capped the drive with a 3-yard run. Martin Kennedy got the two-point play and it was 20-14 St. Paul.
The Indians opened the third frame by kicking a short kickoff that they were able to recover. They drove 40 yards in six plays for a score. Vanek gained 13 on the first play from the St. Paul 40 to the 27. He later had a 12-yard run to convert a fourth down from the 18 and he scored on the next play.
St. Paul took advantage of good field position at its 41 and capped a six-play drive with a 20-yard run by Hollenbach.
Sacred Heart struck fast with a one-play, 71-yard drive, the long run by Vanek, in a mere 14 seconds, to tie the game at 28-28.
Kresta and Barton teamed up for a 60-yard bomb on the next drive and St. Paul led 35-28.
Indians head coach Pat Henke addresses players and fans after the game.
It was 41-28 following Hollenbach’s 1-yard run to cap the drive that started with St. Paul recovering a Sacred Heart fumble close to the 50.
St. Paul will face Frisco Legacy at 7:30 p.m. Friday, December 7 at Baylor University’s Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco.
"It feels amazing to be in the title game for the third straight year," Kresta said. "Being there as a senior is going to feel better than as a sophomore two years ago."
The game was the final for Sacred Heart seniors Brady Sitka, Pilat, Alex DeLaRosa, Casey Jirkovsky, Cade Brewer, Lucas Allen, Cole Easterling, Brier Shimek and Chris Kunz.
"Our seniors always played hard on Friday nights," Henke said. "For us having no returning starters on offense and just three on defense , I thought our kids came a long way this year."
GAME STATISTICS:
statistics source: http://www.gonzalescannon.com/node/12015
GAME SUMMARY: Shiner St. Paul 49, Hallettsville Sacred Heart 35 TEAM STATISTICS: Sacred Heart St. Paul First downs 18 22 Rushes-yards 37-380 46-211 Passing 4-10-1 9-10-0 Passing yards 39 208 Punts-yards 1-22 1-31 Fumbles-lost 4-1 0-0 Penalties-yards 6-64 7-75 SCORING SUMMARY: 1 2 3 4 -- Final Sacred Heart 14 0 14 7 -- 35 St. Paul 12 8 15 14 -- 49 SCORING DETAILS: First Quarter SP - Adam Hollenbach 1 run (kick failed) SH - Leightin Pilat 65 run (kick failed) SH - Pilat 78 run (Cade Brewer pass from Pilat) SP - Dylan Barton 64 pass from Dakota Kresta (run failed) Second Quarter SP - Hollenbach 3 run (Martin Kennedy run) Third Quarter SH - Jonathan Vanek 6 run (Casey Jirkovsky kick) SP - Hollebach 20 run (Kennedy run) SH - Vanek 71 run (Jirkovsky kick) SP - Barton 60 pass from Kresta (Kresta kick) Fourth Quarter SP - Hollenbach 1 run (kick failed) SH - Vanek 14 run (Jirkovsky kick) SP - Kresta 20 run (Kennedy run) INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS: Rushing Sacred Heart: Leightin Pilat 16-199, Jonathan Vanek 20-180, Dylan Jahn 1-1. St. Paul: Adam Hollenbach 29-136, Dakota Kresta 8-36, Martin Kennedy 7-35, Mitchell McElroy 2-4. Passing Sacred Heart: Pilat 4-10-1-39. St. Paul: Kresta 9-10-0-208. Receiving Sacred Heart: Casey Jirkovsky 2-30, Scott Stoner 1-6, Cade Brewer 1-3. St. Paul: Dylan Barton 6-173, Kennedy 2-33, Jared Markham 1-2.
© Copyright
BaerCom - Shiner, Texas 2012