Gonzales Cannon On-Line

St. Paul wins state with 43-40 result over Cedar Hill Trinity Christian
by Mark Lube, Gonzales Cannon Sports Editor
Thursday, December 7, 2015

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The St. Paul Cardinals pose with their TAPPS Div III State Football Championship trophy after their 43-40 victory over the Cedar Hill Trinity Christian Tigers.
[ NOTE: click on photo to enlarge ]
all photos by Mark Lube, Gonzales Cannon Sports Editor
CEDAR CREEK — Two years ago, the Shiner St. Paul football team won just two games; last year, made the playoffs and went two rounds deep. Friday night in Cedar Creek, the resilience of the players brought St. Paul its second state title in the last four seasons and the third one in six seasons as they bested Cedar Hill Trinity Christian 43-40 at Bastrop Memorial Stadium.

"This is unbelievable. These kids went through a tough season in 2013, winning two games. They got better last year, going two rounds deep and this year, they played through some pain; played through some fatigue. This is just a special group of kids," Cardinals head coach Jake Wachsmuth said.

Running back T.J. Bell really carried St. Paul's offense on his shoulder with over 200 yards rushing and three touchdowns, two of which from St. Paul's side of the field. Bell also snagged a 64-yard pass from quarterback Austin Barton and returned a kickoff 86 yards for a score.

"Bell's play was huge. The last couple of weeks, he has been dinged up a little and he felt better this week," Wachsmuth said.

Barton threw two touchdowns, the fore mentioned pass to bell and a 55-yard to Ryan Geiger. He scored on a 68-yard run on the Cardinals' first possession.

Geiger and Jed Janecek also got carries,

St. Paul's defense has a big task to stop the Tigers' spread attack but made some plays when St. Paul really needed it, including stopping Trinity Christian on a big fourth-down play in the fourth quarter and a couple of other times.

"Our defense had their hands full. That is a real good football team," he said. "Our offense played better. Our defense made big stops. It was a team win."

St. Paul finishes the season undefeated (14 games) and had a challenge trying to stay focused on the end of the road at state.

"It has been a long season. There are a lot of teams that win their first couple of games; teams that do well. But this is a grind. Football starts Aug. 3 and here we are on Dec. 4. That is a long run," Wachsmuth said. "It takes a lot of perseverance."

Wachsmuth said St. Paul toughed it out when, as defending champions in 2013, won just a couple of games.

"I believe 2013 led to this season," he said. "They went through some hard times and you could see how badly they wanted a state title."

After taking a 25-14 lead at halftime, The Tigers slowed St. Paul down on offense.

"They started taking some things away from the outside so we went inside," Wachsmuth said.

St. Paul took the opening kickoff 68 yards in three plays. Bell had a 16-yard gain to his 48 and two plays later, Barton took it the distance.

After an exchange of punts, Trinity Christian tied the game with an 80-yard drive, capped by a 66-yard pass from Malachi Broadnax to William Jackson.
click to enlarge photo
The St. Paul Cardinals pose with their TAPPS Div III State Football Championship trophy after their 43-40 victory over the Cedar Hill Trinity Christian Tigers.
[ NOTE: click on photo to enlarge ]


The Cardinals answered with another big play. Barton had a 10-yard gain to his 44 and hit Geiger for a 55-yard touchdown pass to put St. Paul ahead 13-7 with 5:12 left in the first.

The Tigers drove into St. Paul territory, inside the 30 and faced fourth-down-and-10 at the 21. Running back Reggie Hicks was held to a 3-yard gain and St. Paul took over.

Their drive nearly stalled out but Barton gained 13 yards on a fourth down to keep the drive going and Bell took a toss and scored from 60 yards out for an 19-7 Cardinal lead with 38 seconds left in the first frame.

Later, Bell scored from the Tiger 16 to cap a eight-play, 53-yard march for a 25-7 St. Paul lead with 7:54 left in the half.

Trinity Christian started past the 50 after a good kickoff return. Broadnax hit Jackson for a 20- yard touchdown pass to cut St. Paul's lead to 25-14 with 6:13 left in the second.

The Tigers opened the third quarter with a 75-yard drive, finished off by a 2-yard run by Isaiah Davis, cutting into St. Paul's lead, 25-20.

After some punt exchanges, St. Paul faced fourth down at the Trinity Christian 46, attempted to convert it but came up short.

A 6-yard run by Davis put the Tigers ahead 26-25 with 11:52 left in the game.

The Cardinals stepped up on the next drive when facing a third-and-23 play. Barton flipped a short pass to Bell who went 64-yards for the score, putting St. Paul back on top 31-26.

Trinity Christian answered with an 8-yard pass from Broadnax to Marvin White, putting them ahead 32-31.

The lead was gone shortly after Bell's 86-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

A stop on fourth down at the St. Paul 35 by the Cardinals defense and the offense did the rest, as Bell had a 54-yard run for a 43-32 St. Paul lead with 2:23 left to play.

Trinity Christian was not done yet — Broadnax connected with Jackson once again, a 5-yard score and Broadnax hit White for the two-point play, getting the Tigers within 43-40 with 16 seconds left.

St. Paul recovered the onside kick and then ran out the clock to end the game.

Seniors Marco Ynclan, Geiger, Derek Kapavik, Nathan Pilat, Bell, Colton Machart, Reagan Beal, John Davis and Dylan Mills conclude their St. Paul careers with three playoff appearances, two district titles and two state championships.

"You are led by your seniors. We have a lot of great young kids but they are led by the seniors who went through hard times," Wachsmuth said.


( to view more photos, visit the Gonzales Cannon Facebook Page Photo Gallery )

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  TAPPS 3A State Championship
  Bastrop Memorial Stadium, Cedar Creek

  Shiner St. Paul 43, Cedar Hill Trinity Christian 40

  CHTC   7 7 6 20 - 40
  SSP   19 6 0 18 - 43

  SSP-Austin Barton 52 run (Barton kick), 11:26 1Q.
  CHTC-William Jackson 66 pass from Malachi Broadnax (Eric Arnada kick), 5:50 1Q.
  SSP-Ryan Geiger 55 pass from Barton (kick failed), 5:12 1Q.
  SSP-T.J. Bell 60 run (pass failed), 0:38 1Q.

  SSP-Bell 18 run (run failed), 7:54 2Q.
  CHTC-Jackson 20 pass from Broadnax (Arnada kick), 6:13 2Q.

  CHTC-Isaiah Davis 2 run (kick failed), 8:27 3Q.

  CHTC-Davis 6 run (pass failed), 11:52 4Q.
  SSP-Bell 64 pass from Barton (pass failed), 8:45 4Q.
  CHTC-Marvin White 16 pass from Broadnax (pass failed), 7:20 4Q.
  SSP-Bell 86 kickoff return (run failed), 7:06 4Q.
  SSP-Bell 54 run (run failed), 2:23 4Q.
  CHTC-Jackson 5 pass from Broadnax (White pass from Broadnax), 0:16 4Q.

  Team stats              CHTC        SSP
  First downs               25         17
  Rushes-yards          30-133     50-346
  Passing yards            380        119
  Passes                 26-43        2-7
  Penalties-yards         4-35       3-30
  Fumbles-lost             0-0        3-0
  Punts-aver            4-27.5     3-35.3

  Individual stats

  Rushing —
    CHTC: Reggie Hicks 11-68, Malachi Broadnax 8-30, Trenton Chambers 4-18,
          Isaiah Davis 7-17.
    SSP:  T.J. Bell 25-216, Austin Barton 13-104, Ryan Geiger 6-17,
          Jed Janecek 4-9, TEAM 2-0.

  Passing —
    CHTC: Broadnax 26-43-0-380.
    SSP:  Barton 2-7-0-119.

  Receiving —
    CHTC: William Jackson 11-149, Marvin White 9-184, Chambers 3-17,
          Kamarian Webster-Channel 1-15, Dewayne Dawson1-9, Tavione Carter 1-6.
    SSP:  Bell 1-64, Geiger 1-55.


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CONGRATULATIONS, CARDINALS!

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