St. Paul wins 17th straight
by Jason Chlapek
Friday, September 9, 2011
Gonzales Inquirer Article | St. Paul Cardinal Football | Return to Shiner Home Page
SHINER -- It was one of those games where the team with the lead just prayed for the clock to run out.
St. Paul running back Adam Hollenbach photo by Lori Raabe
Luckily for the St. Paul football team, its prayers were answered. Adam Hollenbach deflected a pass as time expired to hold off a late Stockdale rally in the Cardinals’ 38-34 victory over the Brahmas Friday night at Comanche Field in Shiner.
"The ball was in the air and I had to find a way to knock it down," Hollenbach said. "The pass was in the right area for me to deflect it."
St. Paul (3-0) extended its winning streak to 17 games, but it didn’t come easy by any means. Stockdale (1-2) ran for 322 yards collectively with 252 of those coming courtesy of Trevor Baumann.
"It wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take the win," St. Paul coach Paul Johnston said. "This was one of those games where you kept waiting for the clock to run out. We have a lot of work to do, but we made plays when we needed to. I’m proud of the way our kids worked hard and never gave up."
The Cardinals may have struggled on defense, but not on offense. They recorded 375 yards of total offense, including 225 passing.
Dakota Kresta completed 19 of 27 passes for 207 yards and four touchdowns.
Hollenbach and Justin Natal each had two touchdown catches.
"(Stockdale) wasn’t giving us the deep ball so I read the linebackers and was able to hit short passes down the middle," Kresta said. "My receivers busted their butts to catch the ball and pick up first downs."
Natal led all receivers with seven catches for 105 yards. Martin Kennedy also caught four passes for 76 yards and Hollenbach had three catches for 26.
"I try to catch everything in sight," Natal said. "I trust my quarterback. He’s like my brother."
St. Paul also wasn’t afraid to get a little tricky. The Cardinals opened the game with an onside kick and also performed a fake punt.
Both plays were successful. Although St. Paul didn’t convert the recovered onside kick into points, the Cardinals stepped up defensively to force a three-and-out and a punt from Stockdale.
St. Paul capitalized on the Stockdale punt as it drove 50 yards in seven plays and capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run from Kennedy to put the Cardinals up 7-0 at the 5:36 mark of the first quarter. The key plays on the drive were a pair of Kresta pass completions to Brett Hodges for 20 yards and Kennedy for 14, respectively.
Stockdale wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as the Brahmas drove 56 yards in eight plays — all running. Baumann and Matt Valadez had runs of 18 and 15 yards, respectively, to set up a 6-yard touchdown run from Valadez.
An errant extra point snap kept St. Paul in the lead, 7-6, with 2:15 remaining in the first quarter. The Cardinals’ ensuing drive took 16 plays and covered 78 yards as they converted a trio of fourth downs to increase their lead to 13-6 with 8:15 remaining in the second quarter.
Kennedy hit Natal for 18 yards on a fake punt play, Kresta connected with Kennedy for eight yards on fourth-and-six, and Kennedy ran for 17 yards on fourth-and-nine. The drive ended when Kresta hit Hollenbach for a 16-yard score.
Stockdale drove 52 yards in nine plays to score again as Baumann ran in from a yard to pull his team within a point, 13-12. The Brahmas suffered another errant snap on the extra point, but Cody Hastings recovered the ball and ran it in for two points to give his team a 14-13 lead with 3:16 left before halftime.
St. Paul trailed at halftime by the same score, but came out firing as they drove 64 yards in nine plays to take the lead for good, 19-14. Hollenbach’s 6-yard touchdown run with 8:20 left in the third quarter was set up by a 31-yard pass play from Kresta to Kennedy.
Hollenbach recovered a Bauman fumble at the Cardinals’ 48 on the ensuing drive, and a 23-yard run by Hodges and a 17-yard pass from Kresta to Kennedy moved them to the Stockdale 2. But a chop block backed up St. Paul to the 17 before Kresta connected with Natal for a 17-yard touchdown three plays later to increase the lead to 25-14 with 2:59 remaining in the third.
The teams traded turnovers on the next two drives as the Cardinals recovered another Stockdale fumble and the Brahmas returned an interception to the St. Paul 24. Baumann redeemed himself for his fumble two drives earlier by scoring from 10 yards out to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 25-20 at the 1:22 mark of the third quarter.
St. Paul scored five plays later when Kresta hit Natal for a 40-yard score at the 10:47 mark of the fourth quarter to build a 31-20 lead. But Baumann answered on the next play as he scored from 66 yards out, and Colton West ran in the two-point conversion to pull the Brahmas within three, 31-28, with 10:32 left to play.
Kennedy returned the Stockdale kickoff to the Brahmas’ 39, and Hodges’ facemask was yanked during a 16-yard run to move the Cardinals to the 9. Three plays later, Kresta hit Hollenbach for a 4-yard score to give St. Paul a 38-28 lead with 8:31 remaining in the contest.
Nine plays later, Stockdale was back in the endzone on an 8-yard run by Valadez to make it a 38-34 game with 5:27 left to play. Another errant snap on an extra point attempt prevented the Brahmas from moving to within a field goal of tying the game.
Stockdale forced a St. Paul punt on the next drive, and a late hit put the Brahmas in business at the Cardinals’ 41. Baumann ran four times for 29 yards and Valadez had a four-yard carry to move their team to the 8 as time was ticking away.
But West’s pass intended for Hastings was deflected by Hollenbach as time ran out, and St. Paul celebrated its 17th win in a row.
"Keeping the winning streak alive is critical," Kennedy said. "Their running back played a good game, but we stopped him when we had to, and to keep on winning with a new coach and a new system in incredible. We’re behind Coach Johnston 110 percent and we believe in what he’s doing."
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