Shiner St. Paul was feeling good with a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter but their discipline and training taught them this rival game with Sacred Heart was far from over.

And their intuition proved correctly.

The Indians scored twice to trail 14-13 at halftime and came back with a touchdown and two-point play to force a 21-21 tie in the third quarter after the Cardinals scored on their fi rst drive of the second half.

St. Paul bounced back in the fourth frame with a pair of scores on offense and also scored on a fumble return for a 21-point swing and 42-21 win Friday night at Comanche Stadium.

"If we thought we had it in hand (at 14-0), we thought wrong," St. Paul head coach Jake Wachsmuth said. "Hallettsville Sacred Heart battled and they made some big, big plays.

The Cardinals were led by Austin Barton who ran for 225 yards and a pair of 60-yard plus touchdown runs while passing for 74 yards and two more touchdowns.

Running back Conor Kresta added 119 yards and a 65-yard score while Cole Brown scored on a 21- yard fumble recovery.

Wachsmuth credited a St. Paul defensive stop, allowing the Cardinals taking the lead 28-21 early in the fourth quarter, as the point when St. Paul pushed ahead for the 21-point margin of victory.

"We got the key stop in the second half. They had fourth down and they jumped (false start penalty) and it moved it back, causing them to have to punt. Later, we forced a turnover that led directly to a score." he said.

After forcing the Indians to punt on the opening drive of the game, St. Paul took two plays to go 68 yards for a 7-0 lead as Kresta had his highlight 65-yard run.

After a three-and-out on defense, St. Paul had a long drive but came up with nil as Barton rushed for just a couple of yards on a fourth-and-5 play from the Indian 36. He got redemption as his 64- yard run capped a twoplay drive of 64 yards just 12 seconds into the second quarter.

Sacred Heart later took advantage of a St. Paul fumble at the Cardinal 34 with a six-play drive, capped by an 8-yard pass from Braden Popp to Brock Sitka on fourth down.

The Indians scored again after a short punt of 15 yards by the Cardinals to their 26 — Sacred Heart had third-and-22 at the Cardinal 38 and Popp went to tight end Jacob Janak. Popp had to pick up a bad snap on the point after and had to run for the end zone but was stuffed by the defense, leaving St. Paul ahead 14-13.

St. Paul opened the third quarter with a 64- yard, six-play drive that was fi nished by a 41- yard strike from Barton to Jacob Darilek at the 9:16 mark. The Indians responded with a nearly seven-minute drive for 78 yards which Popp had a 9-yard pass to Brett Rother and ran it in for the two-point play to tie the game at 21-21.

A 16-yard pass from Barton to Ryan Bell for the go-ahead score capped an eight-play 62-yard drive with less than 11 minutes le in the game.

St. Paul sealed the win with a 68-yard run by Barton at the 8:38 mark and scored just seconds o the clock later as Darilek sacked Popp at the Indian 23. Popp lost the ball and Brown scooped it up at the 21 and scored for the 42-21 lead.

GAME STATISTICS

  Shiner St. Paul 42, Hallettsville Sacred Heart 21
     October 27, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
     Comanche Stadium, Shiner


  SCORING SUMMARY

                  1    2    3    4      F
    Sacred Heart  0   13    8    0  -- 21
    St. Paul      7    7    7   21  -- 42


  SCORING DETAILS:

    First Quarter
      SSP — Conor Kresta 65 run (Frank Benes kick), 8:16 1Q.

    Second Quarter
      SSP - Austin Barton 64 run (Benes kick), 11:48 2Q.
      HSH — Brock Sitka 8 pass from Braden Popp (Joseph McConnell kick), 4:06 2Q.
      HSH — Jacob Janak 38 pass from Popp (run failed), 0:51 2Q.

    Third Quarter
      SSP — Jacob Darilek 26 pass from Barton (Benes kick), 9:16 3Q,
      HSH — Brett Rother 9 pass from Popp (Popp run), 2:27 3Q.

    Fourth Quarter
      SSP — Ryan Bell 16 pass from Barton (Benes kick), 10:37 4Q.
      SSP — Barton 68 run (Benes kick), 8:38 4Q.
      SSP — Cole Brown 21 fumble return (Benes kick), 8:22 4Q.


  TEAM STATISTICS:

                    Sacred Heart   St Paul
    First downs               12        14
    Rushes-yards           28-58    42-372
    Passing yards            137        74
    Passes                 10-25       4-9
    Penalties-yards         3-25      7-55
    Fumbles-lost             1-1       2-1
    Punts-average         5-32.4    1-15.0


  INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

  Rushing
    HSH: Jordan Janak 13-42, Carson Brewer 6-13, Braden Popp 7-7, Cole Mullen 1-3, Team 1-(-7).
    SSP: Austin Barton 17-225, Connor Kresta 14-119, Joseph Natal 5-14, Tre’Zell Jenkins-Perry 4-8, Ryan Malinovsky 2-6.

  Passing
    HSH: Popp 10-24-0-137, Mullen 0-1-0-0.
    SSP: Barton 4-9-0-74.

  Receiving
    HSH: Brett Rother 5-74, Jacob Janak 2-46, Brock Sitka 2-14, Wyatt Fogle 1-3.
    SSP: Ryan Bell 3-33, Jacob Darilek 1-41.