The Shiner St. Paul defense makes a group tackle Friday night ( November 11, 2016 ) against Marble Falls Faith Academy. St. Paul plays Beaumont Legacy tomorrow ( Friday, November 18, 2016 )in The Woodlands. [ NOTE: click on photo to enlarge ]

photo courtesy of Lori Raabe

A massive win margin does not always tell the entire story.

The Shiner St. Paul Cardinals, more or less, dominated Marble Falls Faith Academy, 62-7, Friday night in the TAPPS IV bi-district round at Comanche Stadium but were not without some errors.

"The score does not always indicate how you played," Cardinals head coach Jake Wachmuth said. "We were sloppy at times but bottom line this is the time of the season where you just want to win and get to the next round."

St. Paul had solid effort but was not as intense and focused at times. "Early on, we were very confident we were going to win and probably had a little letdown in intensity which is not uncommon. You start to do things halfway," he said. "I am not taking anything away from Marble Falls Faith players. I preach to our kids that you play hard against every single opponent because you want to play the best you can. We put it in the sense that God has given you this ability and you should use it to your best all the time."

The Cardinals led 27-0 after one quarter and scored 35 points in the second quarter, paving the way for younger players to get some repetition in a playoff game.

"A lot of kids got to play and that is a good thing," Wacsmuth said.

With St. Paul way ahead on the scoreboard, the Flames left in their starters to try to get back in the contest, providing a challenge for the Cardinal reserves.

Wachsmuth said the younger players held their own against Marble Falls Faith's first string.

"I thought our young guys competed hard. We had a couple of nice pops. They work hard at practice," he said.

The Cardinals started producing points seconds into the contest when Conor Kresta ripped the ball out of the hands of Flames quarterback Garrett Henderson near the Marble Falls Faith 45 and took it all the way to the end zone

Less than two minutes later, St. Paul scored on the offensive side with a 65-yard touchdown run by Austin Barton on a single-play drive.

The Flames stalled on their next drive and failed to convert a fourth down at their 39. It was a six-play, 61-yard drive by St. Paul, ending on a 5-yard run by Kresta to give the Cardinals a 20-0 advantage.

With 3:49 left in the first, St. Paul had a 62-yard march with Joseph Natal getting a 46-yard run as the key play and Tre'Zell Jenkins-Perry capping the drive with a 10-yard run.

St. Paul took a 34-0 lead five seconds into the second frame on a 2-yard run by Barton.

The Cardinals defense gifted their offense good field position at the Flame 29. Jenkins- Perry had a short gain to the 26 and then scored.

Marble Falls Faith tried another fourthdown conversion, this time faking a punt but only got 7 yards on a fourth-and-15 play, giving St. Paul the ball at the plus-21. Three plays later, it was a 4-yard run by Kresta.

The Cardinals had two more scores before halftime — an 87-yard run by Kresta at the 4:08 mark and backup quarterback River Haynes scored on a 5-yard sneak play after the Flames had a high snap on a punt attempt.

With a running clock in the second half, Marble Falls Faith battled and battled to get something positive. They did with 90 seconds left in the game on the 1-yard run by Kameron Ellenberger.

St. Paul will play Beaumont Legacy in the second round at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow ( Friday, November 18, 2016 ) at Warrior Stadium in the Woodlands, home of Woodlands Christian.

GAME STATISTICS

  source: Shiner Gazette


  Shiner St. Paul 45, San Marcos Academy 0
    November 11, 2016, 7:30 pm
    Comanche Stadium, Shiner


  SCORING SUMMARY
                               1    2    3    4       F
    Marble Falls Faith         0    0    0    7  --   7
    Shiner St. Paul           27   35    0    0  --  62

  SCORING DETAILS:

    First Quarter
       SSP — Conor Kresta 45 fumble return (Frank Benes kick), 11:16 1Q.
       SSP — Austin Barton 65 run (Benes kick), 9:28 1Q.
       SSP — Kresta 5 run (kick blocked), 6:24 1Q.
       SSP — Tre’Zell Jenkins-Perry 10 run (Benes kick), 3:10 1Q.

    Second Quarter
       SSP — Barton 2 run (Benes kick), 11:55 2Q.
       SSP — Perry 26 run (Benes kick), 9:30 2Q.
       SSP — Kresta 4 run (Benes kick), 6:30 2Q.
       SSP — Kresta 87 run (Benes kick), 4:08 2Q.
       SSP — River Haynes 5 run (Benes kick), 3:03 2Q.

    Third Quarter
       no score

    Fourth Quarter
       MFFA — Kameron Ellenberger 1 run (Isaac Oliver kick), 1:28 4Q.


  TEAM STATISTICS:

                   Marble Falls     St. Paul
    First Downs              11           12
    Yards Rushing         25-51       35-375
    Yards Passing           149           11
    Passes               9-27-1        1-2-0
    Fumbles-Lost            3-1          1-0
    Penalties-Yards        6-35         4-25
    Punts-Average        4-32.5       3-33.0


  INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

    Rushing
      MFFA: Bryson Kennedy 4-48, Kameron Ellenberger 8-45, Eli Oliver 1-2,
            Team 1-(-1), Isaac Oliver 2-(-19),Garrett Henderson 10-(-24).
      SSP:  Conor Kresta 7-151, Austin Barton 5-96, Joseph Natal 4-70, Tre’Zell Jenkins-Perry 3-39,
            Reid Yackel 5-14, River Haynes 2-9, Team 1-0, Carson Reese 6-(-1), Frank Benes 1-(-2).

    Passing
      MFFA: Henderson 9-26-1-149, Ellenberger 0-1-0-0.
      SSP:  Barton 1-2-0-11.

    Receiving
      MFFA: Cab Booth 4-79, Ellenberger 3-39, Braden McBryde 1-31, Kennedy 1-1.
      SSP:  Ryan Bell 1-11.