Cardinals ready to seek 3rd Straight Title
Thursday, September 7, 2017
by Mark Lube, Sports Editor
St. Paul Cardinal Football | St. Paul Cardinal Sports
Two things are certain for any given season of Shiner St. Paul football.
The 2017 Shiner St. Paul Cardinals football team. Top row, from left, Jaydon Darilek, Luke Darilek, River Haynes, Will Knox, Jacob Darilek, Weston Geiger, Jack Janecek,Garrett Wautson and Ryan Geiger. Second from top row, John Wachsmuth, Charlie Mieschen, Lance Giese, Jared Pesek, Conor Kresta, Joseph Natal, Frank Benes, Reid Yackel, Patrick Green, Cole Brown, Jonathan Peters, Ron Johnson, Father Bryan Heyer and Jake Wachsmuth. Second from bottom, from left, is Cade Davis, Matthew Malinovsky, Jamison Whitescarver, Andrew Wagner, Tre’Zell Jenkins-Perry, Gerard Nunez, Kai Giese, Nathan Wagner, Ted Machacek, Grant Barta, Sam Benes and James Fikac. Bottom row, from left, is Zane Barta, Kade Leist, Ethan Easterling, Bode Prove, Trent Brown, Cody Hollenbach, Jake Yackel, Jacob Wachsmuth, Zak Johnson, Carson McNabb and Jackson Ulcak. Not pictured are Carson Reese and Dalton Jahn.
[ NOTE: click photo to enlarge ]
The goal of playing for and winning a state title, and the fact that each season has its unique circumstances, situations and obstacles.
“Our goal really does not change every year,” Cardinals head coach Jake Wachsmuth said. “Regardless of where you were the year before, it is a new season. We have got a lot of good kids that come out here with a good attitude but it is going to be a step-by-step process.”
The 2016-2017 team graduated eight seniors and had 10 in 2015. At the end of the 2017- 2018 year, St. Paul will lose eight seniors.
“They all contribute,” Wachsmuth said of each season’s seniors. “This year’s group will contribute.”
One of those eight seniors St. Paul will need to replace is quarterback Austin Barton who was a four-year starter and won numerous awards including the TAPPS 2A Male Athlete of the Year Award for 2016-2017.
Wachsmuth said it was always fun to observe and witness how the current players will come along as they look for roles to fill and solutions for a good season.
St. Paul has about five or six starters on each side of the ball returning and about 20 or more lettermen.
“We have a lot of returners and we have a good freshmen group,” he said. “The freshmen won a lot of games last year as eighth graders. It’s a combination of the returners and the freshmen.”
St. Paul has always seemed to have younger players step up into roles left by graduating seniors that worked hard to make a difference.
Despite being a small school, the Cardinals always seem to have a little depth.
Cardinal football team leaders for 2017 include Jacob Darilek, Conor Kresta, and Joseph Natal.
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“We always seem to have kids that when it is their turn, they took over,” Wachsmuth said. “That is not just football; that is across the board.”
He said just like any other year, the athletes are told they will have to earn their positions on the team. This setup will allow lots of the players to get playing experience.
“We want to get as many kids on the field this year as possible,” Wachsmuth said.
The goals for the regular season are winning games, winning district and making the playoffs but since St. Paul usually does not field a junior-varsity team, getting backups in when a game is well in favor of the Cardinals is crucial.
“We want to develop the younger players for future seasons,” he said.
Wachsmuth said during the first couple of workouts earlier in the month, no players really stood out. The coaches likely get the first answers to whose is standing out after the first scrimmage.
And another goal that does not change from season to season is the goal of improvement from the first day of practice until the final game.
“I have never been here, in any sport, where at the end of the year I did not say we are better at the end of the season than at the beginning. There are teams that start off great but then fade. It is a step-by- step process.”
St. Paul scrimmage schedule was away at Nixon and a tri-match between Runge and Bloomington in Runge.
St. Paul has six home games on the docket — Yorktown, Flatonia and Austin Hyde Park (Homecoming) in non-district; Boerne Geneva, San Antonio St. Gerard and San Marcos Baptist in district. The Cardinals will play at Bryan St. Joseph, Brentwood Christian (district), Schertz John Paul II and will take the short trip down 90A to Hallettsville to play Sacred Heart.
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Mark Lube is the sports editor for the Shiner Gazette. Contact him at 361-594-3346 or shinersports@sbcglobal.net |
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