Cardinals quarterback Zak Johnson flees from St. Joseph linebacker Carson Dohmann Friday evening ( September 7, 2018 ) at Comanche Stadium.

photo by Mark Lube

Victoria St. Joseph quarterback Jacob Bordovsky took the snap and ran a speed-option play to the right for a do-or-die two-point conversion as the Flyers trailed at Shiner St Paul 20-19.

He just barely broke the plane for a 21-20 St. Joseph win after they trailed 13-0 early in the third quarter, tied the game and then were behind 20-13 in the fourth quarter.

St. Paul played lights out on both sides of the ball with aggressive defense and a stout ground attack of over 200 yards, led by senior running back Joseph Natal who had 40 carries for 244 yards and all three Cardinal touchdowns.

“Kids have played hard the last two weeks. Probably played harder tonight. I’m just real proud of them,” St. Paul head coach Jake Wachsmuth said. “The score does not indicate how much they are winners. They battled and battled and battled, and things happen sometimes.”

The Flyers were able to get some turnovers at key times in the second half — a recovered fumble that led to the 13-13 score and getting a loose ball at their 12 in a drive that could have seen St. Paul go ahead by two scores but instead turned into the game-winning drive by St. Joseph.

“We moved the ball real well but had some turnovers,” he said. “(start of the) Second half we moved the ball and got on St. Joseph’s side of the field and had a fumbled snap. Late in the game, we are moving the ball again then we have another fumble.”

The Cardinals kept the Flyers off the scoreboard in the first half, getting three or four sacks and applying other pressure to Bordovsky.

In the second half, Flyers switched to a quick-passing game to keep the pressure off of Bordovsky.

St. Joseph went three and out, and had a 24-yard punt that was returned to the Flyer 34. The Cardinals took their time, taking nine plays and over four minutes for a score as Natal scored from six yards out. St. Joseph drove all the way to the Cardinal 12 but turned the ball over downs at the 25.

The Flyers got the ball back with an interception. St. Joseph turned it over on downs; St. Paul threw another interception; the Flyers were again stopped on fourth down.

Late in the second quarter, St. Paul’s Kellen Opela came up with a pick to kill another Flyer drive and it was a 7-0 St. Paul halftime lead.

The Cardinals opened the third period with a four-play, 67-yard drive. Natal had a 48-yard run on the third play down to the Flyer 3 and scored on the next play for the 13-0 Cardinal lead.

St. Joseph ended the shut out with a six-play, 56-yard drive that ended in a 32-yard touchdown pass from Bordovsky to J’Den Miller with 8:23 left in the quarter.

St. Paul lost a fumble on the next drive and the Flyers drove 51 yards in four plays with Bordovsky hitting Hayden Wuensche for the 17- yard score. The Flyers initially made good on a two-point conversion but the play was negated on a penalty. The Flyers elected to kick and St. Paul blocked it.

St. Paul drove 62 yards for the go-ahead score with Zak Johnson getting a 16-yard pass to Noah Boedeker on the first play and Natal scoring on a four-yard run.

The Flyers drove down to the St. Paul 12 but could not convert a fourth down at the 12. The Cardinals then rode the legs of Natal inside the Flyer 20 but a fumble gave the Flyers the ball at their 12 for the game-winning drive.

Defensively for the Cardinals, Jared Pesek had one tackle; Gerard Nunez had six tackles, one tackle for loss, one sack, three hurries; Opela had four tackles, one assist, one interception; Boedeker added six tackles, three assists; Dalton Jahn had eight tackles, one assist, one tackle for loss; Sam Benes had one tackle; Johnson had three tackles, three assists; Natal had 10 tackles, two tackles for a loss, one sack; Carson Reese had 10 tackles, five assists, one fumble caused; Cole Brown had five tackles, two assists, one block; Patrick Green had two tackles; Luke Darilek had seven tackles, four assists, one tackle for loss; Ted Machacek had four tackles, two assists; Garrett Wauson had two tackles, two assists.

GAME STATISTICS

  Victoria St. Joseph 21, St. Paul 20
    September 7, 2018, 7:30 p.m.
    Comanche Stadium, Shiner


  SCORING SUMMARY

                    1    2    3    4      F
    St. Joseph      0    0   13    8  -- 21
    St. Paul        7    0    6    7  -- 20


  SCORING DETAILS:

    SSP - Joseph Natal 6 run (Sam Benes kick), 6;34 1Q.

    SSP - Natal 3 run (kick failed), 10:52 3Q.
    VSJ - J’Den Miller 32 pass from Jacob Bordovsky (Robbie Alcasasabas kick), 8:23 3Q.
    VSJ - Hayden Wuensche 17 pass from Bordovsky (kick blocked), 2:59 3Q.

    SSP - Natal 4 run (Benes kick), 10:29 4Q.
    VSJ - Miller 16 pass from Bordovsky (Bordovsky run), 0:23 4Q.


  TEAM STATISTICS:

                    St Joseph     St Paul
    First downs            21          15
    Yards rushing       24-59      49-235
    Yards passing         285          37
    Passes            21-39-1       3-7-2
    Penalty-yards      13-110        6-38
    Fumbles-lost          2-0         3-2
    Punts-aver         1-24.0      1-34.0


  INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

    Rushing
      VSJ: Jacob Bordovsky 14-67, Payton Terrell 7-3, Team 1-0, J’Den Miller 1-(-6).
      SSP: Joseph Natal 40-244, Carson Reese 2-7, Gerard Nunez 1-4, Team 2-0, Zak Johnson 4-(-20).

    Passing
      VSJ: Bordovsky 21-39-1-285.
      SSP: Johnson 3-7-2-37

    Receiving
      VSJ: KeAon Griffin 6-77, Miller 5-83, Terrell 3-23, Alex Angerstein 2-35,
           Hayden Wuensche 2-34, Qunicy Johnson 2-24, Jaren Wilson 1-9.
      SSP: Noah Boedeker 2-26, Natal 1-1