For weeks, St. Paul has been trying to get over the first-game hump.

Friday ( October 19, 2018 ) in Temple, the Cardinals reached the top and then went past it in a 34-13 win over Temple Central Texas Christian in their district opener.

Joseph Natal carried St. Paul on his shoulders as he ran for 268 yards and all five touchdowns. Noah Boedeker had six carries for 20 yards, Kai Giese had 16 yards running and Zak Johnson got a carry. Giese was 1-for-3 passing with the completion going to Cole Brown for 30 yards.

After no points for either side in the opening quarter, Natal scored on a 10-yard run at the 3:01 and Central Texas Christian answered with a Rylan Turner 1-yard run with 0:38 left but missed the point after, keeping the Cardinals in the lead at 7-6.

In the third frame, Natal had touchdown runs of 2 and 12 yards but both extra points were no good and St. Paul led 19-6 after three quarters.

In the fourth period, Natal had a 6-yard run and had the two-point conversion with 8:58 to go and scored on a 5-yard run with 3:40 left to give the Cardinals a 34-6 lead.

Andrew Lange had a 60-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to get the Lions with 34-13.

St. Paul has an open date this Friday. They will host rivals Hallettsville Sacred Heart on November 2.

GAME STATISTICS

  St. Paul 34, Temple CTC 13
    October 7, 2018, 7:30 p.m.
    Lions Stadium, Temple


  SCORING SUMMARY

                      1    2    3    4      F
    Shiner St. Paul   0    7   12   15  -- 34
    Temple CTC        0    6    0    7  -- 13


  SCORING DETAILS:

    SSP - Joseph Natal 10 run (Sam Benes kick), 3:01 2Q.
    CTC - Rylan Turner 1 run (kick failed), 0:38 2Q.

    SSP - Natal 2 run (kick failed), 9:20 3Q.
    SSP - Natal 12 run (kick failed), 1:51 3Q.

    SSP - Natal 6 run (Natal run), 8:58 4Q.
    SSP - Natal 5 run (Benes kick), 3:40 4Q.
    CTC - Andrew Lange 60 kickoff return  (Charles Hudson kick), 3:24 4Q.


  TEAM STATISTICS:

                          SSP         CTC
    First downs            13           6
    Rushes-yards       44-305      29-144
    Passing yards          30           0
    Passes                1-3       0-3-1
    Penalties-yards     12-85        6-55
    Fumbles-lost          5-1         2-1
    Punts-aver         1-30.0      3-14.3


  INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:

    Rushing
      SSP: Joseph Natal 27-268, Noah Boedeker 6-20, Kai Giese 10-16,
           Zak Johnson 1-1. CTC: Rylan Turner 27-149, Ryan Turley 1-10, Andrew Lange 1-(-5).

    Passing
      SSP: Giese 1-3-0-30.

    Receiving
      SSP: Cole Brown 1-30.