Cardinals rout Trojans
NEW BREMEN — The Cardinals used a 35-point first quarter explosion to put Southeastern Local away early, en route to a 52-7 blowout victory in their first game of the 2020 postseason.
Heading into Friday night, New Bremen had scored a total of 35 points combined in the first quarter of all its games during the regular season.
“We came out, and right from the get-go, [we] executed and played well,” said Cardinals coach Chris Schmidt.
It took New Bremen a mere 63 seconds to score its first touchdown of the night.
After a 25-yard and a 4-yard run by Zach Bertke, Mitchell Hays connected with Dan Homan for a 36yard touchdown to kick off the scoring fest.
On the ensuing kickoff, New Bremen’s Logan Opperman recovered a Southeastern Local fumble which set the Cardinals up the Trojans’ 24yard line.
Four plays was all it took for Hays to run one in from seven yards out. The Owen Gabel point after try was good, giving the Cardinals a 14-0 lead with 9:44 remaining in the first quarter.
Southeastern Local earned a first down on their next drive before ultimately having to punt.
The Cardinals third drive of the game resulted in more points.
On 2nd and 10 from the Southeastern Local 29-yard line, Hays once again found Homan open down the right side of the field for the score.
The Trojans punted on their next drive, allowing the red-hot Cardinals offense to take the field once again.
Starting on their own 36-yard line, the Cardinals had their first slip-up of the night, getting called for holding on their first play.
On 1st and 20, Bertke carried the ball for four yards. The next play, Hays hooked up with Bertke for a 50-yard completion and he was stopped at the 1-yard line. The next play, Bertke ran it up the middle for the score.
For the second time in the quarter, the Cardinals forced a fumble on Southeastern’s kick return, this time Branxton Krauss scooping it up and returning it for a score. Krauss was tackled near the goal line and after some deliberation, officials ruled the play a touchdown. Gabel’s kick made it 35-0, good guys.
“Before we came out we said, ‘Hey, we want to make sure we have a certain level of standard and we want to make sure we perform at that level,’” said Schmidt. “To have those opportunities early on a short field — thankfully we capitalized. That really helped to create that wide margin right away.”
New Bremen’s first drive of the second quarter was its most lengthy scoring drive of the night.
The Cardinals ran 10 plays before having to kick on 4th and 9. Gabel drilled a 27-yard field goal to give