Cardinals Edged Out By Ainsworth Bulldogs 70-68

EYES ON THE BALL - Gage Hedstrom wraps up on Ryan Salzman of Ainsworth during last Friday's game.

  The St. Mary's Cardinals lost to another opponent, dropping their season to 2-3 with a 70-68 loss to the Ainsworth Bulldogs. The Cards couldn't catch a break with brand-new black jerseys, and a 90-degree day took its toll on all the players, with the referees stopping the game for water breaks.

The Cards came out looking for repayment on last year's loss, and with a couple of minutes off the clock, Gage Hedstrom ran in a 62-yard touchdown and then secured the conversion to put the Cards up by eight. Hedstrom again delivered a punch on a 25-yard touchdown run.

Ainsworth got on the board when the Bulldogs drove into Cardinal territory, and a pass from Morgan Kinney to Logan Schroedl put the Bulldogs on the board with six. The Cards snuck one more score on the board when Jace Rosenkrans ran in a two-yard touchdown.

The Cards felt on top of their game going into the second quarter, but that was soon to change as Ainsworth racked up three touchdowns to cut the Cardinal lead down. Hedstrom did manage to throw to Ben Barlow for a 13-yard touchdown, and Hedstrom ran in for the two points. The Cardinals led at the half 28-24.

The third quarter was when the sun and little wind caught up with the players, and both teams started to slow. Hedstrom took a 66-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and also had a five-yard touchdown; Ainsworth took in three scores and pulled ahead 48-42 to start the fourth.

The fourth was a race as Hedstrom threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Barlow. Ainsworth countered with an 11-yard touchdown, and right after, Hedstrom ran 65 yards back to the endzone, and Brabec caught the conversion. Ainsworth's Kinney ran in a 46-yard touchdown, followed by Hedstrom throwing to James Eby for a 21-yard touchdown with no conversion, but the Bulldogs wouldn't relinquish their grip, with Kinney running 23 yards for a touchdown in the last minutes. Hedstrom again hit Barlow for a 20-yard touchdown for the game's final score. The Cards tried an offside kick to no avail, with the Dogs holding on to run the clock out.

The Cardinals ran 58 plays for 22 first downs and seven penalties for 35 yards; Ainsworth ran 59 plays for 23 first downs and took 11 penalties for 75 yards.

Hedstrom had 21 carries for 144 yards and three touchdowns; Barlow had one carry for 13 yards; Jace Rosenkrans had six carries for 10 yards and one touchdown; and Drake Berg had two carries for four yards.

Barlow led the receivers with nine catches for 126 yards and three touchdowns; Logan Brabec had three catches and 65 yards; Eby had three catches for 57 yards and one touchdown; Risken Dawson had two catches for 17 yards, and Ben Pongratz had one catch for three yards.

The Cards had 171 yards rushing and 268 yards in the air. The Bulldogs had 284 yards rushing and 183 from the air.

Leading the Cardinal defense was Hedstrom with 15 total tackles; Drake Berg had 11 tackles; Keigan Couch had ten tackles; Dawson with nine tackles; Rosenkrans with eight tackles; Dalton Hurley with six tackles; Eli Banks had five tackles; Barlow with four tackles; and Myles Hamilton, Eby, and Pongratz each had one tackle.

The Cards will face EPPJ at Elgin this Friday.

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