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This past Monday, Nov. 24, the Cardinal football team gave it their all one final time against Wynot in the D-2 State Championship match. The Cards entered 12-0, while the Blue Devils were 11-1. The Cards received their first loss, 71-60. The Blue Devils made themselves known first with a 13-yard touchdown by Lane Heimes. Killian Steinhaus finished the conversion to put the Blue Devils up 8-0 in the first few minutes. The Cards wouldn't take it sitting down and answered with their own 4-yard touchdown pass by Gage Hedstrom to Lane Bybee, with Ben Barlow evening it out with a successful two-point conversion. It was back to the opposition in back-to-back run-ins, but the Cards were able to stunt the conversions. Down to the final moments, the Cards squeezed in a 27-yard touchdown from Hedstrom to Drake Berg to bring the score to 20-16, still in the Blue Devil's favor. Quarter two was even more hectic than the opening. This time, the Cards took the reins with the iconic team-up of Hedstrom and Barlow taking the initiative. The Blue Devils brought it back to them, even one-upping the Card's previous attempt by successfully pulling off the two-point conversion. Logan Brabec got on the board when he caught a nine-yard touchdown pass, with Barlow catching a 28-yard touchdown pass directly after. The dangerous team-up of Wynot's Devin Drummer and Kotner Koch was really starting to make headway at this point, interrupting the Card's back-to-back scoring. Hedstrom and the Cards drove down the field and managed one last score in the second to bring the score to 46-34 in the Cards' favor in the first half – the last time the Cards would hold the advantage. The post-halftime play saw things slow down, but there was still no shortage of excitement. The Blue Devils got back on the board with a whole eight-point run-in. Hedstrom answered back with a simple but effective five-yard run. Brummer, Koch, and Heimes came together to put up another 8-point effort to give the Blue Devils the lead. Tensions were high going into the fourth. Both teams were still in the running for taking home the Championship title. The Blue Devils, Koch, and Brummer gave one final stride to secure their team's spot in the top spot. Down but not out, the Cards put in one last attempt to bring the match to them. And what a way to go out on. The play started with the ball in Hedstrom's possession looking for an opening. With Blue Devil players swarming around, especially Parker Schmidt closing in fast, Hedstrom made a split-second decision. He threw to James Eby, who leapt in the air and caught the ball with one hand and successfully scored! The play even topped SportCenter's top 10 chart! This was a fantastic game from two top-tier teams. While Wynot came out on top in the end, the Cardinals put in a considerable effort and just barely fell short. St. Mary's totaled 56 plays for 19 first downs and had seven penalties. Wynot had 65 plays for 19 first downs and had 12 penalties. Gage Hedstrom led the offense with 23 carries for 59 yards and had three touchdowns; Drake Berg had two carries for seven yards and one touchdown; Keigan Couch had one carry for one yard; Barlow had two touchdowns; and Brabec, Bybee, and Eby had one touchdown each. Eli Banks played defensively with 14 tackles; followed by Berg with 12 tackles; Hedstrom had 11 tackles; Dalton Herley had 10 tackles; Lane Bybee had nine tackles; Ben Pongratz had six tackles; Barlow had five tackles; Couch had three tackles; Eby had two tackles; and Myles Hamilton and Zane Cole had one tackle each. Kotner Koch was the Blue Devils' trump card with five touchdowns, followed by Heimes with two touchdowns, and Hans and Steinhaus with one touchdown each. The last time the Cardinals came close to this level of success was back in 2020. They made it through the first few games of that year's State Championship Tournament, but were dropped 44-14 in the quarterfinals by Central Valley. Congratulations and farewell to all of the seniors on the team: Gage Hedstrom, Myles Hamilton, Lane Bybee, Thiago Argentina, and Ruger Kraft.
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