Cards Handle Trojans 52-12

CARDINAL GAGE HEDSTROM (2) sails over a mob of Cambridge players in last Thursday's first round playoff game in O'Neill.

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CARDINAL GAGE HEDSTROM (2) and Jace rosenkrans (4) take down Tayten Koeppen (5) of Cambridge.

The St. Mary's Cardinals have advanced to the second round of the Nebraska Football Playoffs. On Thursday, Oct. 24, the Cards downed the Cambridge Trojans 52-12 in an easy first-round match.

The Cards got things moving with 3:19 left in the first quarter when quarterback Gage Hedstrom ran in a 49-yard touchdown. With the conversion pass to Logan Brabec, the Cards went up 8-0.

The Trojans answered early in the second quarter when Abram Norton threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Brady Ahlemeyer, making the score 8-6.

Hedstrom ran in a 21-yard touchdown and hit Brabec for the conversion again. Hedstrom then hit Ben Barlow for the final score of the half on a 40-yard touchdown pass to put the Cards up  24-6 at the half.

The Cards made easy work of the second half, with Hedstrom scoring twice in the third on 35 and 59-yard touchdown runs.

Cambridge got one more touchdown in the game, scoring on a 30-yard touchdown run by Tayten Koeppen in the third.

The Cards finished the fourth with the Trojans giving up, and the Cards scored on a 10-yard run by Hedstrom, hitting Drake Berg for a 5-yard touchdown.

The Cards ran 52 plays for 20 first downs and had two penalties for 30 yards. Cambridge ran 60 plays for 14 yards and had two penalties for 20 yards.

Hedstrom had a stellar game,  running 19 times for 266 yards, averaging 14 yards a run for five touchdowns; Jace Rosenkrans had ten carries for 54 yards; Brabec had two carries for 19 yards.

Barlow led the receivers with three catches for 59 yards and one touchdown; Drake Berg had two catches for 29 yards and one touchdown, and Rosenkrans had one for four yards.

Leading the defense was Hedstrom with 18 tackles; Ben Pongratz and Berg with 11 tackles each; Rosenkrans and Dalton Herley with 10 tackles each; Barlow with seven tackles; Risken Dawson and Eli Banks with six tackles each; and James Eby with one tackle.

The Cards will travel to Wolbach this Friday to face Central Valley at 6 p.m. Central Valley is 8-1 and faced Elm Creek in their first playoff game beating them 62-8.

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