It was a wild old ball game. The JV Cardinals played the Center Yellowjackets on Monday, Oct. 25 on the road. The Cards got off to a great start and scored on their first drive going up 7-0. It was a Kanden LaFarge pass to Cole Heistand. The Cards defense stopped the Yellowjackets’ first drive. The first quarter ended 7-0 Cards. The Cards came back to score again via a pass to Payton Sales. The Cards went up 14-0. The Jackets punted. The Cards’ drive stalled and they decided not to punt. This gave the Jackets a short field and they took advantage and made the score 14-6. The Cards got the ball back with 10 seconds left in the first half and living dangerously went to the air and the pass was picked off. The run back was stopped so the half ended 14-6.
The third quarter started poorly for the Cards when their punt was blocked and the Jackets turned it into a quick TD. The Jackets went for a 2 point conversion and made it 14-14. This was quite the turn around. The Cards got a bit of luck when a pass to Emrie Neal was tipped and caught by Payton Sales and surprised everybody as he ran the ball in for the Cardinals’ third TD. Dylan Bloom was steady, making the PATs. The Cards were back up 21-14.
The Jackets were forced to punt again but the Cards fumbled on their next drive. The third quarter ended with the Cards up 21-14 but in the fourth quarter the Jackets turned the fumble into a TD. The Jackets two point attempt failed. The Cards held on to the slim lead, 21-20. The drama was building. The Cards had to punt but the Cardinal defense came through again and forced the Jackets to punt again. During the game the Cardinal defense got several sacks and many tackles for a loss.
At this point in the game everybody had their eyes on the clock. The question was clear, could the Cards protect the ball and run the clock out? They did one better, they scored again with 1:24 left in the game and made it 28-20 Cards. The Jackets got the ball back but could not sustain a drive. For many of us the win reflected the ups and downs of the rebuilding year. Few would argue that the decision to use a JV rebuild was not a good idea. The Cards got a ton of needed experience and learned a lot about themselves. The Cards ended their season 4-4. Good job everybody. See you next year.
