CARDINAL DEFENDERS Kiel Neumann and Mike Simons stop Aaron Jackson in Friday night action

O'Neill St. Mary's has yet another win under their belt. The Cards, who hold the third rated seat in prep polls this week, rolled over Orchard with a 56-8 victory.

The Orioles opened up the first drive on their own 15-yard line. Runs by Aaron Jackson, Andrew Hurtig, and Kyle Mosel got the Orioles out to the 34-yard line where they were forced to punt on the fourth down.

St. Mary's took their first possession on their 13-yard line where Jed Givens ran to the 35. Ryan Hickey took the nest run to the 39 on a short dive. On the third first down for the Cards, Simons connected to Matt Willis on a pass that brought the Cards back into scoring range but a fumble in the back field turned the ball over the Orchard on their own 15-yard line.

Orchard's next series only got them 11 yards and those yards were racked up by Hurtig and a pass from Jackson to Kyle Erb.

St. Mary's next drive saw Jed Givens with a 12-yard run for the first score of the match to put the Cards up 6-0. Ryan Hickey ran in the extra point and put the Cardinals up 8-0 with 6:03 in the first quarter left.

Orchard's only fumble of the game cost them dearly when on the next series of plays they turned the ball back over to St. Mary's at the Orioles 9. Ryan Hickey got to be the second man to score with a 9- yard run to the goal line and a two-point conversion pass from Simons to Willis put the Cards up by 16.

Orchard tried to get the ball in the air on the next series, but a tough secondary for the Cardinals denied Orchard any yardage for the next four downs.

The Cardinals again scored on their next drive when Simons hit Matt Willis for a 41-yard pass to put the third touchdown of the evening on the board. Dan Haggerty caught the 2-point conversion and the score became 22-0 with 4:35 remaining in the first quarter.

Orchard ran the ball for the next four downs taking the ball from the 15 to the 33-yard line with some tough running by Jackson and Hurtig but yet not enough to get Orchard in to good field position.

Orchard made the Cards work for their next touchdown forcing the cards to use six plays and an aerial assault to get to the end zone. Simons threw a 53-yard pass to Givens to finish the first quarter 30-0.

The Cards started out the second quarter much like the first, wasting no time scoring. After taking control of an Orchard punt, the Cards drove down the field to the 28 from their own 40. Mike Simons threw a touchdown pass to Nick Welding to put the cards up 36-0 and, with a run from Will Mahoney, made the score 38-0.

Orchard came alive on the ensuing kickoff and, with the help of some key blocking. Andrew Hurtig ran 79-yards for a touchdown on the kickoff leaving the Cardinal defenders in the dust and the score 30-8 with help from Kyle Mosel on the point after.

St. Mary's started their second drive of the quarter at their own 23. Zach Ascherl ran the ball to the 36 for a first down. Nick Welding ran in the nest score for the Cards from the 36 for a 44-yard touchdown, his second score of the evening. This finished up scoring for the first half of the game leaving it a 44-8.

St. Mary's started their first possession of the third quarter on their own 33-yard line. Ryan Hickey carried the ball four times down to the goal line where he scored with 10:20 on the clock in the quarter. St. Mary's started the third quarter with a 50-8 lead.

Orchard finished the game and their last drive attempt with their reserve players.

The Cards finished the game with a 20-yard line drive by Zach Ascherl and a final touchdown by Ascherl to put the cards at 56-8 and the game was called on a count of points.

The Cards finished the game with 144 yards in the air and 268 on the ground. The Orioles had 14 in the air and 40 yards rushing.

The Cards will play Rock County for homecoming this Friday.