St. Mary's End Dan Haggerty runs for the goal line in the win over Sargent.

The number-one rated and undefeated St. Mary's Cardinals defeated the 9-1, Sargent Bulldogs, beating them 46-0, this past Monday in State quarter-final action.

On Sargent's first play from scrimmage, Cardinals defensive back Dan Haggerty intercepted a pass from the Bulldogs' quarterback at the Cardinal 33 -yard line. A 5-yard run followed by a 40-yard run by Jed Givens put the ball on the 2-yard line. ST. Mary's full back Ryan Hickey scored from the two. The extra point attempt by Jed Givens was unsuccessful. This put the Cards up 6-0.

Both sides traded punts, with Sargent punting again on their third possession of the game. St. Mary's return man, Dan Haggerty, fielded the Sargent punt on the Cards 20-yard line and ran 60 yards for St.Mary's second touchdown in the first quarter. Kiel Neumann executed a crushing block that opened up the play for Haggerty. The Cards put two more points on the board with the extra point attempt. They led the Bulldogs, 14-0.

St. Mary's next drive started at their own 35 and the Cards needed only nine plays to score. A fourth-down conversion from the Bulldogs' 25 kept the drive alive. Two plays later, junior Ryan Kelly ran in from the 1-yard line to put the Cards up, 20-0, to end scoring in the first quarter.

St. Mary's only score in the second period came from running back Jed Givens, after a 55-yard drive by the Cards down to the 2-yard line. Mike Simons threw to Matt Willis for the extra point. The Cards, finished their scoring for the first half of the match leading Sargent, 28-0.

St. Mary's received the second-half kick and started to drive form their own 35. The Cards ran the ball to the Sargent 35-yard line. A second-down pass from Simons to Jed Givens resulted in a 35-yard touchdown pass and the Cards advanced 34-0.

The Bulldogs went four downs and punted to the Cards 38. On first down, Mike Simons connected on a 42-yard pass to Matt Willis for the Card's sixth touchdown of the day to leave Sargent down, 40-0.

Sargent returned the ensuing kick off 65 yards, but a holiday penalty called their moment in the sun back. The Dogs went three downs and were forced to punt to the Cards who took possession on the Sargent 25-yard line. Mike Simons ran the ball, on the option, down to the 5-yard line and then flipped the ball to Ryan Kelly who made the final score of the game.

St. Mary's ended the game on count of the 45-point rule with six minutes in the third quarter.

The Cardinals will play in O'Neill this Saturday at 3:00 p.m. against a tough Mullen team that has only one loss.

St. Mary's had 275 total offensive yards with 149 on the ground and 126 passing. The Cards fumbled the ball three times, only to recover the three.

Jed Givens marked up 77 yards rushing for one touchdown Mike Simons completed seven of 13 passes and had 126 yards for two touchdowns of his own. Dan Haggerty had five punt returns for 93 yards and one touchdown. Matt Willis chalked up three receptions for 62 yards for one touchdown.