Cardinals Lose Season Opener

WAITSBURG - The Waitsburg Cardinals' season-opening football game against DeSales on Friday, September 5, did not go as Coach Gabe Kiefel had hoped, resulting in a 66-16 loss.

The DeSales Irish won the coin toss and deferred the opening kickoff to the Cardinals. JJ Gleason received the kick and ran the ball for 30 yards. The Cardinals went four and out, and the Irish took over and scored on a long pass. After making the two-point conversion, DeSales led 8-0 with 8:43 remaining in the first quarter.

The Irish scored again on a pass play before the Cardinals got on the scoreboard when Martin Vasquez scored on a 3-yard run with 38 seconds left in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Irish scored 32 points and the Cardinals scored eight; a run by Gleason. That would be the last score by the Cardinals while the Irish put 20 points on the board in the second half.

Stand-out performances include Gleason, who had 137 yards rushing, 39 yards passing, and 112 yards returning for a total of 288 all-purpose yards, and Jarod Hankins, who had two quarterback sacks and eight tackles.

Vasquez had 55 yards rushing and caught three passes. Isa Reyes caught three passes and had three tackles. Victor Whitmore tackled three.  Landen Henry and Uriah York each caught three passes, and Tucker Hamilton and Camdyn Vories each had a quarterback sack.

"This was not the way we wanted the game to be; nonetheless, there were some good things we did. We have a lot of things we can improve and work on. We play Mabton on the road next Friday and are hoping to refine our offense and defense to be more successful," said Kiefel.