Copyright Shaw Local Enewspapers
When the dust settled Saturday night at the Russell Cotton Athletic Complex at St. Anne, Cardinals head coach Alan Rood told his team one thing. “Coach Rood said it’s the best game we’ve ever played in the history of [this program],” Senior Matthew Langellier said. And that statement was backed up with the No. 6 Cardinals’ 39-20 win over No. 11 Metro-East Lutheran in the first round of the I8FA playoffs. While the final score was in St. Anne’s favor, early on, it wasn’t. After both teams’ opening drives stalled, the Knights capitalized on an Abe Oberhauser screen pass to Isaak Broekemeier for a 7-yard touchdown to make it 6-0 late in the first quarter. The Cardinals picked up two unanswered touchdowns from Grant Pomaranski in the second quarter. The first was a 15-yard pass to Brandon Schoth and the other was a 54-yard strike to Langellier. The Cardinals found themselves up 13-6 midway through the quarter. Pomaranski had a big night, throwing for 197 yards and four touchdowns and rushing for 97 yards and two TDs. “I was happy with my performance,” Pomaranski said. “I feel like playing better teams, it elevates my game, and it elevates everyone else’s game around me.” Metro-East Lutheran answered back on its next drive as Oberhauser found a streaking Broekmeier for an 86-yard touchdown to make it 14-13 Knights. The Cardinals ended the half on a high note with a Pomaranski 2-yard rushing touchdown to make it 19-14 St. Anne. Then St. Anne flipped a switch in the second half. The Cardinals took their opening drive in for a touchdown off a Pomaranski 36-yard run, then on the ensuing Knights drive, Schoth ripped the ball out of Oberhauser’s hands for a turnover. Pomaranski then found Langellier in the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown and St. Anne had a 32-14 lead midway through the third quarter. “We came out in that third quarter and we put that first drive into the end zone, you look over, and [Metro-East Lutheran] looked tired,” Rood said. “Fortunately, our guys were mentally tough and kept pushing through it.” Another big defensive play by Schoth, this time batting down a pass, led to a three-and-out for the Knights and another touchdown pass from Pomaranski to Langellier, this time from 14 yards out, and the Cardinals had the game comfortably in hand at 39-14. As the playoffs go on, St. Anne will look for Schoth’s experience and ability to come through in big moments. “Brandon is a mental toughness guy,” Rood said. “He’s the leader of our team and he’s a great one because he loves creating Cardinal culture, going out and working your tail off.” Up next for St. Anne is a trip to No. 3 Polo for a quarterfinal game next weekend. “They’re a good team, but we can’t stop,” Pomaranski said. “We can’t be scared of them. We just got to play our game like before.”
