Sports
Cadets Storm Out to Early Lead in Win Over Tartan
St. Thomas Academy's John Gould passes for two quick scores and Cadets take advantage of three Tartan turnovers for a 36-0 first quarter lead en route to an 48-7 Classic Suburban Conference victory.
Second-ranked Saint Thomas Academy exploded for a 36-point first quarter en route to an easy 48-7 win over visiting Tartan Friday night in Mendota Heights.
St. Thomas Academy improved to 4-0 overall and 4-0 in the Classic Suburban Conference.
"It was a nice win. We came out flying and I was really pleased to see that," said Cadets head coach Dave Ziebarth. "We kind of overwhelmed them."
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The Cadets rolled up 426 yards in total offense, including 325 rushing yards Friday. Senior running back Hootie Hubbell had 141 yards and a touchdown on just six carries.
STA senior quarterback John Gould completed 7 of 9 passes for 56 yards and scoring strikes of 11 and 5-yards to wide receiver Thomas Sjoberg in the first quarter.
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The Cadets also took advantage of three Tartan turnovers, including a 27-yard interception by linebacker Parker Chapman for a STA touchdown in the first quarter.
STA led 42-0 at the half.
"I was happy with everything," said Ziebart. "Special teams were good. ... We haven't had many takeaways so we had three interceptions, the one by Parker when he intercepted the pitch, that was a beautiful play. So we did really well in that area. I thought we flew to the ball really well on defense and on offense the offensive line really played well."
Tartan avoided the shutout on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Mitchel Grohs to Anthony Rauschendorfer late in the third quarter.
Doug Vanasek had six tackles to lead STA. Paddy Clancy had four tackles and an interception. Chapman had an interception and Tony Palumbo recovered a fumble for the Cadets.
Tartan slipped to 12 in league play and 2-2 on the season.
St. Thomas Academy will host North St. Paul (1-3, 1-3) Friday starting at 7 p.m.
Tartan will host Hill-Murray (2-0, 3-0) Friday at 7 p.m.
Tartan 0 0 7 0 -- 7
St. Thomas Academy 36 6 6 0 -- 48
STA – Sjoberg 11 pass from Gould (Schmidt kick)
STA – Sjoberg 5 pass from Gould (Clancy run)
STA – Hayes 1 run (Schmidt kick)
STA – Chapman 27 pass interception return (Schmidt kick)
STA – Hubbell 50 run (Schmidt kick)
STA – Waldvogel 34 run (kick failed)
STA – Vanasek 15 run (kick failed)
Tartan – Rauschendorfer 16 pass from Grohs (Tjosvold kick)