Cardinals, Comanches in the playoffs, Mustangs out

This one looked effortless.

Justin Natal scored a trio of touchdowns, including two interception returns, to lead the St. Paul football team to a 57-0 whipping of St. Dominic Savio Friday at Comanche Field in Shiner. Natal also caught a 41-yard touchdown pass from Dakota Kresta for the first score of the game at the 9:40 mark of the first quarter.

St. Paul (8-2, 3-1 in TAPPS District 3-Division IV) finished in a three-way tie for the district championship with Brazos Christian and Sacred Heart. But the Cardinals will be the No. 2 playoff seed based on the points tiebreaker amongst the three teams.

Brazos Christian beat St. Paul, 42-19 (+23), the Cardinals edged Sacred Heart, 14-12 (+2), and the Indians ran past the Eagles, 34-14 (+20). St. Paul will host Galveston O’Connell at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Comanche Stadium in Shiner in the bi-district round of the TAPPS Division IV state playoffs.

On Friday, the Cardinals scored early and often in the first half as they led 29-0 after one quarter of play and 50-0 at halftime. Following the Kresta-to-Natal score — Kresta’s only completion of the night — Adam Hollenbach scored on a 59-yard run, Cole Hybner returned a punt 64 yards for a touchdown and Natal ran an interception back 35 yards for a score to put St. Paul up 29-0 after one quarter of play.

In the second quarter, the Cardinals poured it on again. Brett Hodges scored on a 51-yard run, Martin Kennedy scored from 38 yards out and Natal ran another interception back 30 yards for a score to give St. Paul a 50-0 lead at the half.

Hollenbach capped the scoring in the third quarter with an 18-yard run. Hodges and Hollenbach were the leading rushers with 102 and 99 yards, respectively.

As a team, the Cardinals ran for a season-high 312 yards, while passing for 43 on just six pass attempts. Defensively, St. Paul forced six turnovers and limited St. Dominic Savio to 193 yards of total offense, including minus-7 rushing.

Shiner

Caleb Curtis ran for 133 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Shiner football team to a 42-6 victory over Louise Friday at Hornet Field in Louise.

Shiner (5-5, 3-1 in District 15-A-Division I) finished as the second-place team in the district standings and will face Kenedy (6-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Floresville. The winner will face Brackett in the area round at a time, date and site to be determined.

The Comanches scored 14 points in each of the first three quarters Friday night to build a 42-0 lead. Jacob Stafford scored from 35 yards out and Evel Jones added a 2-yard score to give Shiner a 14-0 lead after one quarter of play.

The second quarter was a near-carbon copy of the first as Marlon Wallace scored from 44 yards out and Curtis added an 8-yard touchdown run to put their team up, 28-0, at halftime. Curtis and Jones scored from 1 and 17 yards out, respectively, in the third quarter to put their team up 42-0 before Louise (1-9) added a touchdown run in the closing seconds to take away the Comanches’ shutout bid.

Nixon-Smiley

There will be no more football for the Nixon-Smiley football team this season.

The Mustangs’ playoff hopes were dashed Friday night when Three Rivers blanked Karnes City, 20-0, at Karnes City. Nixon-Smiley (5-5, 3-3 in District 14-2A-Division II) needed Karnes City to beat Three Rivers (6-4, 3-3 in 14-2A-DII) and Stockdale to beat Dilley.

Stockdale defeated Dilley to clinch the second-place playoff berth, and drop the Wolves into a three-way tie for third with Nixon-Smiley and Three Rivers. Three Rivers held the points tiebreaker over both Nixon-Smiley and Dilley as the Bulldogs beat the Mustangs, 27-12, on Oct. 7.

Nixon-Smiley beat Dilley, 43-42, on Sept. 23, and Dilley beat Three Rivers, 27-26, on Oct. 14. But Three Rivers’ 15-point victory over Nixon-Smiley outweighed the other two wins in the head-to-head series between the Bulldogs, Mustangs and Wolves.