Cardinals ready to clean up mistakes

SHINER — Coaches, players, fans of the game, or whoever else interested in football can argue which offense is the “perfect offense” to run. But one constant that rings true despite your offensive preference is the idea that to win the football game, winning the turnover battle can go a long way.

The St. Paul Cardinals did not do that last week and although you can sometimes overcome them, St. Paul couldn’t do it.

So this week the message is simple. Clean up the errors.

“We made a bunch of mistakes,” St. Paul’s head coach Jake Wachsmuth said, “and you know, turnovers definitely hurt us but it was more than that. [Bryan St. Joseph] played better than we did and we just have to do better.”

This week, the Cardinals host homecoming against Somerville, a team that is currently 0-2, with blowout losses to Iola (65-0) and Buffalo (71-6).

The visiting Yeguas have good skill positions, so Wachsmuth knows not to underestimate any team. But to get this win, the Cardinals simply need to handle their responsibilities.

“It’s just trying to go out there and do your best,” Wachsmuth said. “Doesn’t matter who you play, [Somerville] may have been playing good teams, it doesn’t matter. That’s who you play and worry about what we do.”

As Wachsmuth notes, St. Paul needs to play their form of football and play it correctly and they’ll get the win tonight.

“Offensively, we got to bring down the turnovers,” he said, “and some of those turnovers were caused by missed assignments. We didn’t execute.”

Defensively, the Cardinals also had issues with missed tackles.

“A lot of times we let people slip,” Wachsmuth said.

With a good running back on Somerville’s side of the ball, the Cardinals cannot afford to do such things.

St. Paul’s hosts Somerville tonight with kickoff set at 7:30 p.m.