Cardinals face off against county rival

SHINER — Shiner St. Paul (7-0, 4-0) will travel less than 15 miles to take on their county rivals, the Hallettsville Sacred Heart Indians (2-5, 2-2), in a TAPPS District 5-Div. III/IV bout.

The Cardinals remain undefeated, with their last loss coming in Oct. 1, 2016 against Boerne Geneva. Since that loss, St. Paul have won 15 straight, including a state title win last season.

Meanwhile, the Indians have struggled this season, their two wins coming against district opponents San Antonio St. Gerard (2-6, 0-4) and San Marcos Academy (1-6, 1-2).

Despite the differences in records, the Cardinals have no lack of motivation going up against a rival.

“It’s a fun game for both schools,” Cardinals Head Coach Jake Wachsmuth noted. “Obviously [we got] to play hard, play smart, with a lot of intensity and enthusiasm but you kind of figured you’d have that in games like this.”

The Indians come in with a similar offense like St. Paul, though they’ve shown more spread looks now than in the past.

The Cardinals are ready for Sacred Heart’s defense who is run by the same defensive coordinator that’s been there for years.

“He’s always done a good job,” Wachsmuth said. “They run an eight-man front and also run a similar defense to us, a 4-3 with a four-deep secondary. They’ve always been good on defense. That hasn’t changed.”

The key for St. Paul will be to continue to be effective on both sides of the ball and to reduce the big plays.

Wachsmuth noted that the Cardinals’ defense has been good at stopping those play-by-play, grinding it out types of offenses. However, the team needs to improve on not giving up big plays.

“It’s not teams driving the ball play-by-play,” he said, “it’s big plays. Slowly but surely, we [need to] make some progress in those areas.”

The Cardinals look to knock off a rival and remain undefeated, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. at Hallettsville tonight.