It's Saturday morning and a beautiful day. The first game of the year is here already and it sees our Stillman Valley Cardinals going up against the Meteors of Newman. The last time these two teams met, it was a bruising contest that ended with Stillman Valley winning 8-6, the difference being a successful two point conversion. Although the Cardinals' team has changed out personnel over the years, a big change this year sees long time starter Trevor Gerig (9) missing from his FB and DE positions. On the plus side however, Stillman has new C and MLB Zack Hare (50) joining their crew.

 

The game starts with Newman winning the coin toss and choosing to receive the ball. Their start is less than productive however when, on first down, Hare comes straight up the middle to throw the Newman running back for a two yard loss. On second down, DE Frankie Baley (55) catches the running back in the backfield for another two yard loss. On third down Christopher Brauns (52) gets to the QB and sacks him, causing a fumble, but it's recovered by Newman who choose to punt on forth and seventeen. Stillman Valley continues to pound, on offense now, by giving the Meteors a steady diet of bruising FB Jose Ramos (33) who goes for nine yards and then five yards on first and second down before breaking off a 30+ yard run for a touchdown. The Cardinals are unable to covert the two extra points however and the score remains 6-0. Newman finds themselves going up against a meat grinder of a defense this day and after three downs, they find they still need the full ten yards to get the first down, so they punt again. Not to be outdone by their first offensive series, the Cardinal coaches call for a dive up the middle on first down and Ramos breaks loose again, sprinting fifty plus yards for Stillman's second touchdown of the morning. The two point conversion is failed again, leaving the score 12-0, but the spirits of the Cardinal players are high with their success so far and bolstered further when, on the ensuing kickoff, Hare streaks down field and crushes Newman's returnman. Newman's coaches are struggling to find something that might crack the shell of this tough Cardinal defense and decide to go to the air since their ground attack has stalled. On first down, Newman's QB just barely overthrows a wide open WR running down the left sideline. Encouraged by the near miss, they go to the air again on second down but this time Hare is there to snag the ball out of the air for his first INT as a Cardinal. Newman gathers their wits and forces Stillman to go three and out on the ensuing offense series, but their own offense, once they have the ball back again, still has a tough time moving the ball in the right direction. On first down, Ramos gets past the OT to sack the QB and after a one yard gain on second down, Brauns catches the QB before he can pitch the ball, and, although he misses the tackle, Hare and Baley are there to clean up and throw him for a five yard loss. With Stillman's defense boosting their confidence, the Cardinals go back to work on offense where they are initially thrown for a short loss on first down but then get a seven yard run followed by a three yard run to set up forth and short, deep in Newman territory. With Conner McNames' (10) hard count, Stillman is able to draw the Meteors off sides for their next first down. Ramos tacks on another three yards and then the Cardinals go to the air where McNames finds Eddie Torrance (81) running down the right side line where he's able to outrun his pursuers the remaining twenty five yards into the endzone for the Cardinals third score of the day. Another failed extra point conversion sees the score at 18-0. Newman, still stymied by the Cardinal D, has minimal success on first down with a one yard gain, but then Ramos sacks the QB again for a 10 yard loss and an incomplete pass later sees the Meteors punt yet again. The Cardinals get two nice runs of three and then five yards, but on third down, Ramos is caught standing to high in his struggle for extra yardage and has the ball is ripped out of his grasp, which is recovered by Newman. The Meteors' offensive woes don't improve however, when first down sees them loose a yard and then on second, Jacob Hoey (23) tracks the ball carrier down for a four yard loss. An incompletion later and the Meteors are punting again. It looks like the Cardinals are on the move late in the first half when McNames throws a strike to TE/WR Taylor Opsahl (20) for a twenty plus yard gain. However, on the next play, a Newman DB makes a play on a ball thrown deep over the middle, cutting off Torrance's route, causing the ball to be over thrown just enough to be tipped into the air and picked off by another Newman DB, ending the half. The second half proves that the Newman coaches are capable of making defensive adjustments on the fly when they force Stillman into a three and out. However, their offensive adjustments fail to make a difference and they continue to struggle. After a modest gain of two yards on first down gives the Meteors a glimmer of hope, no gain on second down and a sack by Stillman's Baley on third down dashes them quickly. Down 18-0, Newman is forced to go for it on fourth down but the desired result is missed when the QB gets sacked again, turning the ball over on downs. Stillman's offense still can't find it's groove on first, second or third down, where they gain only four total yards. Being deep in Meteor territory the Stillman coaches decide to go for it. With a beautifully executed HB option, McNames is able to sprint right, draw the defense to him and then pitch to waiting HB Hoey, who gets around the corner to pick up twelve yards and the first down. Three plays later, Ramos dives up the middle on third and four for an eight yard gain and another first down, putting the ball on the twelve yard line. After a modest two yard gain on first down and then an incompletion on second, McNames hits the mark with Opsahl in the corner of the endzone for the fourth TD of the game. The second half also sees the Cardinals successfully convert their first two point conversion of the year, making the score 26-0. Even with Stillman's backup players filling most of the positions on Newman's next offensive series, they are only able to gain nine yards in three plays and on forth down, they fumble the C/QB exchange and turn the ball over on downs. Simply trying to run the clock out now, Stillman is content to run dives up the middle but on second and eight, Ramos breaks free for his third long TD run of the game. Again the Cards are successful on the two point conversion, making the score 34-0. Newman's final try on the offensive side of things sees them lose nine yards on three tries and with time running out and no hope of winning, decide to punt. Unfortunately for Newman, as their entire day had gone, so did their punt attempt when the snap went over the P head and, although covered by Newman, they lost ten more yards. Stillman continues to run the ball and this time, Newman holds them to just two yards on four tries but time runs out and Stillman is able to go home the victors in a blow out.