The St. Mary's Cardinals will challenge the Elgin/Pope John Wolfpack at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
St. Mary's lost a heartbreaker the last time they played Ainsworth, but it's fair to say they got their revenge given the result of Friday's game. The Cardinals took their contest on Friday with ease, bagging a 78-35 win over the Bulldogs. The victory was just business as usual for the Cardinals, who after five games remain undefeated this season.
Gage Hedstrom
| 09/26/25 @ Ainsworth | 7 |
| 09/19/25 @ Creighton | 6 |
| 09/12/25 vs Boyd County | 1 |
| 09/05/25 @ Burwell | 3 |
| 08/29/25 vs Twin Loup | 1 |
Gage Hedstrom was his usual excellent self, throwing for 319 yards and seven TDs while picking up 13.3 yards per attempt, and also rushing for 64 yards and one score on only eight carries. Thanks to that big game, he is now up to 18 passing touchdowns on the season. Ben Barlow was another key player, picking up 126 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
St. Mary's didn't let much get past them through the air: they limited Ainsworth to a completion percentage of just 47.1%. The team can thank Hedstrom for the heroic effort on defense: he. St. Mary's hasn't an opponent to post a completion percentage of 0.6 or higher in four consecutive matchups.
St. Mary's defensive line didn't let the opposing QB, get away unscathed either: they got into the backfield for three sacks. Dalton Herley refused to say out of the backfield, picking up 1.5 sacks all by himself. Hedstrom got in on the action too, converting a pick into a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Elgin/Pope John's game on Friday was all tied up 8-8 at the half, but luckily for them it didn't stay that way. They blew past Creighton 38-8. The Wolfpack pushed the score to 30-8 by the end of the third, a deficit the Bulldogs had little chance of recovering from.
Elgin/Pope John didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off four passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Evin Pelster and Trey Rittscher. Pelster got in on the action too, converting a pick into a touchdown.
St. Mary's win bumped their record up to 5-0. As for Elgin/Pope John, their victory bumped their record up to 4-1.
Everything came up roses for St. Mary's against Elgin/Pope John when the teams last played back in October of 2024, as the team secured a 68-28 win. In that game, the Cardinals amassed a halftime lead of 44-14, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
