Using his speed to get up field and around the tackle, senior Jaiden Bender smacked Schlagle’s quarterback to knock the ball loose. The ball bounced into the endzone where fellow senior Jaden Hamm landed on it to score the first defensive touchdown of the night.
The two senior pass rushers came to the sideline and celebrated with each other after the play. That was the second time Bender and Hamm linked up for a score on the night.
“That felt nice for both of us,” Bender said. “It feels nice doing what we love to do and playing hard.”
Creating pressure and forcing turnovers played a major role in the Cardinals’ dominant 55-7 win over Schlagle High School on homecoming night, improving their record to 5-1. The Cardinals defense combined for four sacks and forced three total turnovers, turning two of them into scores.
Bender and Hamm combined for three of the Cardinals’ sacks while juniors Owen Wilks and Thomas Cromer split the final sack. The Cardinals’ pressure also forced an errant throw by Schlagle’s quarterback that sophomore Errol Siemon picked off and returned for a long touchdown right at the halftime buzzer.
“Our defense could be really, really elite. I think they are getting to that point,” head coach Drew Steffen said. “You know, we play really good team defense, it’s hard for teams to score on us consistently. And so if we can lean on that, the further we go on down the road, next week versus Tongie, then versus Paola and as we get into the playoffs, if our focus can be on defense, we can be really, really hard to beat.”
The Cardinals’ special teams unit scored twice, too. A high snap caused Schlagle’s punter to lose control of the ball. Hamm tried to scoop it up, but couldn’t and the ball bounced to Bender who took it back for the first touchdown for either team on the night.
Junior Adrion Seals made some nice moves to take a punt down the sideline and for another long touchdown as well.
Offensively, the Cardinals run game could not be stopped. Senior Octavius Lyles scored three touchdowns on carries from five, three, and nine yards out. Lyles takes pride in how the team is able to run the ball.
“It’s always a part of our game plan,” he said. “We play nasty, we’re going to come at you. We love running that ball. Whenever the run game is clicking, it makes everything easier. It makes the game go by easier whenever we’re all clicking. It’s just fantastic.”
Because the game had such a lopsided score, Steffen was able to get some younger players more action. Steffen said it’s a good thing for the team as a whole when they can get those players into the game.
“Getting those young kids in is awesome,” he said. “You know, they put a lot of work and do a lot of their stuff behind the scenes like running scout teams, helping clean stuff up to make sure practices are nice and organized. So for them to get in and have that reward of doing those things is great.”
The team will host Tonganoxie next Friday night for senior night, the last home game of the regular season.
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Reach reporter Jack Denebeim at [email protected].
