As Bishop Miege celebrated picking up a first down to keep the clock running in the fourth quarter, the crowd cheering on the Cardinals throughout the cold and rainy night fell silent knowing the play meant the season had come to an end.
The Cardinals fell to Bishop Miege 33-26 Friday. It was a hard fought game all night and head coach Drew Steffen said he was proud of the team’s effort.
“To be down a score with an opportunity to tie or win in the fourth quarter against them is, in my eyes, an unbelievable effort by our kids,” Steffen said.
The Cardinals were able to keep the game close with Bishop Miege, but could not find a way to take the lead.
Bishop Miege started the game with a 29-yard touchdown pass on a fourth down play on their first possession. But, the Cardinals answered right back with a scoring drive of their own as senior Octavius Lyles scored on a 49-yard touchdown run.
Bishop Miege scored again on their following possession, but the Cardinals came back and scored again. This time, Lyles made some moves to find space and score from 26-yards out. By the end of the first quarter, Bishop Miege was up 14-12 as the Cardinals went for two both times and couldn’t convert.
The Cardinals made some uncharacteristic mistakes in the second quarter. The team fumbled twice, dropped an interception and couldn’t connect on a deep pass where the receiver was open.
But, the biggest mistake came when the Cardinals were forced to punt with about three minutes left in the half. The Cardinals had their punt blocked, which set up Bishop Miege with a short field.
Bishop Miege was able to score after that to make the score 21-12 before halftime.
Despite being down in the fourth quarter, the Cardinals kept playing and gained some momentum. But, there just wasn’t enough time in the game.
Following a Bishop Miege scoring drive to start the fourth quarter, junior Kole Manley hit fellow junior Adrion Seals for a long touchdown pass with 9:00 left in the game. Seals made an adjustment to create some slight separation in order to make the catch in the endzone. Manley found senior Jaden Hamm to score on the two-point conversion and cut the deficit to seven.
But, Bishop Miege kept getting chunk play after chunk play on their next possession, and was able to score a touchdown from 1-yard out. The score put Bishop Miege back up by 13 with just over six minutes left.
On the ensuing Cardinals possession, Lyles was able to make some chunk plays of his own, which helped get the team back into the red zone. The only problem was that the clock kept ticking down.
Manley found Seals again for a 9-yard touchdown. Manley floated the ball over the line and Seals made a sliding catch to secure the touchdown. The Cardinals failed to convert on the two-point play, making the score 33-26. But, there was only 1:55 left in the game.
The Cardinals attempted an onside kick, but Bishop Miege covered it up, which ultimately ended the game.
The loss hit the team hard, especially the team’s seniors.
“It’s tough,” senior Kale Hammerschmidt said. “We put in a lot of work so it’s just not the outcome we wanted.”
Hamm said he is proud of the team for leaving it all out on the field.
“We really have nothing to hang our heads about,” Hamm said. “Honestly, what other team are you going to see right now that’s able to hold it within seven against Miege? We made a couple of mistakes, but other than that we have nothing to hang our heads about.”
The team finishes the season with an overall record of 8-2. Eight wins is the most the team has had since 2015. Hamm said he thinks this year’s team was the best he was a part of in his four seasons.
“Everything was for the guy to the right or left of me,” Hamm said. “We were all there for each other, locked arms, ran, everything was together.”
If you appreciate our sports coverage, please donate. Our newspaper depends on your donations to provide coverage of Eudora and continue providing local news.
To donate to support our community journalism, please go to this link.
Reach reporter Jack Denebeim at [email protected].
