Cadets Notch Second Shutout With 45-0 Win Over Richfield

defense pitched a second straight shutout, and an efficient Cadets offense looked sharp in a 45-0 Classic Suburban Conference victory over Richfield Friday in Mendota Heights.

The second-ranked Cadets blanked Simley 42-0 last week in the season opener.

“We were sharper,” said STA head coach Dave Ziebarth. “Richfield had a great game plan, they really executed well. If they had a few more guys … they just kind of got wore down."

STA rolled up 406 yards in total offense Friday against Richfield, 185 yards passing and 221 yards rushing. Senior quarterback John Gould completed five of nine passes for 103 yards and a touchdown. Hootie Hubbell rushed for 53 yards and two touchdowns on just seven carries, and Nick Waldvogel caught three balls for 64 yards.

Gould added 46 yards rushing on two attempts.

With the exception of one second quarter drive which ended in a turnover, the Cadets defense never let Richfield gain any traction. The Cadets held Richfield to just nine first downs and 125 yards in total offense, 41 rushing yards and 84 passing yards for the game.

Paddy Clancy led the STA defense with five tackles, while Nick Elsenpeter, Jeremiah Kraker and Doug Vanasek had four each.

“We have a lot of guys with good speed,” said Ziebarth. “All of our linemen played a lot last year, so they’ve got a lot of experience. And our linebackers are getting better and our defensive backs are really good.”

The Cadets, meanwhile, scored on six of their first seven possessions, the only miss a 38-yard field goal which was long enough but wide.

STA went 50 yards in just three plays on its first possession, with Gould passing to Will Johnson for a 28-yard touchdown with 7:36 to play in the first quarter.

The Cadets went up 15-0 in the second quarter on a 57-yard drive capped by a 9-yard-run from Hubbell.

Richfield put together its best drive of the night following the second STA touchdown and moved from its own 20 to the Cadets 22 before the drive stalled.

Gould passed to Waldvogel for 22 yards and then broke containment for a 44-yard run to set up the Cadets third score. That defensive stop and the two STA long plays turned the game, said Richfield coach Todd Olson.

“We lost our fundamentals in the second half,” said Olson. “And that’s what I told them. We were down here fourth down and nine and didn’t convert, and they turned around and made a long run, and that kind of essentially turned the emotional side of the game for us. For no reason at all, because it was still 15-0, 22-0 with a kind of a fluke thing. We told them to keep their heads up and stay positive, but they have to return to techniques and fundamentals.”

The Cadets got the ball back with 2:15 to play in the first half and went 78 yards with Hubble scoring on a 9-yards run with 57 seconds left to give St. Thomas a 22-0 lead at the half.

“I was happy with that two-minute drill at the end of the half,” said Ziebarth. “Johnny Gould did a great job of running that and we executed out stuff really well there. Overall the defense played really well and I thought the offensive line was pretty physical.”

The one flaw in what was otherwise a sterling STA performance was the Cadets committed nine penalties for 70 yards, including penalties which wiped out back-to-back scoring plays n the third quarter.

Devon Schilla-Robinson led Richfield in rushing with 32 yards on 15 carries.

St. Thomas Academy (2-0, 2-0) will play at Mahtomedi Friday at 7 p.m.

Richfield (1-1, 1-1) will host Hill-Murray Friday at 7 p.m.

Richfield                         0          0          0          0          --          0

St. Thomas Academy     8          14        23        0          --         45

STA – Johnson 28 pass from Gould (Clancy run)

STA – Hubbell 9 run (Schmidt kick)

STA – Hubbell 9 run (Schmidt kick)

STA – Schmidt 31 FG

STA – Gray 2 run (Schmidt kick)

STA – McManus 37 pass from Zimprich  (Baer kick)

STA – McManus 30 interception return (pass failed)