Big Fourth Quarter Lifts De Smet To Victory Over Lindbergh In District Playoff Opener

SAPPINGTON – For the first three quarters of Friday night’s high school football district playoff opener at Lindbergh’s Flyers Field, De Smet head coach Pat Mahoney wasn’t particularly happy with how his team played.

The Spartans made a number of mistakes, including committing several ill-timed penalties, poor play execution, and even committed a couple of turnovers.

But in the fourth quarter, De Smet finally found its form and looked like the No. 5-ranked team in Missouri Class 6, with a dominant 12-minute effort that led to 17 unanswered points, which allowed the Spartans to pull away for a 30-13 win over the host Flyers.

“I tell our kids all the time, that winning is fun, it’s what we come out here to do, but I’d rather play well,” Mahoney said. “Quite honestly, I don’t know how well we actually played. At times, I guess, we played very well.”

And that time was in the fourth quarter, when De Smet capped off three long scoring drives with a field goal, a short touchdown pass, and a short touchdown run to finally put away a solid Lindbergh team that scrapped and clawed its way to a 13-13 tie after three quarters.

“I have to credit them,” Lindbergh coach Tom Beauchamp said. “They played well in the second half. They’re a big, physical team, and we’re more a speed and finesse team. I thought we played very well 99 percent of the time.”

On the first play of the fourth quarter though, De Smet placekicker David Rudolph banged home a 25-yard field goal that gave the Spartans the lead for good.

Later in the quarter, De Smet quarterback Conner Harrison made two huge plays to help the Spartans extend their lead.

First, he converted a third-and-long with a 23-yard scramble up the right sideline. Then, on third-and-goal a bit later, Harrison scrambled to his left to avoid pressure and found teammate Jack Barry for an 8-yard touchdown that along with Rudolph’s extra-point made the score 23-13.

“That run was obviously a big third-down play,” Harrison said. “It gave us momentum so we could take a two-score lead.”

Standout senior Durron Neal, who had two touchdowns for De Smet on Friday, provided the final margin, with an 8-yard run with just under two minutes left that effectively ended any hopes for a Lindbergh comeback.  

“We came to play,” Beauchamp said. “And I thought we played well. I don’t think we have anything to hang our heads about.”

The big play for the Flyers came midway through the third quarter, when senior defensive back Grant Krueger picked up a fumbled pass reception by De Smet’s Lucas Nikolaisen and returned it 74 yards for a thrilling touchdown that tied the score at 13.

Krueger also scored Lindbergh’s first touchdown, on a 2-yard pass in the second quarter, that tied the score at that point at 7.

“Grant’s always at the right place at the right time,” Beauchamp said. “That was a huge play for us. It’s just too bad we didn’t make anymore.”

De Smet had gotten the lead because of its own big play heroics by senior linebacker Jamie Placht, who late in the second half, blocked a Lindbergh punt, then picked up the loose ball and raced 40 yards for a touchdown that made the score 13-7.

“We kind of saw that if we went hard inside we could get to their punter,” Placht said, after pulling off one of the great plays of De Smet’s entire season. “So that’s what I did. And then I just scooped it up and scored. Right before halftime, that was a big play.”

And it helped De Smet improve its record to 7-1 this season, with a huge showdown next week against rival SLUH for the district championship.  

The Jr. Billikens, who are now 5-3 this season, defeated Mehlville Friday night, and are also 1-0 in district play.

The winner of next Friday’s contest at De Smet’s LaBarge Stadium, will be 2-0 with one game to go, all but assuring itself a playoff berth.

“We’ve got to do our part and win these next two,” Beauchamp said. “You never know what could happen. We could all be 2-1 and it’ll come down to points. So we’ve got to just keep playing and doing what we can to get in.”

Scoring Summary

Score by Quarters

F

De Smet

0

13

0

17

30

Lindbergh

0

7

6

0

13

Second Quarter

D: Durron Neal 8 yd run (David Rudolph kick), 9:54

L: Grant Krueger 7 yd pass from Peter Simpson (Jordan Harmon kick), 2:58

D: Jamie Placht 40 yd blocked punt recovery (pass failed), :52

Third Quarter

L: Garrett Krueger 74 yd fumble recovery (kick failed), 9:14

Fourth Quarter

D: David Rudolph 25 yd FG, 11:57

D: Jack Barry 8 yd pass from Conner Harrison (David Rudolph kick), 6:06

D: Durron Neal 8 yd run (David Rudolph kick), 1:51