Uff Da, those cardiac Cards are just too much, ja

By Tom Obert
Our 2nd-seeded cardiac Cards, reversing a season-long trend, jumped to a big early lead last night against 3rd-seeded Detroit Lakes, and then hung on for a 42 - 28 victory in front of an anxiety addled full-house at Citizens Field.
The Cards had a 28 - 7 lead at the half, so all was right with the world. But before we even ran one offensive play in the 2nd half, the score was 28 - 21. The Lakers scored on a long drive after receiving the 2nd half kick-off, and then scored again shortly thereafter when the Cards fumbled (one of 3 they lost on the night) the ensuing kick-off. When D.L. scored shortly into the 4th quarter, the scored was tied at 28. The Lakers basically ran two plays all night - option left and option right - and their quarterback and fullback proved difficult for the Cards to stop on those plays.
I think D.L. had around to 300 yards rushing. The Cards regrouped - and with our own potent offense (better balanced between run and pass) - scored on a beautiful catch and run by our star receiver, Derek Ludwig. And then, with less than a minute left in the game, on a 4th and 11 (just trying to run out the clock) from D.L.'s 37 (we thought we'd punt them down close to their goal line with little time left), our halfback, Ben Saari-Bovre, took a pitch-out and scored on a terrific run to wrap up the game.
Our quarterback, Eric Hartmann, was 9 - 13 passing with 3 touchdowns (2 to Ludwig) and had about 100 yards rushing. Saari-Bovre was close to 150 yards rushing as the Cards had over 400 yards of offense. Of course, we "coaches-in-the-stands" always want the Cards to throw more to Ludwig - he's 6'4", with good hands, and was 2nd in the state in the 400 meter dash.

Sartell next
So now, in a repeat of last year, the Cards (now 8 - 2 on the season) will face top seed Sartell in the Fargo Dome next Friday for the section championship. Sartell beat the Cards early in the year at Sartell. And also in a repeat of last year, the cub reporters will not be able to go to the game because of the Gopher Homecoming (oh, boy!) the following day. If the Cards win, however, we will host the first round of the final 8 the following week.

Girls volleyball
The cub reporters also went to their first-ever girls volleyball game this week (anything to break-up the monotony of the election season). Our 2nd-seeded Cards took on the 7th seeded Prowlers from Thief River Falls (are you paying attention, Sara?) in the first round of the section tournament - and won in 3 straight games. Just what we needed - another team to get all involved with.
The Cards appear to be a burgeoning power (remember they won back-to-back state championships in the mid-90's, with undefeated seasons), with a team comprised mostly of freshmen and sophomores. How do 9th-grade girls get to be 6 feet tall? Our star player is 5' 9" sophomore Sam Dale - a terrific all-around athlete - who also batted clean-up on the softball team as a freshman.
Bud Bruzek said if Sam played basketball, the Cards would go the state tournament - with Bud's "next daughter" (Grace, I believe) as the point guard. Anyway, round two of the volleyball tournament will be here next Tuesday - and we plan on being there.

Only 19 days until the girls hockey home opener!