ELGIN — Turnovers proved costly Friday night as Elgin Public-Pope John fell to O’Neill St. Mary’s 68 to 28.
The Cardinals turned three turnovers into touchdowns as part of a 32-point second quarter.
The Wolfpack, capitalizing on touchdown runs by Kellan Hoefer and Grady Drueke, led the Cardinals early in the second quarter.
However, when Hoefer was sidelined with an injury early in the second quarter, the turnover bug bit the Wolfpack.
Junior Karson Kallhoff, having seen little action as a quarterback this season, stepped in at quarterback and was picked off by Ben Barlow. The Cardinals would score four plays later when Gage Hedstrom connected with Risken Dawson.
On EPPJ’s next possession, Hedstrom snagged an interception which the Cardinals turned into another touchdown several plays later.
A halfback pass by Grady Drueke was picked off by Barlow who returned it 55 yards for a touchdown, giving St. Mary’s a 36 to 14 lead with just under four minutes to go to halftime.
The Cardinals would add one more touchdown just before halftime.
“We just had a couple of mistakes in the second quarter. Again, kind of similar to last week where things just kind of snowballed,” Co-Coach Nick Heithoff said about the turnovers. He said if the Wolfpack had not turned the ball over, it would have been a one-score game at halftime.
“It would have been a whole Different ball game if we could just take away those mistakes,” Heithoff said.
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