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The Columbus Cardinals left their home field, traveled all the way to Madisonville and returned with the Area Championship.
The Cardinals defeated the Woodville Eagles 24-7 on Friday, Nov. 17, to capture the Area Championship. Their Head Coach, Matt Schobel, credited the defense and special teams for the victory.
“It was an ugly win, and I say ugly win, but the defense and special teams were just beautiful today,” Cardinals head coach Schobel said. “Credit to Woodville too schematically they did a really good job against our offense they have athletes all over the field and if you don’t execute perfectly, they will make you pay so credit to them.”
The Cardinals found themselves dead-locked with the Eagles 7-7 at the end of the first quarter, but after a fumble recovery by the Cardinals’ defense, they were back in business. Like their coach said, the Cardinals’ offense put together a gorgeous drive utilizing the speed and power of Ty’Vone Whitehead and the arm talent of Adam Schobel.
The offense found the endzone at the end of the drive as Jackson Hancock caught a pass from Schobel to break the tie. Ahead 14-7, the Cardinals defense was not done just yet and continued to bring pressure to the Eagles quarterback.
The pressure led to an interception by Camdon Pitchford leading to more points for the Cardinals. Following the interception, Whitehead found a hole in the defense and turned on his speed boost to fly down the sideline for a 76-yard touchdown.
After the extra point, the Cardinals had established a 21-7 lead right before halftime and had full control of the momentum. The second half was more of the same from the Cardinals defense with their continuous pressure paying off in the form of multiple sacks and tackles for loss in the second half.
“In the playoffs, you got to find different ways to win, and we definitely leaned on our defense tonight,” Schobel said.
The defense was not the only unit to force turnovers Friday night with the kickoff unit also forcing and recovering a fumble. Schobel made sure to talk about his special teams unit and their effort on Friday night after the game as well.
“Our kickoff unit was awesome tonight as well even forced a turnover,” Schobel said, “We found a way to win because of it.”
Schobel was proud of his group and their ability to dig deep and come away with a win but said they are going to have to be better next week if they want to keep chugging along on this playoff journey.
The Cardinals will take time to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday with their families but will quickly shift their focus back to football and their next matchup against the Lorena Leopards on Friday Nov. 24, in Hutto.
