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COLUMBUS CARDINALS 56, YOAKUM BULLDOGS 42
The Columbus Cardinals season stayed alive after they defeated the Yoakum Bulldogs 56-42 Friday night at Legacy Stadium in Katy.
The Cards’ victory pushes them into the quarterfinal round and inches them a little bit closer to punching their ticket to the big game at Jerry World.
This was a familiar foe for the Cards having played the Bulldogs once already during their district schedule. The Cards scored 56 points in a victory over the Bulldogs during their district schedule and came out on Friday night and scored 56 points again to advance to the quarterfinals.
The Cards offense was flying high on Friday night with a great performance from both of their running backs. Leading the way was Grayson Rigdon who carried the ball 12 times for 146 yards and a touchdown.
Rigdon returned to action a couple of weeks ago and picked up where he left off. He ran through the Bulldogs defense and kept the chains moving to keep the offense on the field, but he was not the only successful runner for the Cards.
Bryan Salazar, who filled in for Rigdon during his absence, carried the ball seven times for 30 yards and found the endzone twice Friday night. Adam Schobel also joined in on the fun with five carries of his own for 52 yards and two touchdowns.
Schobel is more known for his throwing ability than his running ability and on Friday he was tossing the ball all over the field. He completed 11 of his 16 passes (69%) for 232 yards and three touchdowns.
His top target was Elijah Usher who caught three passes for 100 yards and a touchdown. Usher has come along nicely these past couple of weeks for the Cards during the playoff push, he has caught one or more touchdowns in every round of the playoffs so far which has added a different gear to an offense that was high powered to begin with.
Camdon Pitchford also had a great night, he caught four passes for 84 yards and two touchdowns. Pitchford has always been a reliable target for Schobel, and he has been leaning on him heavily during this run as Pitchford now has six touchdowns in three games.
The Cards have made it further than they did last year by making it to the quarterfinal round, they plan on going deeper but have their sights set on their next game against Franklin, with a chance to be in the final four on the line.
