Cardinals win the Battle of the Birds

The Columbus Cardinals hosted the Needville Bluejays for a battle of the birds in Columbus Friday night, that ended with a final score of 60-21 in favor of the home team.

The Cardinals defense played an outstanding game forcing four turnovers in the contest which allowed their high-flying offense to take over.

Despite missing a couple of pieces on defense the Cardinals absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage. John Schobel led the way for the Cardinals defensive line blowing up several plays and even securing a sack in the first half.

The pressure felt by the Cards was apparent and their secondary reaped the benefits of it. Specifically, Ayden Carter and Jack Schobel accounted for two of the four forced turnovers in the form of interceptions.

The Cards defense also forced two fumbles, both of which they recovered. This gave the Cardinal offense more possessions and with TCU commit Adam Schobel under center that’s a recipe for success.

Schobel had a very productive game throwing the football, completing 12 of his 17 pass attempts (71%) for 256 yards and three touchdowns. He found three different receivers for those touchdowns and five different receivers throughout the game for positive gains.

He spread the ball around well with Elijah Usher, Braylon Fisher and Camdon Pitchford all being the recipients of a touchdown pass from Schobel. Usher was the lead receiver catching three passes for 95 yards, followed by Pitchford who caught five passes for 88 yards and Fisher who caught three passes for 68 yards.

With 21 points secured through the air the Cards had an even more productive day running the football underneath those Friday night lights. Grayson Rigdon is silencing a lot of doubters after his week three performance that saw him carry the ball 11 times.

In those 11 opportunities Rigdon racked up 143 yards and five touchdowns. He also caught one pass for five yards and even punted one time in the game for 50 yards.

Rigdon shared the workload with Bryan Salazar and Will Fitzgerald who combined for 19 carries for 98 yards and a touchdown. The Cards put on a show for their home crowd and will get back to work on Monday, breaking down the film looking for ways to get better.

The Cards will be hitting the road in week four and head to Madisonville to take on the Mustangs looking to secure their fourth win of the season.