St. Paul’s season ends with loss to Burlingame

By Eric Wilson

eric@hometowngirard.com

The St. Paul Indian football team ended their season with a 58-12 loss in the second round of the playoffs against Burlingame Saturday, Nov. 5.

On the first possession of the game, the St. Paul defense held Burlingame to a three-and-out.

However, on the ensuing possession, Burlingame found the endzone on a one-yard touchdown run, going up 8-0 with 6:38 left in the first after a successful two-point conversion.

On the first play of the second quarter, Burlingame scored again on a one-yard touchdown to go up 14-0.

Four minutes later, Burlingame capitalized on a 31-yard touchdown run to extend their lead to 22-0.

On the next Indian possession, senior running back Chandler Struthers was injured after a fumble. After a few minutes of stretches, Struthers was able to stand and walk off the field under his own power.

Luckily, he returned to the game a few plays later, but not before Burlingame had scored on an 18-yard touchdown pass to make the score 30-0. The rout was certainly in play, however teams can score points quickly in 8-man football, and there was hope that this would be the case for the trailing Indians.

Two more Burlingame touchdowns would be scored before St. Paul finally found the endzone.

With 2:18 left in the second quarter, Noah Winter scored on a 39-yard touchdown run to make the score 44-6.

The teams would head into halftime with Burlingame leading by 38 points.

On the first possession of the second half, St. Paul came out strong. Noah Winter, again, scored on a 7-yard touchdown run to make the score 44-12 with 10:24 left in the third.

Burlingame would score again on their next possession, extending their lead 52-12, with the possible mercy rule closing in.

The next St. Paul possession ended in a fumble inside their own territory, where Burlingame would take over.

It only took a few more plays, and Burlingame scored on a 7-yard touchdown to end the game 58-12 with 3:31 left in the third due to the mercy rule.

St. Paul had a very successful, very strong showing this year and were dominant in nearly each game they played. Versus Burlingame the Indians may have lost in rout fashion, however St. Paul missed opportunities to make some big plays early on. You have to wonder how this game would have ended if those plays were made. Dropped passes, turnovers and some critical penalties were just too much for the Indians to overcome and they found themselves on the other end of the mercy rule, something the Indians had dished out to opposing teams nearly every game this season.

While the season didn’t end as they had planned, St. Paul capped off the year with an 8-2 record. The team and community should be proud of that. The Indians also won a playoff game in the process, were crowned Bi-District Champions and brought back winning football to the town and school that was once an 8-man football powerhouse.