By Alan Van Ormer
Tribune editor

It was a successful opening night for the two football teams in Dell Rapids.
Dell Rapids St. Mary exploded for 38 points in the second quarter to route Oldham-Ramona/Rutland at Rutland, 58-14. In Canton, the defending Class ‘A’ football champs Quarriers rolled past the C-Hawks, 26-8.
Dell Rapids St. Mary and ORR battled to an 8-8 tie after the first quarter.
“We didn’t show up to play in the first quarter,” Coach Ross Flemmer said. “We looked terrible. In the second quarter, they figured it was time to play and they looked good.”
In that second quarter, Andrew Fiegen got it started when he took a screen pass and ran 15 yards for the score. Joe Erickson added the two-point conversion to make it 16-8.
Three minutes later Erickson romped 50 yards to the one-yard line. Chris Lee finished the drive with the one-yard plunge. Colby Bunkers added the two-point conversion and just like that it was 24-8.
With just under four minutes left in the quarter, Lee had his second one-yard run. Bunkers connected with Nick Bares for the two-point conversion to make it 32-8. Just over a minute later, Jason Michel found Fiegen in the end zone for a four-yard touchdown strike. Erickson had the two-point conversion. With a few seconds left, Bunkers picked off a pass and rambled 60 yards for the final score of the half.
In the second half, the Cardinal reserves saw some action and got into the scoring act also.
In the third quarter, after Bunkers recovered a fumble. Michel connected with Doug Scholten for a 9-yard scoring pass. The two-point conversion failed, but the Cardinals were up 52-8. The Final Dell Rapids St. Mary score came halfway through the fourth quarter after Kyle Michel broke loose for a 40-yard run. Jason Michel then went in for the touchdown on a quarterback sneak.
Flemmer said in the second quarter the team did a lot of good things and had a lot of big plays. “After the first quarter, I was real satisfied with the way we played,” he said. “We will take this and do some things different in practice to prepare for DeSmet-Iroqouis.”
The Cardinal will host DeSmet/Iroqouis on Parents Night on Friday in Dell Rapids. Kick off is slated for 7 p.m.
Dell Rapids slips past Canton
Offensively, Pat Curry led the Quarriers with three touchdown runs.
In the first quarter, Dell Rapids recovered a muffed punt at the five-yard line. Curry took the ball in for the first score. The extra point failed.
Then toward the end of the first half of play, Curry scored on a one-yard run. Josh Fiedler scored the two-point conversion. The third touchdown for the Quarriers came in the third quarter. This time it was Travis Delker, who scored on an eight-yard run. Again, the extra point failed.
Curry capped the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 10-yard touchdown run.
“Defensively, we played real well,” Coach Steve Hansen said. “We held Canton to one first down in the game. Offensively, the ground attack was key in the win.”
However, Hansen said the team needs to get better each and every week. “The kids play hard. We know they are going to play hard,” he said. “We need to execute and put together drives like we did tonight. We had a couple of long drives that ran off some clock.”
Although, the Quarriers had two long drives that ran time off the clock, Hansen said the team needs to work on execution and eliminate mistakes.
Next up for Dell Rapids is Tri-Valley, the two-time defending Class ‘B’ state champions. The Mustangs visit Dell Rapids on Friday night. Kick off time is slated for 7 p.m. “They have a good football team,” he said. “Our kids are going to need to play a good football game to beat them.”