Cardinals win Battle of the Birds
By George Kaupp

Photo by Jim Marczesky Cardinal Newman's Rush Tompkins brushes a Richard Winn defender aside. Tompkins had five catches for 82 yards and two touchdowns.

Davis Lemon ran for 194 of Cardinal Newman's seasonhigh 306 yards rushing and scored twice as the Cardinals defeated the Richard Winn Eagles 34- 21 October 5, in Winnsboro.
Cardinal Newman 34
Richard Winn 21

The big story of the night was the Cardinal running game, which seemed to run at will against the Eagles. The line of Anthony Ramicone, Hunter Shore, John Bolchoz, Greg Regan, and Ryan Richards opened hole after hole, leading to the 306- yard output. The line also blocked well for quarterback Jones Brown, who was not sacked for only the second time all season. Their blocking allowed Brown to throw for 119 yards, 82 of them to junior tight end Rush Tompkins.

The Cardinals received the opening kickoff and marched 73 yards in 12 plays, capped by Brown's 12- yard scoring pass to Tompkins. Cardinal Newman's 7- 0 lead was short- lived, however, as Damon Ammons took the handoff on Richard Winn's first play and scooted 74 yards through the defense for a touchdown to tie the score. Cardinal Newman (2- 4) answered right back, though, going 61 yards in six plays for another touchdown. Lemon scored on a 10- yard burst.

The turning point of the first half came on Cardinal Newman's next possession. Being forced to punt, Lemon hit a knuckleball to the Eagle returner, who muffed the punt. Alex Nutt fell on the ball, and the Cardinals took over at Richard Winn's 16- yard line. James Williams took the handoff on the next play and scampered through a huge hole in the line for the score. After forcing another Eagle punt, the Cardinals put together an 11- play drive that culminated in Tompkins' second scoring catch, this one from 10 yards away.

Richard Winn (1- 6) came out in the second half determined not to disappoint their alumni on Homecoming. The Eagles cobbled together a 15- play drive of their own, finished off by Ammons' 3- yard plunge. But kicker Davis Wilson was stopped on a fake by linebacker Johnie Hodge, and the score remained 28- 13. After an exchange of punts and fumbles, the Cardinals were forced to punt from the Eagle 44. Ammons took the punt and raced 71 yards through Cardinal Newman's special teams until he was finally tackled at the 21. From there, the Eagles took only four plays to score, a 4- yard pass from Max Hazen to Thomas Wilkes. The two- point conversion was successful, and the score was now whittled to 28- 21.

The Eagles then tried an onside kick, but it was recovered by the Cardinals. Three plays later, Lemon scored from two yards out to make the score 34- 21. Lemon accounted for all 56 yards on that drive. Richard Winn had one more possession, but Tompkins batted Hazen's pass to Regan, who made the interception and sealed the game for the Cardinals.

Senior Hope Coleman was the Eagles' Homecoming Queen. She also took Miss Sweetheart honors.

Cardinal Newman travels to Augusta Christian Friday October 12 to take on the Lions. Richard Winn travels to Florence to take on Byrnes.