Area football: St. Paul plays for state title; Shiner meets Refugio in regional final

The St. Paul Cardinals will take on Lubbock Christian for the TAPPS IV 2022 state championship; Shiner will face Refugio for the UIL 2ADI Region IV title and for the second time this season.
St. Paul vs Lubbock Christian
The Cardinals and the Eagles square off at noon on Saturday at Waco ISD Stadium for  the championship.
This will be the fifth straight year that St. Paul would have played in the state title game and the seventh time out of the last eight seasons to play for state.
The Cardinals have won four straight titles in a row and have won it six of the last seven years.
St. Paul and Lubbock Christian last met in 2010, in the state semifinals, and the Cardinals took that game 48-21.
“They are going to be a totally different team than the last time we played them,” St. Paul head coach Jake Wachsmuth said. “They have not been in our classification in the last several years and we have not had them on our radar lately.”
Lubbock Christian (11-1, 6-1) has played and defeated two teams the Cardinals have also played.
The Eagles defeated Muenster Sacred Heart in the regular season 34-28 Sep.t 30 in district and won their playoff opener against Central Texas Christian 52-0.
Lubbock Christian is averaging 52 points a game and allowing 14.4 points a game.
The offense will be led by quarterback Bax Townsend.
“They are a spread team that is centered around their quarterback. They have just a handful of running plays that are primarily based on the quarterback run game,” Wachsmuth said. “They will spread you out and look to run first. Our defense will need to recognize formations, take away the run game first but still be balanced and prevent big plays.”
Look for the Eagles defense to crowd the box.
“They lined up in an eight-man front that looked like a goal-line formation against Central Texas Christian whose offense is similar to ours, We need to eliminate the mistakes we had last week and control the ball on offense.”
Shiner vs Refugio
Shiner (11-2) play Refugio (12-1) for the second time this season and for the fifth time straight year in the playoffs.
The game is scheduled for San Marco’s Rattle Stadium at 7 p.m. Friday.
In the district game played on Oct. 21 in Refugio, the Bobcats needed 13 points in the last few minutes of the game to come away with a 38-27.
“We have improved and Refugio has improved as well since we last met,” Shiner head coach Daniel Boedeker said. “I am anticipating it will be another tough game for us.”
Eziyah Bland was a sharp thorn in Shiner’s side with 287 yards, and touchdown runs of 75, 89 and 56 yards. Jordan King had 85 yards and two touchdowns while quarterback Kelan Brown threw for 101 yards and a touchdown pass to Ernest Campbell.
For Shiner offense, Dalton Brooks rushed for 164 yards and had scoring runs of 53 and 39 yards; Ryan Peterson went 6-of-15 passing for 182 yards and two touchdowns, three interceptions; Carson Schuette had a 32-yard touchdown reception and Keenan Hailey had a 66 yarder. Brooks had a 34-yard reception and Drew Wenske caught two passes for 50 yards.
“Defensively, we need to do a better job of tackling and preventing Refugio from making big plays,” Boedeker said. “On offense, we have to make sure we have no negative plays and stay on our blocks.”
Boedeker said he expects neither team will make significant changes to their systems but will have small tweaks and make during-the-game adjustments.
The winner of the game will meet either Timpson or Cooper next week in the state semifinals.