St. Joe falls in regional finals
Coldwater wins first regional title in first ever win at St. Joe

By AL AREND - HP Sports Correspondent 

ST. JOSEPH - Undefeated Coldwater added another chapter to its dream football season here Friday night grinding out a 20-6 Division 3 regional championship victory over St, Joseph at wind-swept Dickinson Stadium.

The Cardinals, who had never won a playoff game before this season, will take a 12-0 record into a state semifinal next Saturday against Chelsea.

"This is truly an unbelievable run, and the hard conditioning work these kids put in during the summer is paying off now," said Coldwater coach Jeff Schorfhaar. "We changed things up offensively using an open set and they (the Bears) never really adjusted to it. That's a very good football team we beat tonight, but in the end I feel we wore them down in the last half like we have many teams this year."

St. Joseph led 6-0 at intermission on a 1-yard plunge by quarterback Griffin Beaudette that capped a 57-yard, 11-play drive early in the second quarter. Key plays in the drive were a 21-yard run by Jake Sremba, and a 20-yard pass completion to Andrew Menke that gave the Bears a first-and-goal from the two.

Unfortunately the Bears' top receiver and kick returner, senior Jordan Brewer, was injured on the play and did not return.

But in the second half it was all Coldwater, as the Cardinals ground out 217 of its 307 rushing yards with quarterback Luke Beckhusen leading the way. He carried the ball 13 time for 105 yards, including a 33-yard TD scamper where he broke a tackle to knot it at 6-6 midway through the third.

"We just put the ball in his (Beckhusen's) hands in the second half, using a set we haven't used all year," noted Schorfhaar. "We had to try something different after being shutout in the first half in our full-house, T-formation. We let him make the decisions to read the defense and pick his holes."

The Cardinals tacked on two more TDs in the fourth quarter on 5-yard runs by Joey Severn and Sam DeMeester, as the Bears offense never really got untracked.

Coldwater had 18 first downs to St. Joe's 10, and held the ball for 63 percent (30:10) of the time.

"They had a nice scheme, but you have to prepare for what you've seen," noted St. Joseph coach Gandalf Church.

"I had a feeling they'd do something different (in the last half) that we hadn't seen. But it still comes down to the kids have to block and tackle. They blocked us better than anyone has in a long time. Give them credit, that's a good football team. They had us covered in the passing game, and we weren't able to run the ball on offense. They just took us out of our offensive flow. Never really got much going in the second half."

"But we had a great year. I'm very proud of these guys," stated Church of his 10-2 Bears which won a district championship and shared the SMAC West Division title. "When we started I felt we could be very good. We rallied through some tough injuries. It was a fun group to be around. We made some great friendships and shared some great memories that will last a lifetime. And, that's what high school sports are all about."

Junior Carter Hall led the Bears with a whopping 19 tackles and Sean Akins chipped in 12, as Coldwater rushed the ball 60 times for 307 yards, outgaining St. Joseph 329 to 193.