Carrington, N.D. (NewsDakota.com)—-An apparent made field goal in the final seconds of the game was waived off due to the ball not being ready for play ended up in a retry that was blocked and Bottineau escaped Stadium ’22 with a 36-34 victory. Grady Shipman made the would be 39 yard field goal attempt that was waived off before the second attempt was blocked by the Braves. Shipman also scored on a 2 point conversion earlier in the game but the call was overturned on a ball control ruling. The Cardinals had plenty of good moments as well including Junior quarterback Josh Bickett throwing 4 touchdown passes on a 17-24 passing performance. Bickett threw for 330 yards overall and his top receiver was Junior McKade Zink who hauled in 6 receptions for 136 yards and 2 scores. Zink had a 42 yard first quarter TD and a 75 yard score early in the fourth quarter. Shipman also had 3 catches for 31 yards and a score on a 7 yard fourth quarter connection with 6:57 to go that put the Cardinals up 34-30. Logan Weninger also added 3 catches for 145 yards including a 72 yard touchdown in the second quarter. Weninger also added 33 rushing yards on 11 carries including a 3 yard touchdown run. Corbin Clifton added 36 rushing yards on 7 carries and added 2 receptions for 2 receptions for 12 yards.
Bottineau opened up a 22-6 lead in the first quarter after Tye Marum returned an interception 12 yards with 4:09 to go in the first quarter. Quarteback Carson Hearer had a great night as well including 171 rushing yards on 14 carries and 2 touchdown runs of 69 and 80 yards. Hearer was 4-15 passing for 130 yards and 1 touchdown. Khaliel Abduhrahman had 3 of the receptions for 115 yards including the go ahead/game winning score with 1:47 to go in the game. Abduhrachman added 45 rushing yards on 2 carries and blocked the potential game winning field goal. Easton Freeman added 13 carries for 44 yards and a 6 yard TD run opening up the scoring on the opening drive drive of the game with 7:07 in the first quarter. The Cardinals and Braves had 4 lead changes in the final quarter and the Cards came up just a bit short on the fifth lead change and victory. The Braves start the season 1-0 and the Cardinals at 0-1. Carrington will travel to Rugby next Friday night against the Panthers with a 7:00 kickoff and coverage on AM 1600 KDAK (THE CARDINAL), FM 100.1, and www.newsdakota.com