Neither the rain nor the goose dung blanketing the field could keep The Daily Cardinal from its third straight victory against the Badger Herald Friday. Senior quarterback Arvind Gopalratnam threw two touchdown passes en route to a 14-7 victory in the annual Cardinal/Herald matchup at Vilas Park.
\Upon further evaluation, I actually have 100 problems, and the Bird is one of them,"" Herald Head Coach Drew Hansen said after the game.
The festivities began when senior Alex Balistreri dominated rival Editor in Chief senior Cristina Daglas in the chug-off, an act in place of the coin toss. With the result, the Cardinal deferred to the second half, giving the Herald the ball first.
After forcing a punt, the Cardinal scored on their first possession of the game. Gopalratnam hooked up with John Slam on a short hook route, but Slam slipped by defenders on his way to the end zone.
Slam declined comment after the game, but fortunately new co-Sports Editor Connor McKnight was readily available to step in.
""I'm not surprised Slam was able to slip by the defense,"" McKnight said. ""He told me before the game he was just going to pretend the Herald 'D' was a bunch of university probation officers. So it was probably pretty easy for him.""
The Herald scored its lone touchdown of the game after a fluke interception. However, they seemed to tire down the stretch, whereas the Cardinal defense--bolstered by two-and-a-half times the amount of fluids as the Herald made available to its players on the sideline-flourished.
The game was tied at seven at halftime.
Midway through the second half junior city writer Dan Tierney ran a simple cross pattern, but the Herald, taking a cue from its news desk, blew its coverage again. Gopalratnam found Tierney over the middle and the receiver cut to the sideline and into the end zone for what ended up being the winning score.
In the second half, the Cardinal got more of a battle from Referee Jesse, a roommate of a Herald writer, than the actual Herald team.
Jesse enforced a number of bogus penalties on the Cardinal without ever calling a penalty on the Herald.
Late in the second half, the referee awarded the Cardinal the ball after a Herald incompletion on fourth down. However, after Herald complaints, he awarded the team a fifth down. The team still failed to score.
The Cardinal kept the Herald out of the end zone over the final minutes to secure the victory.
""It was a good win,"" Coach Eric Schmoldt said. ""Tonight we celebrate, tomorrow we begin preparing for the spring softball game.""
-compiled from staff reports
