During the tenure of head coach Tim Schumer, the St. Vincent football team has been known for its high-flying offense and big point totals.
This past week, the Indians had to get a little defensive.
In what may be the most crucial game of the season when it comes to claiming the I-55 Conference, the Indians defended its way to a 21-6 victory over St. Pius Oct. 7.
“St. Pius’ game is to get the ball on the ground and wear you out,” Schumer said. “It is a testament to our guys to be able to keep battling on defense and a lot of guys stepped up and made plays.”
The defensive effort was led Drake Robinson (18 tackles), Liam Krauss (15 tackles, two sacks and one forced fumble) and Clayton Gremaud (11 tackles). Connor McMillian also had eight tackles and one fumble recovery.
Schumer credited the game to his experienced squad.
“Defense has come to bat for us every game this season,” Schumer said. “I think we had a lot of guys who gained valuable experience last year with a lot of close games that we had at the end of the season and that has helped us in situations like this.”
The defense forced a par of fumbles in the opening quarter, the second of which proved to be the one that made the most difference. On the first play after the St. Pius turnover with one minute remaining in the first quarter, St. Vincent quarterback Christian Schaaf found Kaden Kassel for a touchdown. Schaaf was 10 for 23 passing for 193 yards and two touchdowns.
Kassel was the main receiving threat going with three catches for 94 yards and that score. Gremaud had four catches for 81 yards, while Robinson had the other touchdown catch on the night.
St. Vincent led 7-6 at halftime, and Schumer felt like his team left some points on the field with a missed field goal and two other drives that got into the red zone, but came away without points.
“We had moved the ball, but couldn’t capitalize when we got close,” Schumer said of his message at halftime. “We just had to keep doing what we were doing, and when we got into the redzone we had to make sure were making sure we came away with points. Defensively, I wanted to be the more physical team. I definitely think we were able to do that in the second half.”
Those points came late in the game as Kassel had a big 50 yard play that got the Indians to the five yard line and they scored on a pass to Robinson to give them a 14-6 lead. Schaaf sealed the victory with a scramble for a score for the final margin.
The victory gives St. Vincent the inside track for the I-55 title with the head-to-head victory over St. Pius, and every other team having at least two losses within the conference. St. Vincent has two conference games remaining, including Grandview this Friday at home.
“It puts us in the drivers seat to win conference,” Schumer said. “As long as we keep doing what we are doing and take care of business we should lock it in. But Grandview is a good team and they beat us last year, so we can’t let our guard down.”
