Fourth quarter rally falls short for Indians in district semifinal

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If there was one thing that St. Vincent football coach Tim Schumer learned about his team, it was his player’s determination to never give up.
Scott City raced out to a big lead in the second half, but St. Vincent rallied with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter before ultimately falling 49-35 Friday in the Class 1, District 1 semifinals on Friday.
Although the outcome wasn’t the result St. Vincent was looking for, Schumer was proud of the way his team fought until the very end.
“With the way things were going it would have been easy to say that it wasn’t meant to be,” Schumer said. “Our guys worked their tails off and made a game out of it. That’s the best thing to come out of this game and the best thing they could have learned from us as coaches. We fight through adversity and never say die.”
That much was obvious as St. Vincent fell behind 49-14 midway through third quarter and the comeback began. Trevor Moonier started it off with a 16-yard touchdown to start the fourth quarter and then Kaden Kassel intercepted a Mark Panagos pass at midfield with 9:19 left in the game. The Indians converted the turnover into points with a 40-yard catch by Evan DeWilde to the Rams’ 15-yard line. The Indians cashed in a few plays later with a three yard run by quarterback Christian Schaaf, who accounted for four touchdowns in the game. (three pass, one rush). The Indians cut the Rams lead to 49-28 with 7:51 left in the game.
Connor McMillian recovered an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff and Moonier picked up a long third down with a 19-yard pass. Couple that with a late hit out of bounds by the Rams and St. Vincent was able to score once more with a one yard reception by Kassel to bring the Indians within 49-35 with six minutes left in the game.
The defense was able to stop the Rams one more time to get the ball back, but the Indians faltered to end the comeback.

“We had a lot of things go right in that fourth quarter,” Schumer said. “It was a shame that we didn’t have a better start.”
The Rams who avenged a 28-26 loss from week 2 to the Indians struck first with a 10 yard touchdown pass from Panagos to Logan Speakman on fourth down. Panagos accounted for more than 350 total yards and six touchdowns in the game.
“The goal was to contain Speakman and Panagos,” Schumer said. “At times we did that and at others we didn’t and that’s when they hurt us.”
The Indians countered with an interception by Mason Light that he returned 50 yards for the touchdown to tie the game at 7-7.
Panagos answered with a 25-yard touchdown run, then had an interception return touchdown on St. Vincent’s next series.
The Indians trailed 21-7 to start the second quarter before Schaaf found his tight end Jacob Kapp on a 58-yard connection.
St. Vincent ends the season at 5-6.