Senior Jack Seabaugh scored 4 touchdowns and rushed for 193 yards on 13 carries Friday to help boost the St. Vincent Indians (6- 3) to a 41-8 victory over the visiting Jefferson Bluejays (4-5) and their fourth consecutive Quad County Conference title, all on Senior Night.
“I’m proud of the seniors,” said St. Vincent coach Tim Schumer. “I’m happy they were able to get a win on Senior Night. This is a special group. We’ve won the conference every year since they’ve been playing, since freshman year, four times in a row. They’ve only lost two conference games, and they’re undefeated at home in the conference. Hats off to those guys and all the work they’ve put in over the last four years. Watching them grow up over the years, I’m very proud of them.”
Seabaugh opened the scoring on the Indians’ third play from scrimmage, taking a handoff from senior quarterback Wyatt Winkler 65 yards for a touchdown. He added another on a 2-yard run just before the half, scored a third on a 64-yard run in the third quarter, then capped the Indians’ scoring efforts with a 28-yard run with just under 6 minutes left in the game.
“[Seabaugh] had a whale of a game with four touchdowns,” Schumer said. “He set the pace early, and then he finished at the end. Hats off to Jack and the O-line up front. I’m proud of those guys.”
Seabaugh’s first two touchdowns were the Indians' only scores in the first half and bracketed Jefferson’s only score of the game on a long pass, followed by a successful two-point conversion that gave the Bluejays a short-lived lead. St. Vincent led 14-8 at the half.
“I felt like we responded well,” Schumer said. “We gave up that touchdown to Jefferson, and we came right back down and scored and kind of got the momentum back on our side at halftime.”
An interception by senior Carson House with 11:23 remaining in the third quarter played a big role in shifting the momentum, sparking a drive that went 67 yards in just over a minute and ended with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Winkler to senior Andrew Hotop.
Winkler completed 13-of-29 passing attempts for 213 yards and 2 touchdowns with no interceptions, although he had several close calls.
“We took our shots when we needed to,” Schumer said. “I thought Wyatt did a good job. He didn’t turn the ball over, so that’s the biggest key. I told him before the game and after, ‘Take care of the ball, and I like what we can do with it.’“
Senior Max Wheeler had 4 catches for the Indians for 109 yards — including a 50-yard touchdown — while senior Kale Mayer had 6 catches for 56 yards.
St. Vincent forced four turnovers in the game — 3 interceptions and a fumble — but was only able to capitalize on one of them. House’s third-quarter interception was the only one that resulted in a touchdown, while a first-quarter fumble, a second third-quarter interception — this time by Meyer — and a third in the Bluejays’ endzone all ended with St. Vincent punts.
“Defensively, I thought we played awesome all night,” Schumer said. “That’s just the way it goes sometimes. But I felt like we made enough plays at the end of the game to take care of business, and I thought we executed well down the stretch. That’s what you’ve got to do in close games.”
St. Vincent will open district play Friday in the Class 2, District 1 playoffs, where the third-seeded Indians will host the sixth-seeded Kelly Hawks (4-5) at St. Vincent Stadium.
Schumer said his team has a clear plan on what they need to do to advance.
“I think we just need to keep working on the fundamentals each week,” Schumer said. “We need to focus and make sure we’re taking it one game at a time because now we’re in the hunt for districts, and it’s win or go home, so we’ve got to be at our best at all times.”
Kickoff for Friday’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m.
