St. Vincent’s 2025 football season may have ended a bit earlier than coach Tim Schumer would have liked, but there was still plenty to celebrate.
“We ended the season 7-4,” Schumer said. “We were hoping to get a few more games in, but things ended with St. Pius. I thought we fought all the way to the end and made that a really good game. The way the season went, I’m proud of the guys. We were able to get our fourth conference championship in a row. We knew going in that we had a lot of people to replace from the year before, and once everybody kind of gelled and figured out their role and kind of figured out what we needed to do, we started rolling. We had six wins in a row at one point. We got a couple of forfeits, but we also had that exhibition game where we went down to Ash Grove and played really well, and I thought that just kind of helped the team grow into the team that they became.”
A huge part of the Indians’ success this year was their contingent of seniors, 14 talented players who not only impacted things on the field but also served as the team’s leaders.
“They were really special,” Schumer said. “They’ve been here for all four district championships, and they’re just a very, very good group that stuck together and played well. They kind of all had their roles, but all played a role in the season.”
Topping that list on offense were quarterback Wyatt Winkler, who completed 138-of-258 passing attempts for 2,354 yards and 11 touchdowns. Running back Jack Seabaugh rushed for 613 yards and 11 touchdowns on 101 carries, and receiver Max Wheeler caught 45 passes for 1,045 yards and 16 touchdowns, making him the team’s leading scorer.
The list of accomplishments for Schumer’s senior crew goes on, with some making easy-to-recognize contributions, while others helped the team in less obvious ways.
Carson House finished with 261 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns, and finished as the team’s leading tackler with 153 total, along with 2 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles.
“Carson House was a huge player for us,” Schumer said. “He was a three-year starter on defense, and his sophomore year, he was our second-leading tackler on the team until he got hurt in the ninth game of the season and wasn’t able to play districts. The last two years, he’s been our leading tackler.”
The Indians’ seniors also made their presence known in the trenches.
“We had four senior linemen who all stepped up really big,” Schumer said. “That was probably our biggest area of concern coming in. We had four senior linemen the year before, so we needed those guys to step up, and I thought that Elliott Wibbenmeyer, Nolan Brown, Jacob Meyer, and Drew Lukefahr really stepped up and gained their experience and played well for us on the line.”
Schumer praised all his seniors, even those who didn’t get to play the entire season, like linebacker Derek Garza, who suffered a broken bone in Week 2, but was able to return late in the season and make an immediate impact.
“He missed most of the year, but he was able to come back at the end to kind of be a big help on the defensive side for us,” Schumer said. “He came in, and it was like he didn’t skip a beat. He played a very instrumental role for us this year, kinda down the stretch, and played really well.
Schumer went on to praise his receiving corps, which also included Kale Meyer, Andrew Hotop, and Kellan Pitts.
“They all did really well for us,” Schumer said.
The one problem with having so many seniors on a team is figuring out how to fill the gaps when they’re gone. Schumer said that’s always a concern, but it’s not a major one.
“We have a lot of guys ready to make the jump up to the varsity level,” Schumer said. “I feel like we have a really good junior class. They’re going to be seniors next year, and there are seven of them, but they all got a lot of experience this year, and I think they’ll be ready to go next year and lead the next crop.”
