Everything lined up nearly perfectly for the St. Vincent football team as they attempted to get to the district championship game. The team had the top seed and the district had to run through Perryville, for any team to have a chance to win.
Charleston changed all that within the span of a few hours.
Top seeded St. Vincent raced out to a sizable lead, before Charleston stormed back to defeat the Indians 42-21 in the Class 1, District 1 semifinals Friday.
“The seniors put in a lot of hard work over the last four years and it showed on the field,” St. Vincent football coach Tim Schumer said. “We fought all the way to the end.”
Early on it seemed like St. Vincent would make quick work of the Bluejays who came in as the fourthseed and had a similar record to St. Vincent (7-2).
St. Vincent junior quarterback Christian Schaaf found wide receivers Trevor Moonier for a 16 yard touchdown and Kaden Kassel for a six yard score putting St. Vincent up 14-0 well into the second quarter.
“We came out and did everything we wanted,” Schumer said. “We started fast and then had something not go our way and we didn’t capitalize on that momentum.”
That momentum could have been aided by an onside kick recovery by the Indians that was blown dead by an inadvertent whistle and had to be rekicked.
From that moment on, the game shifted to Charleston’s side.
A pair of bad snaps on punts set up Charleston with good field position, which the Bluejays cashed in on with a 41-yard touchdown catch by Rico Coleman and another short run by quarterback Ko’Terrion Owens to tie the game at 14-14 at halftime.
“We talked about how we came out and for the most of the first half, we felt like we had been the better team,” Schumer said. “We had kind of let up for a stretch there, but we didn’t have to do anything different but continue to capitalize, but unfortunately we didn’t start that way and put ourselves behind the eight ball.”
The Bluejays scored 42 straight points spanning halftime, included a unsuccessful fake punt and a interception returned for a touchdown and another interception at the Charleston goal line.
“Those things gave them some momentum and put us in a situation where we started to press because we knew time was running out,” Schumer said. “They were a very athletic and physical team and they came out well and did what they needed to win the game.”
Despite the loss earlier than most expected, St. Vincent finished the season at 7-3 and accomplished much this season, including winning the I-55 Conference for the first time since 2004.
That fact was not lost on Schumer.
“I’m very proud of this team and the things we did this year,” Schumer said. “We won conference for the first time in 18 years which is a big deal and a step in the right direction. All the hard work put us in a position to win this season and didn’t go unnoticed.”
St. Vincent will graduate 11 seniors from this year’s team.
“The seniors’ determination and will to win was awesome to watch and hopefully that goes down into those players that are coming back next year, so that we can be just as successful in the coming years,” Schumer said.
