The St. Vincent Indians have been making a habit of starting fast and finishing strong, and Friday’s Homecoming game against Grandview was no exception.
After receiving the game ball from the crew of an Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter, the Indians (5-3) wasted little time, building a 13-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Indians’ first touchdown came on their opening drive when quarterback Wyatt Winkler connected with Braxton Lauder on a 32-yard scoring pass. After forcing and recovering a fumble, the Indians scored again on an 18-yard pass from Winkler to Andrew Hotop.
“I’ve been preaching that,” said St. Vincent coach Tim Schumer. “Get off to a fast start and kind of let everybody settle their nerves. We had a big play to open up scoring, and then defense kind of took over from there and kept them off the scoreboard for most of the first half, and offensively we kept executing, which is part of the game plan.”
And execute they did. At halftime, the Indians led 26-6 and finished the game with 455 yards of total offense.
Winkler completed 14-of-21 passing attempts for 276 yards and 3 of St. Vincent’s 6 touchdowns. Andrew Schumer threw one pass for 23 yards.
Wheeler had 4 catches for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns, Hotop had 2 catches for 26 yards and a touchdown, Kellen Pitts had 5 catches for 101 yards, Kale Meyer had 3 catches for 11 yards, and Adam Brickhaus had 1 catch for 23 yards.
St. Vincent’s other touchdowns came on the ground. Carson House rushed 4 times for 67 yards and 2 touchdowns, Jack Seabaugh rushed 11 times for 85 yards, and Layton Cheaney ran 4 times for 67 yards and a touchdown.
The Indians even kicked a field goal, as St. Vincent capped a third-quarter drive with a 15-yard kick from freshman Clay Ellis.
“Grandview is a really good team,” Schumer said, “and the way their offense is, defensively, it makes you have to do your job. And you’ve got to trust the guys next to you that they’ll do their job so you can do yours. That’s what we preached all week in practice, that our D-line, linebackers, defensive backs, you all have to do your job and play team defense, and that’s what we saw tonight. There were so many plays where we had five, six hats to the ball, finishing plays off, and that’s just those guys doing what they’re told to do and playing defense as a unit and doing their jobs.”
Friday’s game also marked the return of senior Derek Garza, who had been out with a broken leg since Week 1. Garza showed he wasn’t missing a step, filling a key role on the Indians’ defense.
“That was huge for us,” Schumer said. “He plays in the middle of our defense. I said multiple times over the night that I’m glad 21’s back in there because, toward the end of last season in the playoffs, I felt like he did a great job with our defense and getting everybody lined up and just playing really well as the middle linebacker. He picked up right where he left off tonight.”
After the game, Garza said it was great to get back on the field.
“You don’t really realize how much you love this game until you have to sit out for a long time,” Garza said. “Then you get to come back and it’s just awesome. I’m just glad to be back and glad to play again.”
