St. Vincent's offensive onslaught in its final home game of the 2024 regular season last Friday resulted in a 49-16 win over the Cuba Wildcats. By chalking up another win, the Indians added to its perfect record for the season, which now stands at 7-0.
St. Vincent started out strong, with Kale Meyer scoring a touchdown on the opening kickoff, following in the footsteps of senior Clayton Gremaud, who had two kickoff return touchdowns before Friday’s game against Cuba.
The game turned out to be a great showcase for the team’s seniors.
Gremaud, who was homecoming king, made his mark on the homecoming game by catching his third touchdown this season.
Senior quarterback Nick Buchheit, who provided backup for Christian Schaaf last year, has proven himself to be a major factor in the team’s outstanding play this fall. At the same time, he has become the first quarterback in the region to throw for 20 touchdowns this year.
Buchheit wasn’t the only senior on the team who had an incredible Friday night. His cousin, senior Eli Abernathy, known for playing strong defense, caught his first receiving touchdown for the season before adding two additional TDs on the scoreboard, one of which was an 89-yard run down the sideline. Another senior, John Schwartz, leading the region with 487 receiving yards, caught his sixth touchdown of the season.
Then there was junior Max Wheeler, who caught a touchdown and brought down an interception.
Giving a rundown of the game on Monday, coach Tim Schumer said, “Kale Meyer got his chance to return a kick to open up the game, and he saw a hole, so he took it and was able to put it in the end zone. It was kind of like the Herculaneum game. You breathe a sigh of relief, and it takes some of the jitters away when you start the game up 7-0 just 10 seconds into the game.
Offensively, I felt like we found a good rhythm in the first quarter.
“In the second quarter, we had a couple of things happen. We got turned over and down in the red zone. Then we had an interception that led to their first touchdown of the game. But we finished strong in the second quarter. I thought it was really big that right before halftime — I think it was 45 seconds — we drove down and put another touchdown in the end zone. It was an awesome play from Nick, and then Eli had a great catch in the back of the end zone. So, I think it was just finding that rhythm. Defensively, I felt like we did a good job. They have some good athletes and a really good quarterback, so it was good to see us come out and be able to shut them down.
This week, St. Vincent travels to Grandview, followed by Jefferson on the 25th, in hopes of securing the I-55 Conference championship, as well as a flawless regular season.
“It's probably not our longest trip this season, with Hayti being a little bit longer,” Schumer said. “It's a conference opponent. Going there, it's a tougher place to play because it's a longer trip.
“They're extremely good at running the ball, and they play good defense. They do a little bit more of the triple-option style offense. They've got some really good running backs. Wyatt Keim is one of their juniors. He's really, really talented, so we're going to have our work cut out for us again this week.”
