St. Vincent football coach Tim Schumer wanted to end the regular season with an exclamation point and an undefeated I-55 conference season.
Jefferson R-7’s rushing attack made sure that did not happen, as they have the past few seasons.
The Bluejays rushed for more than 300 yards as they handed the Indians a 46-28 defeat Friday at Jefferson R-7 High School. It was Jefferson’s fourth victory over St. Vincent in the last five seasons.
Despite the loss, St. Vincent claimed the I-55 conference title by virtue of winning the tiebreaker with St. Pius, who also ended the conference season with one loss. (a 21-6 victory in week 7). It is St. Vincent’s first conference title since 2004.
“Jefferson played an outstanding game,” Schumer said. “They were ready to go and had an outstanding gameplan. Winning conference was a goal for us and I’m glad we were able to achieve it.”
Schumer noted that he hopes his team will use the game as a warning for any impending district tournament contests.
“Districts is coming and another game like that would mean the end of our season,” he said. “I was glad we were able to learn that lesson now and still have a chance to play in the coming weeks.”
Jefferson jumped out to a 13-0 lead early in the second quarter after a snap over the head of quarterback Christian Schaaf in a punt situation set the Bluejays up with a short field and a fumble at midfield stopped any momentum the Indians had at that point.
The Indians responded with a one-yard quarterback sneak by Schaaf to cut the deficit to 13-7 with 9:01 in the second quarter. Schaaf went 24 for 36 passing for 241 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
St. Vincent (7-2) picked up a key fourth down on the drive and Trevor Moonier made a long reception into the redzone to pick up the score. Moonier had five catches for 68 yards in the game.
However, every time the Indians seemed like they had momentum, the Bluejays took it right back.
Nate Breeze caught a 29-yard touchdown pass on fourth down and Sam Stokes added a 16-yard touchdown run 43 seconds before halftime. Jefferson led 25-7 at the break and Schumer felt like throughout the game, Jefferson took control on the line and was the more physical team.
Jefferson did not have a single rusher over 100 yards, but had three players over 50 yards.
“That is something we are going to have to go back and look at and learn from,” Schumer said. “Teams will look at that and think that is the way to attack us. We need to fix that going forward.”
St. Vincent had the perfect drive right out of halftime they moved the ball right down the field and ended it with a 10-yard touchdown run by Drake Robinson to narrow the Jefferson (5-4) lead to 25-14 with 10:20 to go in the third quarter.
However, they were not able to fully grasp the game in their hands. St. Vincent was able to get a stop, but the ensuing punt landed at the St. Vincent eight-yard line. St. Vincent fumbled a few plays later and Breeze caught another short touchdown on fourth down.
St. Vincent turned it over on downs and Jefferson scored on the first play of their drive and added a two-point conversion to take a 39-14 lead with three minutes to go in the third quarter.
Cruz Reitzel added a 22 yard touchdown catch and Kaden Kassel added a 10 yard catch for a score in the fourth. Kassel had six catches for 66 yards, while Isaac Graham added six catches for 57 yards.
Schumer has his eyes on the district tournament, but is still waiting for an opponent. St. Vincent claimed the top seed in Class 1, District 1, however, eight seed Malden cancelled their season before their week 9 game, giving St. Vincent a bye.
The Indians will face either the fourth seed Charleston (6-2) or fifth seed Cauruthersville (4-4) on Nov. 4 at St. Vincent High School.
“Time will tell how we respond,” Schumer said. “It will be something different not having a game this week, but it has been a different year for us having a few games on Saturday so we have been able to adjust well. We are going to have to take this week day-by-day and watch a game somewhere and be ready to roll next week.”
