SV football to take on ‘improved’ Charleston in district semifinals

St. Vincent football coach Tim Schumer is happy for it to be game week once again.
Top seed St. Vincent (7-2) will take on fourth seed Charleston (7-2) in the semifinals of the Class 1, District 1 tournament on Friday at St. Vincent High School.
The Indians had a bye in the first round after Malden cancelled its season after week 8 because of injuries. However, the team got together Friday to watch the live stream of Charleston’s first round matchup with Caruthersville, in an effort to scout the Bluejays and also keep the Friday night routine.
“This was the third time this season that we didn’t have a game on Friday, which was weird,” Schumer said. “We got together and had a team meal and kept them in the rhythm of things of getting ready for a game, although this time we watched it.”
What the team watched was the Bluejays dismantle the Tigers 36-6 and Schumer expects a solid adversary on Friday, and one that is better than the version the Indians played in the opening round of district play last season. (A 43-8 St. Vincent victory)
“They have gotten a lot better and their record shows it,” Schumer said. “They are a much improved team with very good athletes that we will have to keep an eye on and be able to contain.”
Charleston racked up 414 total yards against Caruthersville in route to the victory, as Bluejay running back Rommie Turner ran for 207 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Despite the offensive outburst, Charleston does not have anyone that stands out statistically.
Entering the district tournament, Turner had rushed for 435 yards and seven touchdowns, while Kymarion Chappell was the leading Bluejay rusher at 476 and five touchdowns. Chappell had 56 yards and one touchdown in the win over Caruthersville.
Almareion Williams is the primary quarterback for the Bluejays, and has thrown for 585 yards with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions through the first nine games.

“They don’t have one guy that stands out head and shoulders above everyone else,” Schumer said. “They definitely have a number of skilled players who have the ability to hurt you in different ways.”
Finally knowing who his team will play gets Schumer excited about Friday night.
“We practiced last week, but it was more of a lighter load on the guys,” Schumer said. “We made sure we got back to the fundamentals and now that we know who we are playing we will focus on Charleston and do the things we need to win.”
The Indians are coming off a loss in their last game against Jefferson R-7 and Schumer wants to get back on the winning track. The Indians had won three games in a row prior to the team’s last loss.
“We want to get back to the way the season had been going,” Schumer said. “It’s all about staying focused on the game in front of us.”
St. Vincent has lost in the district semifinals four consecutive years, so Schumer believes his team is hungry to break new ground for this era of Indians football.
“It would be nice to right the ship and be able to get into the district title game,” he said.
However, he isn’t looking past Friday night. The winner would get the winner of Scott City (9-1) and Portageville (8-2)
“Right now we don’t even know who we would play, so there’s no use to even look ahead.” he said. “We just want to put ourselves in the best position to play in that game and that’s by playing well against Charleston.”