St. Vincent football got the season off on the right foot.
The Indians took control in the second half and ran away from Marceline 42-13 at Troy Buchanan High School on Saturday.
“We played four full quarters,” St. Vincent coach Tim Schumer said. “It was tight in the first half and we put our defense in some tough situations, but I was happy with the outcome and where we are as a team.”
St. Vincent entered halftime tied 7-7 with the Tigers, who scored first in the second half to take a 13-7 lead.
“The message at halftime was the only team that can stop us is ourselves,” Schumer said. “In the first half we definitely did that with penalties and some mental errors. We let the hot conditions wear on us. We talked about doing our job on each play and get out of our own way.”
The Indians did just that.
St. Vincent scored 35 unanswered points in that second half and ran away with the victory.
St. Vincent got a big day from junior quarterback Christian Schaaf who accounted for 269 yards on 8-13 passing and three touchdowns, he also rushed for another two scores on the ground.
“He made a lot of good decisions and there was some pressure on him at times,” Schumer said. “So he was either able to get rid of the ball quickly or scramble and not put the ball in harm’s way.”
Kaden Kassel was the biggest recipient of Schaaf’s big day with three catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns (70 and 35 yards apiece). Trevor Moonier had three catches for 60 yards and another score. Jacob Schremp had 95 yards receiving as well.
St. Vincent had just 25 yards rushing on 12 carries for the game. Schumer would like to see that number be better, but said it kept Marceline “honest” on defense.
“They were coming up to defend the run,” Schumer said. “That opened up the pass deep.”
Schumer was also impressed with his defense all day that had four sacks including two by Cruz Reitzel and four interceptions and one defensive touchdown by Kassel. Marceline totaled 199 yards of offense on the day.
“We were on them all day long.” Schumer said. “We were flying around and playing fast.”
St. Vincent (1-0) will host Scott City (1-0) in their home opener Friday night at 7 p.m. The Rams defeated Dexter in week 1.
