There could be no better feeling during the regular season than the one the St. Vincent football team experienced on Friday. In a back-and-forth game, the Indians found themselves in victory formation in the waning seconds to claim a 28-21 victory over Jefferson and win the I-55 conference for the second straight season.
“It’s a game that we needed,” St. Vincent Coach Tim Schumer said. “We needed to play in a close game and be able to come out on top. When we were able to knee it out at the end it was a very sweet feeling.”
Not only did the win help decide the conference race, but the victory also helped the Indians break a three-game losing streak to the Bluejays.
“It was sweet especially after how the regular season ended with us being conference champs but ending on a sour note losing to Jefferson,” Schumer said. “It feels to get that one back and put an exclamation point on the end of our season.”
It was an all-around good game for the Indians as the running attack amassed more than 250 yards and the defense allowed just one touchdown in the second half. The rushing attack was led by Cruz Reitzel who scored three times in the contest.
“The running attack is big for us and gives us a different dimension,” Schumer said. “It will help keep the offense balanced.”
The two teams traded touchdowns in the first half and Jefferson took the lead after forcing an interception in the endzone, and scoring on the subsequent drive. St. Vincent scored in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 21-21 and then John Schwartz had a big interception, which the Indians used to score the deciding touchdown.
With the win, the Indians finished the regular season 6-3. They began the season 0-2 but went undefeated in conference play to finish the season strong. The only loss in that span was to Valle Catholic St. Vincent enters the Class 1 District 2 Tournament with the top seed and a bye in the first round. The Indians will play the winner of Russellville/Fayette at home on Nov. 3.
“We don’t know much about either of those two teams,” Schumer said. “We will look at their film and see what we can do. This week we are focusing more on ourselves.”
