HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: CHIEFS RULE OVER INDIANS 12-0; ST. VINCENT SOUNDLY BEATEN IN 1A TITLE MATCH

ST. LOUIS -- You know that thing they say about possession being nine-tenths of the law?

That applies to football state championship games, too.

Santa Fe (14-0) possessed the ball almost 20 minutes more than St. Vincent of Perryville (13-1) did as a bigger and more physical Chiefs squad defeated the Indians 12-0 in the Class 1A Show Me Bowl.

The game -- played at the TransWorld Dome -- wasn't as close as the score indicated.

"They controlled the line of scrimmage," said St. Vincent coach Keith Winkler. "That's where the game was won."

Was it ever.

On offense, Santa Fe moved the chains seemingly at will with its offensive line sometimes pushing St. Vincent's defensive linemen back five yards. On defense, the Chiefs held the Indians to just 27 rushing yards and three first downs.

"Every coach knows that if you control the ball and the clock that means they don't have it and they can't score," said Santa Fe coach Bill Fox.

Considering the statistics -- Santa Fe outgained St. Vincent 372-81 -- it's amazing that St. Vincent was still alive until the Chiefs intercepted a pass with 1:30 to go in the game.

Nothing St. Vincent tried seemed to work against a Chief defense that posted its eighth shutout of the season.

"Our defense has been sensational all year long," said Fox. "Basically we did the same thing we've been doing all year. We did put a few wrinkles in to put some pressure on the quarterback."

St. Vincent, which averaged 1.4 yards per rushing attempt, didn't even come close to scoring. The Indians' deepest penetration was Santa Fe's 45-yard line.

Though the Chiefs didn't score on the possession, they won the game on a steady, torturous drive in the fourth quarter. With 11:09 left in the game, the Chiefs -- who lost in last year's state title game -- began the drive at their own 16. More than nine minutes later, St. Vincent finally got the ball back at its own 4. The drive consisted of 16 plays, three converted third downs, one converted fourth down and just one penalty.

"We knew we had some mismatches," Fox said. "Alan Cramer (6-foot-3, 265-pound offensive tackle) had a 190-pounder opposite of him. It was just like any game -- you try to expose and take advantage of mismatches."

Santa Fe got off to a 6-0 lead after St. Vincent lost a fumble on its first possession of the game. The Chiefs got the ball at the 40-yard line and scored four plays later on a 2-yard run by Bobby Boothe. Boothe had a phenomenal game, rushing for 149 yards on 26 carries. A missed kick left the score at 6-0.

Santa Fe tacked on another score with just 22 seconds left in the first half when quarterback Roger Feagan found Joe Michael, who shed a tackle at the 5, for a 20-yard touchdown completion. Santa Fe then failed to convert a two-point conversion.

Adam Bockman had the best day, offensively, for St. Vincent. He had 36 yards on seven carries; he had two receptions for 53 yards; and he returned a kickoff 48 yards.

Quarterback Jonathan Paulus, who was under pressure all game and was sacked five times for 19 yards, completed three of eight passes for 54 yards and was intercepted twice.

It was the second time in the last three years St. Vincent made it to the state final game and lost.

Santa Fe won its first title after reaching the finals in two previous times in the last five years.

Said Santa Fe defensive back Steve Boland, "We all had a feeling this was going to be the year."

* Both teams scored season-lows. St. Vincent -- thanks to a defense which buckled down in the Red Zone -- was the first team to hold the Chiefs to less than 21 points. Santa Fe had been averaging 46.5 points per game. The Indians, meanwhile, were held to less than 13 for the first time this season. St. Vincent was averaging 36.8 points per game going in and had scored at least 24 points in 10 straight games.