Lift for Life football team snaps losing streak with win over St. Vincent

~ The Hawks ended a 28-game losing streak with a 6-0 win over the Indians

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- St. Vincent quarterback Joe Whistler took a direct snap, then accelerated through the line, virtually untouched until he was tackled from behind, just short of the end zone.

Trailing 6-0 to Lift For Life, the Indians were about to take the lead during Friday's game at St. Vincent Stadium.

However, an official's bright yellow flag, dropped deep in the St. Vincent backfield negated the play. Offensive holding. Ten-yard penalty.

Welcome to St. Vincent football, circa 2014.

Turnovers, penalties and big plays continue to haunt the Indians, who dropped a 6-0 home contest to Lift For Life, a St. Louis-based charter school.

"I see the same broken record we've had for the last couple of weeks," St. Vincent head coach Nathan Rowland said. "Penalties, big plays and turnovers. And it's been like that week one, two, three, four and now five."

It was all there for everyone to see. Lift For Life's lone score came on the first play from scrimmage in the second half, a 68-yard reception from junior Travon Morehead, who caught a short pass on the right side, cut behind a block, bounced off a St. Vincent defender and scurried down the sideline to complete the score.

Turnovers? St. Vincent (0-5) lost two fumbles, both in the red zone. The first came on the Indians' first offensive possession of the game and curtailed a drive that saw them move from their own 37 yard line to the Hawks' 13 before sophomore running back Riley Riehn coughed up the ball. The second came three plays after Rieihn blocked a Hawks punt late in the first period. With the Indians poised to score on a second-and-8 from the Hawks' 14 yard line, Whistler botched a handoff and the Hawks' Darrion Glover pounced on the ball to thwart the opportunity.

Penalties? St. Vincent was whistled for just five, but none more glaring than a holding call on Whistler's 40-yard gallop up the middle midway through the third quarter that was stopped just short of the end zone. Instead of first and goal with a chance to tie or take the lead, the Indians were pushed back beyond midfield and, one play later, were forced to punt.

There were also several dropped passes, including two on the Indians' final drive of the night that ended near midfield.

"We happen to find new and interesting penalties each week that we're not getting," Rowland said. "This is the first week that we got burned on a big hold. So this was a new one. We're just having a hard time executing offensively right now. And when you can't execute effectively especially in the red zone -- two miscommunications and two fumbles in the red zone -- not a lot of teams are going to ... come out with a win."

Lift For Life (1-4) didn't make things easier on the Indians' offensive line. The Hawks, while stacking eight defenders in the box, were able to put pressure on Whistler and not allow the Indians' passing game to get off the ground. One week after Whistler passed for 191 yards in a 28-14 loss to Herculaneum, the junior quarterback connected on just 5 of 18 passes for 62 yards. He was also sacked seven times for 35 yards in losses.

"They put eight men in the box and they shoot the gaps, and our guys weren't able to close them down," Rowland said. "And we couldn't get off of press coverage on the outside, so they had a game plan they executed very well against us."

St. Vincent senior lineman Alex Lappe concurred with his coach's assessment.

"They were blitzing every hole, it was very hard to stop them," Lappe said. "We adjusted to it, but they still kind of got through in places."

Even tougher for the Indians to swallow was the fact they were unable to take advantage of Lift For Life's own mistakes. The Hawks turned the ball over twice -- one fumble and an interception by St. Vincent senior David Camarillo -- and were flagged 18 times for a whopping 142 yards in penalties.

One penalty -- a sideline infraction midway through the fourth quarter -- wiped out a 76-yard scoring reception by the Hawks' Breion Randle that would have put Lift For Life up by two touchdowns. Another pass interference penalty -- the Hawks were whistled for three of them -- wiped out an interception deep in St. Vincent territory.

Camarillo's pick came early in the third period, one possession after the Hawks assumed a 6-0 lead. He stepped in front of a pass intended for Laron Crawford and put St. Vincent in business at the Hawks' 35 yard line.

But the holding penalty wiped out Whistler's long run, and after and ensuing sack pushed the ball back into St. Vincent territory, the Indians were forced to punt, knowing they had wasted a golden opportunity.

"I just knew that I had to make a stop on defense and try to pump up our offense," Camarillo said. "In the end it didn't work out. But we were driving the ball, and fumbles hurt us on offense."

Lift For Life coach Gary Johnson was happy a week of preparation for St. Vincent paid off in his team's first win in 28 games.

"Football teaches you life lessons," Johnson said. "If you're working in football, and you get rewarded with a victory like this, then you can also transfer it into life, work hard and get a good result."

Johnson believed his squad could pull off a big play or two against the Indians, and he was right. The Hawks rushed for 130 yards, but the play of freshman quarterback Randy Love Jr. was key as Love completed 14 of 24 passes for 259 yards and the game's only score.

"We wanted to establish the run so we could make big plays," Johnson said. "We watched film about 10, 15 hours this week, just on (St. Vincent). And the kids responded well, they recognized the plays well, so it worked out in our favor."

Lift For Life 0 0 6 0 -- 6

St. Vincent 0 0 0 0 -- 0

Scoring

Third period

L – Travon Morehead, 68 pass from Randy Love Jr. (pass failed), 11:46

Statistics

L SV

First downs 13 11

Rushes-yards 42-130 34-52

Passing yards 259 62

Passes 14-24-1 5-18-0

Punts-avg. 4-17.5 5-42.6

Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-2

Penalties-yards 18-142 5-35

Individual statistics

RUSHING: Lift for Life – Travon Morehead 8-52, Randy Love Jr. 12-43, Alvin Sayles 2-15, Darrion Glover 17-13, Laron Crawford 3-7. St. Vincent – Joe Whistler 25-38, Riley Riehn 7-13, Tyler Unterreiner 2-1.

PASSING: Lift For Life – Randy Love Jr. 14-24-1-259. St. Vincent – Joe Whistler 5-18-0-62.

RECEIVING: Lift For Life – Moorehead 7-127, Crawford 4-78, Breion Randle 2-32, Duston Ballard 1-22. St. Vincent – Trevor Leible 3-27, Cole Steinbecker 1-35, Riehn 1-0.