Playoff-bound St. Vincent drops district title game

PERRYVILLE — For a game that didn't affect the playoff picture, St. Vincent and Hayti went at it pretty hard Thursday night.

Hayti (8-1) clinched the Class 1 District 1 championship plaque for the second straight year with a 14-9 win at St. Vincent (6-4).

Both teams already had qualified for the state playoff bracket, though Thursday's result means Hayti gets to host the District 2 runner-up and St. Vincent travels to the District 2 champion. Valle Catholic plays tonight at Paris to determine the pairings from that district.

"It's a big thing to play for a district title and to play for home-field advantage," St. Vincent coach Keith Winkler said. "It's one of those things to try to build momentum going in."

St. Vincent, which saw a five-game winning streak snapped, actually may not have lost much momentum from the defeat in the battle of the Indians. In last year's meeting at Hayti, St. Vincent was hammered 64-20.

This time around, St. Vincent yielded yardage for the better part of the game but played "some pretty good, disciplined football," as Winkler said.

Hayti had 250 yards total — including 222 rushing — while St. Vincent had 128 yards. But Hayti failed to convert on two fourth downs in the first half and lost the ball once on a fumble. In the second half, Hayti was 1-for-2 on fourth-down conversions to finish 1-for-4.

"Holding them to two touchdowns, I thought that was a pretty good defensive effort on our part," Winkler said. "We worked hard all week on trying to contain their speed and to make sure when they did cut back to the other side that we got 11 hats to the football. They do have a lot of things they do well and they have a lot of athletes."

The athlete who happened to be in the right place at the right time for Thursday was senior George Hamilton, who scored both Hayti touchdowns — one receiving and one on a quarterback keeper.

Hamilton, who was an all-conference honoree as a sophomore at Cape Central in 2006, rushed 12 times for 82 yards before taking a knee on the final two plays of the game.

He broke the scoreless deadlock in the final seconds of the first half on a fourth-down play when quarterback J.B. Gooden scrambled in search of an open receiver and flipped it to Hamilton just a few feet away from him in the backfield. Hamilton broke two tackles and reached over the goal line.

"It was just a, for real, just a messed-up play," Hamilton said. "I just caught it, shook a couple of dudes and reached in there. I had to get in there."

"Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, and that's one of those plays there," Hayti coach David Gilmore said.

St. Vincent, which had the better of the field position in the first half with Hayti's fourth-down failures and Justin L'Hote's three punts, finally scored late in the third quarter on a 29-yard field goal by Aaron Dzik. That came after St. Vincent started the drive on Hayti's 25 but continued to struggle against Hayti's defense and took a loss on a third-and-5 at Hayti's 9.

Hayti regained momentum when Hamilton, who replaced the injured Gooden, ran 35 yards on a keeper. But the drive stalled on a fourth-and-12 incompletion at St. Vincent's 19-yard line.

Hayti took the ball back three plays later when St. Vincent quarterback Darin Yamnitz fumbled the snap on a third-and-2 at the 28-yard line.

On third-and-5, Hamilton scampered 25 yards for the decisive touchdown. He added the conversion to make the score 14-3 with 5:38 to play.

St. Vincent answered with a 66-yard scoring drive, capped by Yamnitz's 25-yard pass to Dzik in the corner of the end zone with 2:13 to go.

"That was just a great play," Gilmore said.

Yamnitz and Dzik also had hooked up on a 21-yard pass play on the drive, and Dzik also picked up 10 yards on a sweep, as the drive accounted for more than half of St. Vincent's yardage on the night.

St. Vincent tried a pass play on the conversion to get within a field goal, but it failed.

The onside kick also was not successful, though St. Vincent did get another stop and took the ball at its own 35 with 1:01 to play. Yamnitz threw 5 yards to Justin Eggers, then threw incomplete, picked up a yard on a scramble out of bounds and threw incomplete over the middle to clinch Hayti's win.

"They were one of the best teams we've played defensively," Hamilton said of St. Vincent, the No. 2 defensive team in points allowed in Southeast Missouri behind Hayti. "They were everywhere."

"They know how to scheme us and probably scheme us better than any team we play," Gilmore said. "It's become a rivalry even though we're not a conference foe. It's become a game both teams want to win every year, whether we're good or bad."

It may be replayed under the new playoff format that sends the top two teams from each district into the playoffs. Both would have to win regional games Wednesday to set up a rematch in the sectional round. In St. Vincent's case, that probably means a return trip to state-ranked Valle, where the Indians lost 46-7 in Week 3.

"I've been an outspoken critic of this playoff system, and I'm the second team in now, and I still don't know if I like it, to be honest with you," Winkler said. "We're happy we're going to get to play. Being the second team in, there's a lot of people who don't think we deserve to be in here and we've got to prove that we do."

Hayti0608—14

St. Vincent0036—9

Second quarter

H — George Hamilton 5 pass from J.B. Gooden (run failed), :03.5

Third quarter

SV — Aaron Dzik 29 FG, 1:15

Fourth quarter

H — Hamilton 25 run (Hamilton run), 5:38

SV — Dzik 25 pass from Darin Yamnitz (pass failed), 2:13.