St. Vincent captures its district

HAYTI, Mo. -- Offense was hard to come by on Hayti's mud-ravaged football field.

But stout defense and senior Kyle Rollet's clutch kick lifted St. Vincent to a district title Thursday night.

Rollet booted a 21-yard field goal in overtime as St. Vincent won the battle of Indians 9-6.

St. Vincent finished Class 1 District 1 play with a 3-0 record and ended the regular season 5-5. It posted its fourth straight victory following starts of 0-4 and 1-5.

"We've gotten better as the season has gone along," St. Vincent coach Paul Sauer said.

St. Vincent already had secured a playoff berth as the Indians entered play Thursday having clinched no worse than second in the district.

But a runner-up finish would have meant a regional playoff game on the road against undefeated Valle, which hammered St. Vincent 59-7 in Week 3.

By winning Thursday, St. Vincent will host District 2 runner-up Paris on Wednesday night. Hayti (6-4, 2-1) will travel to Valle.

"We really wanted to stay at home," sophomore Taylor Sauer said. "We didn't want to have to go to Valle."

The even contest -- St. Vincent had 184 yards of offense compared to 196 for Hayti -- was well played considering the field conditions caused by heavy rain early in the day and steady first-half rain that ended at halftime.

Each squad had just one fumble, with only St. Vincent losing its fumble.

"I've never been in anything like that," Rollet said of mud that covered most of the field. "But we only had one fumble. We played really well."

St. Vincent's lone fumble -- on a mishandled quarterback-center exchange -- set up Hayti's only touchdown.

Taking over on St. Vincent's 31-yard line, Hayti scored in four plays. Hard-running senior tailback Keenan Williams did the honors with a 19-yard touchdown scamper.

Williams accounted for all but 33 of Hayti's total yards as he piled up 163 yards on 27 carries.

"He was a load to bring down," Taylor Sauer said.

Hayti, which doesn't kick extra points, came up short on the 2-point conversion so St. Vincent trailed 6-0 with just under nine minutes left in the third quarter.

St. Vincent got a boost when senior C.J. Pavlovsky returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to the Hayti 45.

Senior Derek Triller capped a seven-play drive by scoring from 4 yards out.

Triller and Pavlovsky did much of St. Vincent's offensive work behind impressive line play. Triller rushed for 82 yards on 22 carries, while Pavlovsky gained 79 yards on 18 attempts.

"It weighed you down," Triller said of the muddy field. "But it made everybody slow. It was the same for both teams.

"And our line did a hell of a job. All the linemen did."

The PAT usually is automatic for St. Vincent with Rollet doing the kicking, but his boot was wiped out by a false start penalty.

On the rekick, the snap was mishandled as the holder was buried by Hayti defenders.

That kept the score 6-6, which is the way things stood through regulation.

St. Vincent's defense came up with a strong stand to force overtime as Hayti drove inside the 25 in the closing minutes of the the fourth quarter before being stopped.

"When we needed to come up big, we stepped up," Rollet said of St. Vincent's defense.

In overtime, each team gets equal possessions from the opponent's 25-yard line until the tie is broken.

St. Vincent won the coin flip and elected to go on defense first, which most squads do.

Hayti picked up a first down to the 12-yard line but a holding penalty set it back. Incomplete passes on third and fourth downs ended the possession.

St. Vincent then went on offense needing any score to win.

Triller bulled his way for 18 yards on four carries. Two Pavlovsky runs netted nearly four yards to just outside the 3-yard line.

Facing fourth-and-3, St. Vincent's coaching staff didn't hesitate in sending out the versatile Rollet, who is the team's top receiver and a standout on defense while handling the kicking and punting duties.

"I felt pretty confident he could make it," coach Sauer said.

Rollet's kick was true, giving St. Vincent the district title. He said he wasn't nervous in booting his first game-winning field goal.

"I had a lot of adrenaline rushing. It was exciting," he said.

St. Vincent 0 0 6 0 3 -- 9

Hayti 0 0 6 0 0 -- 6

Third quarter

H -- Keenan Williams 19 run (run failed), 8:54

SV -- Derek Triller 4 run (run failed), 5:58

OT

SV -- Kyle Rollet 21 FG

SV H

First downs 9 13

Rushes-yards 44-148 49-188

Passing yards 36 8

Passes 3-6-0-36 1-6-0-8

Punts 3-35 2-22

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0

Penalties-yards 4-20 7-40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing -- St. Vincent, Triller 22-82, C.J. Pavlovsky 18-79, Tim Schumer 3-minus 12, team 1-minus 1. Hayti, Williams 27-163, Kanard Humes 10-47, Cortez Border 2-11, Tyrell Polk 3-9, Byron Norris 2-minus 5, Dardan Balazi 3-minus 25, team 2-minus 12.

Passing -- St. Vincent, Schumer 3-6-0-36. Hayti, Balazi 1-6-0-8.

Receiving -- St. Vincent, Rollet 3-36. Hayti, A.D. Hamilton 1-8.