St. Vincent cruises to 24-3 win over Valle

The Indians clinched its conference crown and set up a district title clash.

By Michael Boyd Jr. ~ Special to the Southeast Missourian

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- They say defense wins championships, and that is exactly why St. Vincent is the Blue Divisional champion of the Mississippi Area Football Conference for the second straight year.

The Indians' defense controlled Valle Catholic in a 24-3 decision Friday night at Dempsey Field.

St. Vincent (7-1, 5-0), ranked sixth in the Class 1 state media poll, will play for the Class 1 District 1 championship 7 p.m. Thursday when it hosts Hayti at 7 p.m.

Hayti beat Chaffee 51-6, Friday.

"One goal down, one to go," St. Vincent coach Keith Winkler said. "Our first goal was to be conference champs, and the second goal is to be district champs and get into the playoffs."

Valle, which dropped out of the state rankings after last week's loss to Hayti, fell to 6-3 overall and settled for second in the MAFC-Blue at 4-1.

St. Vincent allowed a 31-yard field goal on the Warriors' first drive, but that was all. The Indians outgained Valle 364-150.

Valle's Tim Jokerst, who has over 800 yards rushing this season, was limited to just 22 yards.

"We missed a few assignments on Valle's first drive, but the defense stepped up after that," Winkler said. "Valle has an explosive offense and some great skill-position kids. For our kids to step up and hold them, I thought they did a great job. My hat goes off to our kids."

Offensively, Waylon Richardet led St. Vincent with 94 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 10 carries. He had the final two TD runs of 4 and 33 yards.

Dustin Winkler added 85 yards on 15 attempts.

Quarterback Alex Armbruster threw for 61 yards and ran for 57 more yards, including an 8-yard touchdown run with 2:32 remaining before halftime to put the Indians ahead.

Senior kicker Kyle Kline had tied the game at 3-3 early in the second quarter. He added all three extra points but missed two other field goal attempts.

Neither team scored in the third, but Richardet scored his first TD to open the final quarter.

"That's what a rivalry is all about," Winkler said. "There's never going to be an easy game between us. We really had to work hard for everything we got, but I was proud of the way our kids fired off the ball, and the heart and intensity they gave out there tonight."