St. Vincent strikes quick to beat Hornets

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- St. Vincent added to its stable of running backs Friday night with the first start for Kyle Kline, the leading rusher from last year.

But quarterback Alex Armbruster and tight end Danny Rellergert stole the show in a 46-6 homecoming victory against Crystal City.

The Indians (5-1) improved to 3-0 in the conference as they try to defend their Mississippi Area Football Conference White Division title. Crystal City fell to 3-3, 1-2.

Armbruster had his most effective performance, completing six of eight passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns. Rellergert caught two of those scoring strikes and finished with 118 yards on four receptions.

Anthony Brown added 120 yards on 11 carries and two touchdowns for the Indians, all in the second half. He did nearly all his damage in the third period when he rushed for 103 yards.

The Indians took advantage of two Crystal City fumbles and three quick-strike drives to claim a 24-6 halftime lead. Armbruster found Rellergert for touchdown passes of 65 and 22 yards, the second coming with 1 minute and 25 seconds to play in the half and two plays after Crystal City muffed a punt.

"They had a lot of people up the middle trying to take the run away from us," St. Vincent coach Keith Winkler said. "Alex had a nice game. The line gave him some protection and he found the open receivers."

Kline carried only four times for 19 yards. He took his second carry into the end zone from 37 yards out but a holding penalty downfield forced St. Vincent to settle for a field goal by Kline.

Crystal City fumbled at its own 14 on the next drive and Dustin Winkler returned the fumble to the 2-yard line. Winkler, who has rushed for more than 100 yards each of the last two weeks, covered the distance for the first touchdown on one play.

Armbruster and Rellergert hooked up for a 65-yard scoring strike on a one-play drive that gave St. Vincent a 17-0 lead with 3:39 remaining in the first quarter.

St. Vincent had just two first downs to Crystal City's 10 in the first half.

But Brown helped St. Vincent control the second half. He scored on a 44-yard run to cap a 60-yard, four-play drive -- all Brown runs -- to open the third period and give the Indians a 31-6 lead.

Brown ran 31 yards on fourth down to cap the next drive, a 73-yard march. Kline ran in the two-point conversion for his first trip to the end zone.

"We feel like we have three or four quality backs," said Winkler, whose team currently is without Tyler Lozier due to a knee injury.

St. Vincent capped the scoring with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Armbruster to Seth Amschler, who had a solid defensive night, early in the fourth period.

"They're too good a football team to make the mistakes we did and expect to win," Hornets coach Dan Ridgeway said. "They beat us up front and we didn't tackle well on defense. Their running backs had a whole bunch of yards."

St. Vincent 46, Crystal City 6

Crystal City 0 6 0 0 -- 6

St. Vincent 17 7 15 7 -- 46

First quarter

SV -- Kyle Kline 22 field goal

SV -- Dustin Winkler 2-yard run (Kline kick)

SV -- Danny Rellergert 65-yard pass from Alex Armbruster (Kline kick)

Second quarter

CC -- Mike Tullock 4-yard run (kick blocked)

SV -- Rellergert 22-yard pass from Armbruster (Kline kick)

Third quarter

SV -- Anthony Brown 44-yard run (Kline kick)

SV -- Brown 31-yard run (Kline run)

Fourth quarter

SV -- Seth Amschler 26-yard pass from Armbruster (Kline kick)

CC SV

First downs 11 5

Rushes-yards

Passing yards x 166

Passes 6-8-0

Punts 3-59 1-31

Fumbles-Lost 4-3 4-2

Penalties 2-2 7-45

Individual statistics

Rushing -- Crystal City, Dan Temperato 5-1, Cody DeRousse 9-77, Mike Tullock 17-63, Dominique Hall 6-27; St. Vincent, Kyle Kline 4-19, Waylon Richardet 4-9, Dustin Winkler 2-4, Luke Guyot 4-24, Alex Armbruster 1-(-2), Anthony Brown 11-120, Lucas Robinson 2-4, Luke Klump 2-4.

Passing -- Crystal City, Hall, 3-14-65-0; St. Vincent, Alex Armbruster 6-8-166-0.

Receiving -- Crystal City, DeRousse 1-11, Seth Blum 1-19, Michael Schembre 1-35; St. Vincent, Danny Rellergert 4-118, Winkler 1-22, Seth Amschler 1-26.