St. Vincent travels to Marionville looking to reach state championship game

The last time the St. Vincent Indians won a district championship was in 2009. The last time the Indians won a state title was in 2004.

The Indians ended the district drought last week, and a win against Marionville in the Class 1 state semifinals on Saturday, Nov. 25, will put them in position to end the championship drought.

“It’s going to be a tough game,” St. Vincent head coach Tim Schumer said, “but I’m glad we will be one of the last four teams to be playing in Class 1.”

It will be a tall task for the Indians (9-3), who are traveling four hours toward Springfield to take on an undefeated Marionville team.

The Comets reached the semifinals by defeating Portageville 17-14 in the Class 1 District 1 championship game last week. Those 14 points were the most points the Marionville defense has allowed all season. Over 12 games this season, the Comets defense has allowed an average of 4.7 points per game. Meanwhile, the Marionville offense has scored 40 points per game for the fourth time in the last 10 years, a run that includes five district titles.

The Indians have a defense of their own and playing as good as ever. Through 12 games, St. Vincent has allowed opponents to score an average of 14.7 points per game, which was the lowest in the past decade. The defense has been led by the linebacker duo of senior Drake Robinson and Sophomore Carson House, who each have over 100 tackles on the season. It was expected coming from Robinson, the senior caption with over 150 tackles to his name, but the emergence of House has been a welcoming surprise.

“He flies around, has very good instincts, and just has a natural nose for the ball,” Schumer said in September. “He's one of those kids that thrives on contact."

St. Vincent started the season 0-2 after close losses on the road at Thayer and Scott City. The Indians gained confidence after evening their record with convincing wins over Perryville and Herculaneum by a combined score of 89-7. A 54-0 loss to Valle Catholic brought the Indians back down to each, but instead of folding at 2-3, they ignited a blazing seven-game winning streak right through to the I55 Conference and C1D2 championship.

“I think we exceeded expectations just because of how young we were at the start,” Schumer said. “We graduated nine starters on offense and probably six or seven on defense. There were a lot of unknowns.”

For the current senior class, the expectations were exactly met.

"I believed that before the season started," Robinson said. "I had faith all the way through."