St. Vincent's season ends in Portageville

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. -- The St. Vincent football team had a number of scoring opportunities against Portageville in its Class 1 District 1 quarterfinal on Thursday.

But the Indians were unable to capitalize, and big runs by Portageville's Ben Story helped the Bulldogs as they rolled to a 28-0 win at home.

St. Vincent had one long drive that took most of the first quarter but was unable to score.

"It's always hard. We just couldn't get anything going offensively tonight," St. Vincent coach Paul Sauer said. "We'd get it down to the 20 and shoot ourselves in the foot. I thought in the second half we came out and got a little spark. I thought we could maybe come back, but it wasn't in the cards."

Portageville took over on downs at its own 19-yard line in the latter part of the opening quarter after the Indians' long drive. The Bulldogs gained five yards before Story broke free for a 76-yard touchdown run to take a 6-0 lead with four minutes left in the first quarter.

The Bulldogs were forced to punt early in the second quarter and the Indians took over at their own 16.

St. Vincent's Alex Winkler moved the ball down the field with a 5-yard run before quarterback Joe Whistler connected with Kevin Mattingly on a 20-yard reception out to the Indians' 41.

Whistler completed an 8-yard pass to Nathan Carroll before St. Vincent called a timeout.

Winkler was stopped for a loss on a handoff following the timeout to make it third-and-8, and St. Vincent followed with its second timeout.

Whistler's pass intended for Mattingly was intercepted by Portageville's AV Banks at the Bulldogs' 42.

Portageville wasted little time in extending its lead. On a second-and-8 play, Story scored on a 48-yard run. A pass to Bryce Wallace for the two-point conversion put Portageville ahead 14-0 with 3 minutes, 34 seconds left in the first half.

"I was satisfied the first half, 14-0, you know. I thought they'd played pretty well," Sauer said about his defense. "We just kept letting them get outside of us, and that's two weeks in a row that we're giving up the big play on the outside and just couldn't seem to get them hemmed up."

The second half got under way after a delay of about 30 minutes due to inclement weather, and while there were some positive moments, things didn't turn around for the Indians.

"We talked about that there was only 24 minutes left for these seniors, and we felt that we had some positive things happen in the first half. We were able to move the ball, but we just had to focus and concentrate especially when we got in the red zone," Sauer said. "And I tip my hat to Portageville. They stepped it up every time we got down there."

St. Vincent recovered an onside kick to start the second half, but Carroll, who split time at quarterback with Whistler, was sacked on fourth-and-5 as Portageville took over on downs.

The Indians later recovered a fumble at their own 41, but they were unable to pick up a first down.

St. Vincent then made a stop on defense and began to move the ball on offense. A 13-yard run by Winkler was followed by a lateral pass to Winkler that gained 20 more yards, but two incomplete passes in the end zone halted the drive.

The Bulldogs were forced to punt on their next possession, but Story intercepted a pass with 8:11 left in the game and returned it for a touchdown. The two-point conversion put Portageville ahead 22-0.

Story nearly scored again on a 71-yard run that ended at the St. Vincent 24. A touchdown pass to Bryce Wallace on the next play made it 28-0 with 5:49 left in the game.

Winkler had 23 carries for 78 yards and four catches for 37 yards. Whistler completed 4 of 10 passes for 56 yards and one interception. Wallace was 8 of 19 with 88 yards and two interceptions.

Winkler had four catches for 26 yards, and Mattingly had six catches for 83 yards.

"It's just hard to take a loss like this, but there was no point in the game where we ever stopped giving effort," Winkler said. "We gave 100 percent every second we were on that field. Just things didn't go our way, and you can't hang your head on that."

St. Vincent 0 0 0 0 -- 0

Portageville 6 8 0 14 -- 28