Three keys to St. Vincent’s C1D2 semifinal matchup with Van-Far

Lost in the district title runs of Jackson, Cape Central and Scott City is the early phases of a similar postseason run in Perryville, Mo.

St. Vincent (7-3) has won five straight games and is the front runner to win the Class 1 District 2 championship. The Indians have repeated as I55 Conference champions but have not won a district title since 2009.

The Indians are two games away from reaching that goal, starting with semifinal matchup with Van-Far at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 10, at St. Vincent High School in Perryville, Mo.

Here are three keys that can push St. Vincent to the district championship game on Nov. 17.

__A balanced passing offense__

The strength of the Indians offense is their passing attack. Senior quarterback Christian Schaaf has completed 123 of 186 passes for 1,798 yards and 17 touchdowns against 13 interceptions.

Schaaf has been able to spread the ball nearly equally around to five receivers. Simon Barber, John Schwartz and Jacob Schremp each have at least four touchdown catches this season. The Indians don’t have nor need a definitive top target in the passing game and that keeps the opposing defense honest.

__Cruz control in the red zone__

St. Vincent running back Cruz Reitzel doesn’t have much rushing yards to his name this season. However, when the Indians are close to the end zone and need to pound the rock through the goal line, he’s their guy. Reitzel has only 474 rushing yards in 93 carries but have also scored 15 touchdowns, which is among the top five in the area.

__Dominating defense__

An argument can be made that this is the best St. Vincent defense since winning the state championship in 2004. The Indians have allowed only 15.6 points per game this season, and that includes the 54-0 outlier against Valle Catholic.

Senior Drake Robinson leads the Southeast Missourian coverage area in tackles with 136 and once scored a touchdown on a fumble recovery against Herculaneum in September. Carson House is the only other defender to have over 100 tackles with 106. Schwartz leads both the team and area in interceptions with six.

Van-Far (6-4), historically a downtrodden football program, reached the semifinals by defeating Chaffee and clinching its first winning season since MSHSAA started tracking records online. This is also the first season in which the Indians offense has averaged over 20 points per game.