PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Experience is destined to leave its mark as the St. Vincent football team gets its season underway.

After back-to-back second-round exits against powerhouse Valle Catholic in the Class 1 District 1 tournament, the Indians return their most seasoned group in recent memory.

St. Vincent went 4-7 in Nathan Rowland's first year as coach before wrapping up a 5-6 campaign last season, culminating in a 63-7 district semifinal loss to Valle, which went on to win its 14th state championship. The Indians return a number of starters from their last two seasons, and Rowland expects his squad to do some big things.

"For the past few years, we've been playing a lot of underclassmen, a bunch of sophomores and juniors, and now these guys have become seniors," Rowland said. "We're looking for a team led by our players on the field.

"We have seven or eight different coaches on the field, and those are just our seniors who have, at this point, seen just about everything that's going to be thrown at them. We're hoping to have a very smart and physical team this year."

Offense

St. Vincent senior Riley RiehnLaura Simon

St. Vincent should benefit most from the presence of its biggest offensive threat in senior running back Riley Riehn, a three-year starter.

"He touches the ball for us on almost every single play, and the kid has great vision. That's probably the best part of his game," Rowland said. "He's explosive, and the vision and cutback lanes that he sees are something other running backs we've had before just haven't seen. He just has a good knowledge of the game."

Riehn was the Indians' lone All-Southeast Missourian Football Team selection in 2015, during which he amassed more than 1,500 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns.

"I've gained a lot of experience over the years, and I'm trying to pass this experience on to all the younger guys," Riehn said. "I'm trying to get them as good as they possibly can because this is my last season to leave my mark here at St. Vincent."

A new quarterback will take over for Joe Whistler, who's gone to graduation, as senior Tyler Monier is expected to fill the role. Two straight knee injuries kept Monier from logging significant playing time his previous two seasons, but he saw the field in limited action as a sophomore.

"He is pretty green, but we're looking for some good things from him," Rowland said. "He throws the ball pretty well. He's pretty mobile. He's a different type of quarterback than Joe. Obviously he's not going to tuck it and run as much as Joe, but he still has the ability to escape the pocket."

St. Vincent senior Layne HlavekLaura Simon

Gabe Naeger returns as a three-year starter at fullback, while Tyler Unterreiner, another three-year starter, takes over exclusively at tight end.

Blake Hellman and Mitchell Dobbelare are currently nursing collarbone injuries but are expected to return later in the season, joining Alec Wibbenmeyer and Darren Ernst to form a tandem of four seniors who are returning starters at wide receiver.

The Indians' offensive line will be anchored by four seniors -- Layne Hlavek, Ethan Pecaut, Blake Hennemann and Luke Wibbenmeyer -- all of which have starting experience.

From left to right, St. Vincent's Layne Hlavek, Riley Riehn and Tyler Unterreiner are three senior captains expected to give the Indians a big boost in 2016.Laura Simon

Defense

Riehn is among the veteran options on defense and will return to start at safety.

He'll be joined in the defensive backfield by junior Austin Dauster, sophomore Tyler Wibbenmeyer and junior Matthew Rellergert. Hellman is also expected to contribute when he returns from injury.

Unterreiner, Hlavek and Naeger are also returning starters as linebackers on a back seven that Rowland believes will be a team strength.

"They've been playing for the past few years and are very capable of doing several different things on defense," Rowland said. "We have our two middle linebackers coming back along with our two outside linebackers, safeties and corners. Our back seven is pretty much intact from last year. ... We're hoping they can really be the anchor to our defense."

St. Vincent senior Tyler UnterreinerLaura Simon

St. Vincent's opponents averaged 35.3 points per game a year ago, but Rowland is confident in the knowledge and experience his senior-heavy team has gained over the years.

"Right now when we're out there on the field, you'll be hard-pressed for our two middle linebackers, Tyler and Layne, to run anything that they haven't seen before because they've been out there for two whole years playing varsity football and JV football on top of that, getting all 50 quarters in," Rowland said. "They've seen it all."

Final analysis

Class 1 District 1 will see some new teams this season, but nothing changes about which team is expected to win it -- a Valle program that has decimated the Indians by a combined score of 250-14 in four meetings over the past two years.

Chaffee, Crystal City, Hayti, Portageville, Scott City, St. Vincent and Valle will make up the district, and Rowland said his team's objective remains plain and simple.

"Their goal since they were freshman has been to win a district championship," Rowland said. "Everyone understands that to win a district championship, we're going through Valle and a new re-aligned district as it is. That's going to be tougher, but these guys set that goal in front of them. And that's what we're going with into the season.

"The last two years, we've won our first-round playoffs and have been eliminated by Valle, so it looks like all roads lead up there again."

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2016 St. Vincent Indians Roster

No. Name Year Wt. Pos.

3 Carter Schemel 10 129 DB

4 Garrett Dobbelare 9 137 DB

5 Tyler Monier 12 171 QB

6 Nathan Dauster 9 100 DB

8 Austin Dauster 11 128 DB

15 Tyler Wibbenmeyer 10 158 DB

17 Mitchell Dobbelare 12 154 DB

18 Gabe Schario 9 100 DB

19 Will Schabbing 10 153 DB

20 Alex Brickhaus 9 119 DB

21 Nick Lappe 9 121 LB

25 Riley Riehn 12 151 DB

28 Dylan Grim 10 182 LB

30 Andrew Mudd 11 152 LB

31 Matt Rellergert 11 161 LB

32 Luke Unterreiner 9 158 LB

33 Isaac Layton 9 117 DB

41 Conrad Sutterer 9 138 DL

48 Tyler Unterreiner 12 212 LB

51 Matthew Gremaud 9 126 DL

53 Evan Hayden 10 182 DL

54 Layne Hlavek 12 199 LB

55 Nick DeRousse 10 204 DL

56 Gavin Hayden 9 174 DL

57 Ethan Pecaut 12 260 DL

58 Charles Sauer 9 150 DL

59 Luke Wibbenmeyer 12 181 DL

60 Caleb Kertz 10 200 DL

61 Cory Johnson 11 153 DL

65 Owen Versheldon 9 180 DL

67 Mitchell Hurst 10 182 DL

70 Dane Thurau 9 209 DL

71 Jacob McKinney 11 170 LB

72 Ethan Torres 9 220 DL

75 Blake Hennemann 12 194 DL

76 Ben Guyot 9 138 DL

79 Jacob Strattman 9 168 LB

82 Darren Ernst 12 160 DL

83 Isaac Ernst 10 156 DB

85 Gabe Naeger 12 137 LB

86 Kaleb Whistler 9 112 DB

87 Alec Wibbenmeyer 12 121 DB

88 Blake Hellman 12 173 DB

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Head coach

Nathan Rowland, 3rd year (9-13)

Assistant coaches

Clint Brown, Taylor Sauer, Tim Schumer

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2016 schedule

Date Opponent Time

8.19 @Valle Catholic 7 p.m.

8.26 SCOTT CITY 7 p.m.

9.2 @Kelly 7 p.m.

9.9 HERCULANEUM 7 p.m.

9.16 @Perryville 7 p.m.

9.23 CRYSTAL CITY 7 p.m.

9.30 @St. Pius X 7 p.m.

10.7 GRANDVIEW 7:30 p.m.

10.14 @Jefferson 7 p.m.

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2015 at a glance

Record: 5-6

Playoff result: Lost to Valle Catholic 63-7 in Class 1 District 1 semifinals

Points for: 17.4 ppg

Points against: 35.3 ppg

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Key returners

OFFENSE

Passing: None

Rushing: Riley Riehn (1,500 all-purpose yds., 10 TD)

Receiving: Blake Hellman (600 yds., 5 TD)

DEFENSE

Tackles: Tyler Unterreiner (150)

Sacks: Unterreiner (6.5)

Interceptions: Riehn (3)