St. Vincent's season ends with loss to Valle

STE. GENEVIEVE — Valle Catholic expected a much tougher test from St. Vincent than what the Indians presented the first time the teams played.

St. Vincent delivered Wednesday.

Valle and St. Vincent slugged it out in a first-round Class 1 playoff game that hung in the balance entering the final period.

The Warriors finally pulled away with three fourth-quarter touchdowns to post a 41-17 victory. The Warriors beat the Indians 46-7 in Week 3.

"Any time we get together with St. Vincent, you throw records out the window and the score from earlier in the year out the window," Valle coach Judd Naeger said. "It's always a battle.

"I thought it was a great example of high school football. You have to give them a lot of credit, how they were able to rebound from the first time we played them. And I was proud of the way we battled."

The Warriors, ranked sixth in the state, improved to 9-2 with their fifth straight victory. They'll host Hayti on Monday night.

St. Vincent finishes 6-5 with its second consecutive loss that came after a five-game winning streak.

"That score does not indicate the kind of game it was," St. Vincent coach Keith Winkler said. "They [St. Vincent] left everything out on the field."

The Warriors led 20-17 entering the fourth quarter, as the contest to that point virtually was even.

Valle standout junior quarterback Michael Greminger expected nothing different.

"The first game we played about as well as we could, and they didn't play very well," he said. "They came out ready to play. We knew it would be a different game."

Greminger was as responsible as anyone for making sure the outcome wouldn't be different.

Greminger, a 5-foot-9, 165-pounder, directed Valle's spread offense to near perfection. He completed 16 of 22 passes for 226 yards and two touchdowns, while also running for a pair of scores and a 2-point conversion.

"He's a tough-nosed kid," Naeger said. "He's just a good high school football player."

Greminger led second-half touchdown drives of 74, 65 and 65 yards as Valle answered every charge by the Indians.

Valle's back-to-back 65-yard TD marches in the fourth quarter finally gave the Warriors some breathing room at 34-17, and a 60-yard interception return for a score by sophomore Luke Uding iced the victory.

"I think we wore them down," Greminger said. "We had the ball a lot at the end."

St. Vincent senior quarterback Darin Yamnitz also had a big game for a team not normally known for its passing.

Yamnitz completed 16 of 33 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted three times.

The Indians could not get a consistent running game going, as they rushed for only 82 yards.

Winkler was left to ponder what might have been had the Indians been able to capitalize on several scoring opportunities when the outcome hung in the balance.

St. Vincent had the ball inside the Valle 15-yard line twice in the first half, but came away with only a field goal. Another field goal was blocked.

In the third quarter, the Indians drove to the Valle 30, but had a pass intercepted. Later in the period, they marched to the Valle 5, but had another field goal blocked.

"Once you get down there, you have to get points," Winkler said. "We missed some golden opportunities.

"And they have an explosive offense."

Valle scored on the third play of the game when Greminger hit sophomore Zach Weiler with a bomb that resulted in a 77-yard touchdown.

A 2-point conversion made it 8-0, but St. Vincent was not flustered.

Yamnitz and senior Justin L'Hote hooked up on an 11-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter to make it 8-7, and senior Aaron Dzik booted a 31-yard field goal with 3:19 left before halftime to give the Indians their only lead of the night at 10-8.

Valle junior Nathan Geile returned the ensuing kickoff 79 yards to the St. Vincent 16, and Greminger scored on a 3-yard run to put the Warriors up 14-10 at halftime.

"That kickoff return was a big play for them," Winkler said.

So was an interception by Valle junior Jason Blum after St. Vincent threatened to regain the lead by driving to the Valle 30 on the opening possession of the second half.

Valle answered with a 74-yard touchdown march to go up 20-10.

St. Vincent had one more burst left as Dzik caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Yamnitz with 29 seconds left in the third quarter to make it 20-17.

The Warriors then took control.

"I thought our offensive line sucked it up in the fourth quarter," Naeger said.

Winkler was disappointed with the loss, but not the way the Indians improved throughout the season after they started 1-3.

"I thought the kids stuck to their guns. They kept working, kept believing," Winkler said.

St. Vincent7370—17

Valle86621—41

First quarter

V — Zach Weiler 77 pass from Michael Greminger (Greminger run)

SV — Justin L'Hote 11 pass from Darin Yamnitz (Aaron Dzik kick)

Second quarter

SV — Dzik 31 FG

V — Greminger 3 run (run failed)

Third quarter

V — Luke Uding 6 pass from Greminger (run failed)

SV — Dzik 34 pass from Yamnitz (Dzik kick)

Fourth quarter

V — Brandon Wolk 27 run (Jeremy Abts kick)

V — Greminger 1 run (Abts kick)

V — Uding 60 interception return (Abts kick)

SV V

First downs1416

Rushes-yards29-8233-188

Passing yards237226

Passes16-34-316-22-0

Punts2-274-30

Fumbles-lost1-12-1

Penalties-yards6-405-55

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — St. Vincent, C.J. Pavlovsky 14-66, L'Hote 7-25, Derek Triller 4-8, Yamnitz 4-minus 17. Valle, Wolk 9-114, Greminger 16-57, Uding 4-13, Nathan Geile 2-10, Garrett Kertz 1-7, team 1-minus 13.

Passing — St. Vincent, Yamnitz 16-33-3-237, L'Hote 0-1-0-0. Valle, Greminger 16-22-0-226.

Receiving — St. Vincent, Dzik 5-106, L'Hote 5-78, Triller 4-40, Zach Welch 1-12, Pavlovsky 1-1. Valle, Weiler 4-103, Geile 7-70, Jason Blum 3-34, Wolk 1-13, Uding 1-6.