Turnovers, penalities doom St. Vincent football team again

~ The Indians dropped to 0-4 with a home loss to Herculaneum

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Four games into a winless season, St. Vincent coach Nathan Rowland doesn't find it difficult to remain optimistic.

Games like Friday night's are a good reason why.

Rowland's Indians enjoyed their best offensive showing of the season, but penalties and mistakes again proved too much to overcome as St. Vincent fell to Herculaneum 28-14 before a boisterous crowd at St. Vincent Stadium.

"The story of our last four weeks has been turnovers, penalties and big plays," said Rowland, who is still searching for his first coaching victory at St. Vincent (0-4). "Until we can stop committing penalties and shooting ourselves in the foot before we even start a drive and giving up those big plays, we're not going to get the wins. Turnovers, penalties and big plays are what has cost us four straight weeks."

Friday was no different. Herculaneum's Landon Harper rushed for 206 yards on 34 carries with four touchdowns, on runs of 43, 40, 5 and 8 yards, as the Blackcats improved to 3-1.

But the big plays weren't limited to Herculaneum's offense. The Blackcats picked off three passes, including two in the end zone. The other came deep in St. Vincent territory and set up their third touchdown.

"We were in the red zone a couple times and we didn't finish," Rowland noted. "That's something we're gonna focus on this week, when we get into the red zone turning those into points."

Trailing 7-0 midway through the second quarter, St. Vincent reached the Herculaneum 9-yard line before the drive stalled. But the Indians were denied points as Cole Steinbecker's 26-yard field goal attempt fell just short.

Herculaneium took over and drove just past midfield. Facing fouth-and-6 from the Indians' 46, the Blackcats tried a fake punt, but Sawyer Wilfong was dropped for a 3-yard loss, and the Indians took over at midfield.

St. Vincent quarterback Joe Whistler completed passes to Trevor Leible and Kaleb Schnurbusch to move to the 12. But a sack pushed the Indians back to the 18 and, with time running out in the half, Whistler's pass to Schnurbusch in the corner of the end zone was picked off by the Blackcats' Treston Byers.

Herculaneum opened the third period with Harper's 40-yard score on on a sweep to the right to put the Blackcats up 14-0. And when Harper scored his third touchdown of the day, on a 5-yard plunge up the middle later in the third, the Blackcats looked to be running away.

But St. Vincent rattled off a nine-play, 63-yard scoring drive capped by Whistler's scoring strike to Steinbecker in the corner of the end zone to pull within 21-7. Included in the drive was a 31-yard reception by Leible and a 17-yard completion to Tyler Unterreiner on a fourth-and-8 from the Herculaneum 28.

Early in the fourth quarter, St. Vincent forced a punt from the Blackcats' 25-yard line. A short punt, coupled with an 11-yard return and a personal foul penalty on the Blackcats gave the Indians the ball on the Herculaneum 26. But on first down, Whistler's fade pass to the corner of the end zone was picked off by Matt Coffman.

"That interception in the end zone was a big deal," Herculaneum coach David Cook said. "That really helped us kind of seal it."

"We felt we had to roll the dice, and when you roll the dice, sometimes they don't come up in your favor," Rowland said.

The Blackcats iced the game with a 12-play, 80-yard drive, Harper going the final eight yards up the gut for his fourth touchdown of the night.

St. Vincent answered with a quick score in the final minute when Whistler found Leible open on the right side. Leible took advantage of two Herculaneum defenders colliding and providing him with an open path to the end zone for a 49-yard scoring play.

Any thoughts the Indians harbored of a closing flurry were vanquished when the ensuing onsides kick failed to travel 10 yards, and the Blackcats ran out the clock.

"A win's a win," Cook said. "We'll take it. ... [St. Vincent] plays us hard every year, and we knew it was going to be a tough ballgame. And they didn't quit. They're a good ballclub. A good, hard-fought game, and they played hard all the way up to the last play."

"It's the small things that are killing us," Leible said. "If we can really get everything together, then we can be a bang-bang offense, I think."

"We're a young team, and we're learning how to play varsity football," Rowland said. "There are some growing pains, and that comes with inexperience, but we're putting together drives now."

Whistler completed 12 of 21 passes for 191 yards and two scores, but his three picks proved costly.

"I think we've come a long way," Whistler said. "Our passing game opened up more tonight, so I think we're moving the ball well. We just have to come back and work harder. I know Monday we're going to come out and we're going to be ready to practice."

Herculaneum 7 0 14 7 -- 28

St. Vincent 0 0 7 7 -- 14

First quarter

H -- Landon Harper, 43 run (Matt Coffman kick), 2:33.

Third quarter

H -- Harper, 40 run (Coffman kick), 10:28

H -- Harper, 5 run (Coffman kick), 5:04

SV -- Cole Steinbecker, 8 pass from Joe Whistler (Steinbecker kick), 1:33

Fourth quarter

H -- Harper, 8 run (Coffman kick), 2:48

SV -- Trevor Leible, 49 pass from Whistler (Steinbecker kick), :49.2

H SV

First downs 12 7

Rushes-yards 55-279 22-62

Passing yards 0 191

Passes 0-1-0 12-21-3

Punts-avg. 4-29-3 4-33.0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0

Penalties-yards 4-30 7-50

Individual statistics

RUSHING -- Herculaneum: Landon Harper 34-206, Nicolas Brown 9-49, Tim Venable 10-36, Sawyer Wilfong 1-(-3), L.J. Nelson 1-(-9). St. Vincent: Joe Whistler 12-37, Riley Riehn 8-26, Tyler Unterreiner 2-(-1).

PASSING -- Herculauneum: Tim Venable 0-1-0-0. St. Vincent: Joe Whistler 12-21-3-191.

RECEIVING -- St. Vincent: Trevor Leible 5-128, Tyler Unterreiner 3-36, Cole Steinbecker 2-15, Kaleb Schnurbusch 1-16, Riley Reihn 1-(-4).