ST. VINCENT PICKS OFF GREENFIELD'S BID FOR 1A SEMIS

PERRYVILLE -- Cory Strattman picked a perfect time to play the role of hero much to the delight of everybody associated with the St. Vincent High School football program.

Strattman intercepted a pass in the end zone with 50 seconds left to play Monday night, sealing the Indians' thrilling 11-8 victory over visiting Greenfield in a hard-hitting Class 1A quarterfinal game.

The Indians, ranked second in the state, will carry an 11-1 record into Saturday afternoon's semifinal contest at top-ranked Rich Hill, which is 12-0 after slipping past Crest Ridge 15-14 Monday."It's the biggest play I've ever made," said a grinning Strattman as he received congratulations from St. Vincent fans just minutes after the game had ended. "It's a great feeling, but it was a total team effort."Greenfield (10-2) appeared ready to score a go-ahead touchdown and dash St. Vincent's hopes of returning to the 1A state championship game.

After St. Vincent had scored with just over six minutes left to take the lead, the Wildcats converted on two fourth downs as they marched from their 20-yard line to the St. Vincent 14, where Greenfield faced a third-and-7 with 57 seconds left.

Greenfield quarterback Cody McDowell dropped back to pass and appeared to have a receiver open in the end zone. But, seemingly out of nowhere, Strattman dashed in to pick off the throw.

With Greenfield down to only one timeout, the Indians simply had to kneel down twice to run out the clock."I just tried to read the quarterback's eyes," explained Strattman. "I saw him getting ready to throw and I just made a break on the ball."Said St. Vincent coach Paul Sauer, breathing a major sigh of relief, "I didn't see Cory. I thought they had a touchdown, but Cory has great speed and he came up with the play. I think my heart stopped several times on that drive."It was that kind of game virtually all night as the evenly matched teams waged a fierce battle, with neither squad willing to budge an inch.

The final statistics were about as close as the score. Greenfield had 223 yards of offense after getting just 50 in the first half while St. Vincent wound up with 209 yards of offense."It was a great game," Sauer said. "Greenfield came ready to play. We knew they would be tough. Both teams played very well. Our kids played their hearts out and it was great to come out on top."St. Vincent controlled much of the first half, having possessions that reached the Greenfield 3,17, 38 and 39. But the Indians could manage only a 22-yard field goal by Derek Kutz in the final minute of the second quarter as they led 3-0 at halftime."We had great field position early and couldn't take advantage," said Sauer. "We let them hang around."Greenfield went ahead late in the third quarter, marching 80 yards and scoring on a 38-yard pass from McDowell to Joel Gray. Joseph Brown ran in the conversion to make it 8-3 with 3:59 left in the period.

On the Indians' eventual game-winning drive, Sauer elected to use the wishbone offense that his team had not shown previously in the game.

The plan worked as St. Vincent drove 69 yards in nine plays. Josh Robinson ripped off runs of 10 and 19 yards, Jeremy Best had an 18-yard run and Mark Gotto dashed 13 yards.

With 6:16 left in the game, Robinson capped the march with a 4-yard run and Jonathan Paulus hit Ryan Prost for the conversion, making it 11-8."We hadn't been moving the ball and we just needed the power running game," said Robinson. "I had good holes and didn't have to do much."Said Sauer of the wishbone, "I thought we'd try something different. We hadn't used it the last few weeks and we thought it might thrown them (Greenfield) off some."Then it was up to the Indians' defense to make the final play that iced things."They were a tough team, but our defense stepped it up like they have all year," said Strattman.

Brown, Greenfield's 210-pound tailback who has rushed for more than 2,200 yards, pounded his way for 125 yards on 33 carries Monday, although the Indians made Brown work for everything."He's a good back," said Strattman. "We thought we'd wear him down but he kept going strong."For St. Vincent, Gotto had 88 yards on 17 carries. Paulus completed 10 of 14 passes for 66 yards. Prost led the way in receptions with four.