Playing its final road game of the regular season, St. Clair cruised to a 45-19 football win last Friday at St. James High School.
The Bulldogs (5-1, 3-1) fell behind in the opening minutes of the game, but quickly took control in a Four Rivers Conference victory.
“We’re on the verge, but we’re still not where we want to be. We played a little too sloppy for the sixth game,” said St. Clair Head Coach Cody McDowell. “We’re in the middle of the season and everyone is grinding it out right now. We have some things that need to be cleaned up. We are what our record says we are. We’re 5-1 and that’s probably what we deserve to be.”
Hermann Preview
St. Clair plays its final three regular season games at home, beginning with a week seven contest Friday against Hermann.
“We’ve been road dogs for most of the season,” McDowell said. “Hopefully the kids will embrace the opportunity to play at home. The season has gone by fast. We’re getting close to district time.”
The Bearcats (3-3, 2-1) lost last Friday to Sullivan, 60-7. They own wins over Cuba 13-12, St. James 28-20 and Owensville 33-14. Losses have come against Montgomery County 56-21, South Callaway 43-8 and Sullivan.
Quarterback Craig Winkelmann and running back Armando Matech lead the Bearcats’ offense.
“Hermann will be ready to play. They’re young and going through some growing pains. Coach (Andy) Emmons is doing a good job,” McDowell said. “Their quarterback and running back both are good players. We definitely have to key on them.”
St. James (3-3, 1-2) hosts unbeaten Sullivan (6-0, 4-0).
Statistics
St. Clair accumulated 409 total yards against St. James, 297 rushing and 112 passing.
“Once our offense got going, we did a lot of good things,” McDowell said. “We played a lot of our No. 2s and junior varsity kids in the second half. We knew we weren’t going to have a JV game with St. James, so we wanted to give our younger kids a chance to play.”
Quarterback Kyle Juergens was 6-13 passing for 86 yards and two touchdowns. He also carried the ball seven times for 137 yards and scored two touchdowns.
Collin Scott was 2-5 passing for 26 yards. He rushed for five yards on three attempts.
Rickey Grivetti carried the ball six times for 27 yards and scored two touchdowns.
Josh Martin rushed for 26 yards on six attempts.
Adam Brott carried the ball three times for 46 yards. He also had one catch for 29 yards and a touchdown.
Wyatt Mehler rushed for 44 yards on 10 attempts. Alex Miller rushed for 12 yards on two carries.
Blake Dierking finished with three receptions for 33 yards and one touchdown.
Evan Powell (18 yards), Harley Love, (14 yards), Jesse Kordonowy (12 yards) and Alan Barrett (six yards) each had one reception.
Defensively, Ben Suntrup led St. Clair with four solo tackles and four assists.
Evander Spinks added four solos. Evan Murphy registered three solos and four assists. Jake Yerkey had three solos and two assists. Shane Heideman Martin both recorded three solos.
Grivetti and Kordonowy both had one interception.
“They returned the opening kickoff to around midfield and then we gave them 30 yards in penalties on the first drive,” McDowell said. “After the first drive, our defense did a good job.”
Game Summary
After falling behind 7-0 in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the game, the Bulldogs scored 45 unanswered points over the final 21 minutes of the first half to take control of the contest.
St. James grabbed a 7-0 lead on a three-yard touchdown pass from Dusty Snelson to Levi Witt with 8:32 left in the first quarter.
St. Clair took the lead for good on a 13-yard touchdown run by Grivetti with 6:38 remaining in the first quarter and a 13-yard pass from Juergens to Dierking with eight seconds left in the opening quarter.
The Bulldogs put the game away with four touchdowns in the second quarter.
Grivetti scored on an 12-yard run with 10:17 left on the clock.
Juergens then had scoring runs of 40 and 15 yards to increase the lead to 35-7 with 4:01 remaining in the second quarter.
Juergens then tossed a 29-yard touchdown pass to Brott to make the score 42-7 with 2:45 left in the second quarter.
For good measure, Jacob Meisel booted a 32-yard field goal with one second remaining in the second quarter.
The Bulldogs led 45-7 at halftime.
St. Clair quarterback Kyle Juergens threw two touchdown passes and rushed for scores of 39 and 15 yards.
Blake Dierking had a 12-yard touchdown catch and Adam Brott secured a 29-yard touchdown catch.
Rickey Grivetti added touchdown runs of 13 and eight yards.
For good measure, Jacob Meisel booted a 32-yard field goal with one second remaining in the second quarter.
St. James then scored on a three-yard run by Snelson in the third quarter and an eight-yard pass from Snelson to Cody Birkner in the fourth quarter.
St. Clair 14-31-0-0=45
St. James 7-0-6-6=19
First Quarter
SJ-Levi Witt 3 pass from Dusty Snelson (kick good), 8:37
SC-Rickey Grivetti 13 run (Jacob Meisel kick), 6:38
SC-Blake Dierking 13 pass from Kyle Juergens (Meisel kick), :08
Second Quarter
SC-Grivetti 12 run (Meisel kick), 10:17
SC-Juergens 40 run (Meisel kick), 9:14
SC-Juergens 15 run (Meisel kick), 4:01
SC-Adam Brott 29 pass from Juergens (Meisel kick), 2:45
SC-Meisel 32 FG :01
Third Quarter
SJ-Snelson 3 run (kick failed), 2:14
Fourth Quarter
SJ-Cody Birkner 8 pass from Snelson 8 (kick failed), 6:41
