The St. Louis U. High football team brought home its first win of the season last Friday, defeating Vianney 20-3. During the first half, the team was not able to gain much momentum, but the team came out of halftime and dominated, scoring three touchdowns in the second half.

The game kicked off with SLUH on offense. Freshman Ryan Wingo pushed through a wall of Vianney players and brought the ball to SLUH’s 38-yard line. Vianney picked off Johnston and gave their offense excellent field position to begin their first drive. However, SLUH’s defense stood strong, and forced a quick Vianney three-and-out.

SLUH started fresh from their 18-yard line. Johnston landed a pass to Wingo for a gain of five and another pass to senior Kyle Dulick for a gain of three, setting up a SLUH third and two. But Vianney broke through the line and blocked a pass, forcing the Jr. Bills to punt. 

Vianney started their second drive from SLUH’s 43-yard line. Vianney started with a huge run for 21 yards, putting them near the red zone. SLUH’s defense backed Vianney up with a 7-yard sack, and forced a turnover on downs with a huge stop on a fourth down. 

After SLUH went three and out, a bomb from punter Tyler Ridgway pushed Vianney back to their own 45-yard line, and a penalty on Vianney pushed them back to their own 37. On second down, Vianney’s halfback slipped through SLUH’s line for another gain of 21 yards, pushing them into SLUH’s territory. The Jr. Bills fought back with a sack for a loss of four for Vianney. The Griffins responded with a nine-yard pass and a first down. SLUH held Vianney, and forced another turnover on downs on SLUH’s 23-yard line. 

A run up the right guard gave SLUH six yards, but the offensive line couldn’t hold the Griffins, and Johnston was sacked for eight yards, forcing SLUH to punt. 

Vianney brought the punt to SLUH’s 39 yard-line. The Griffins lost seven yards and failed to complete two passes, making it 3rd and 17. Vianney put the ball in the air, but fell a yard short of the chains. The Griffins, in desperate need of a score, faked a punt, which went for 16 yards and put Vianney on SLUH’s 36-yard line. SLUH kept the pressure up, but suffered a 15-yard penalty, which hurt their momentum. The Jr. Bills got to the quarterback twice, causing 17 yards in cumulative losses for Vianney. Junior safety Philip Bone, intercepted the ball and returned it for 19 yards. SLUH could not take advantage of the interception, and had to punt.

Ridgway continued to bomb the ball with a 49-yard nuke, putting Vianney a safe distance away from the end zone. The Griffins picked up seven yards, which resulted in a big third down and 3. The Jr. Bills’ defensive line, who had been hot all night, broke through again and took 10 yards from Vianney. Vianney aired it out, which resulted in a 45-yard gain. Vianney kept pushing to the end zone, but SLUH remained strong. On SLUH’s 3-yard line, Vianney attempted and failed four times to put the ball in the end zone. SLUH got the ball on a turn over on their own one yard line and ended the first half with a gain of three.

“I think the game started out pretty slow and we weren’t really able to find our feet on offense,” said senior Luke Ratterman. “Luckily our defence was able to keep  Vianney out of the end zone.”

Vianney received the second half and picked up the ball on their own 14-yard line. A run up the center was stopped by a group of Jr. Bills for a loss of one. A last-ditch quarterback run gave the Griffins five yards, third down six yards to go. Vianney threw the ball from their own 18-yard line, but the pass was incomplete, forcing a punt by the Griffins. 

SLUH took the ball from their own 48-yard line. Wingo gave the Bills a gain of seven yards. A handoff gave the Bills no gain and then an incomplete pass forced SLUH to punt from Vianney’s 45. SLUH’s punt put the Griffins on their own 5-yard line and gave the Jr. Bills some much needed breathing room. 

Vianney’s first run of the series was stopped for a loss of one by the entirety of the D-line. However, a run hugging the right sideline gave Vianney 24 yards and a first down. A penalty on SLUH pushed the Griffins up to their own 42-yard line. Another incomplete pass by Vianney put them in second down. The Griffins grabbed another five yards with a long outside run to the right. Vianney needed another five yards to secure the desperately needed first down, but they were stopped one yard short. A final handoff by Vianney was not enough to pick up the one yard they needed for the first down and now SLUH had the ball on their own 49 yard line. 

SLUH started the series strong with a seven yard gain and a short pass for two yards. Another run gave the Bills an impressive 12 yards and a first down. On the 30 yardline the Jr. Bills lost their footing for a moment with a sack for a loss of five, but SLUH recovered quickly with a 16-yard quarterback run. On the 19-yard line the Jr. Bills couldn't gain any yards and were now in second down. A phenomenal hold by the O-line gave Johnston the time to get a pass to Ratterman for a 19-yard touchdown with only 2:44 left in the third quarter. With a good extra point the score was now 7-0.

On kick return Vianney took the touchback and started the series on their own 20-yard line. A penalty on SLUH pushed the Griffins up to the 35 which they took advantage of with a 63-yard pass putting them on SLUH’s 2-yard line. The Jr. Bills vigorously pushed them back three times, ending third down on SLUH’s 15-yard line. Vianney put the ball in the air and gained back nine yards, still six yards short of a touchdown. The Griffins resorted to a field goal at the very start of the fourth quarter, making the score 7-3.

The Jr. Bills returned the ball to their 31-yard line. SLUH gave up a yard on an attempted run, but they recovered quickly with a 15-yard pass. Another run gave the Jr. Bills a gain of one, but their momentum was squashed when after a gain of 25 yards there was a fumble that gave Vianney the ball. 

The Griffins took advantage of the offensive series with a pass for a gain of five, then a run for nine yards and a first down. Another pass gave Vianney eight yards, but SLUH put the pressure on when they stopped a run on the line of scrimmage for no gain. The Griffins then dropped the ball quite literally with a fumble which was recovered on the 50-yard line giving SLUH the ball. The Jr. Bills then picked up the pace with a 50-yard touchdown handoff to Wingo with 7:41 left in the game, the score was now 14-3 and the Jr. Bills were not done yet.

After a penalty on the kickoff, the Jr. Bills re-kicked the ball which Vianney picked up on their own 25-yard line. The Griffins picked up four more yards but didn’t gain any more yardage for another three plays forcing a punt. The punt rolled out of bounds and the Jr. Bills started the series from their own 25-yard line. The Jr. Bills put the final nail in the coffin with a 75-yard touchdown pass to Brooks. With 5:35 left in the fourth quarter the score was 20-3. Vianney didn’t gain any major yardage on the next series and neither did SLUH, leaving the game 20-3, SLUH. Both sides of the ball had a good game, but the defence took to cake with not one, but two major stops in the red zone. 

“Defence gave tremendous effort and kept us in the game,” said Johnston. “We pulled ourselves together and were able to pull out the win”

Despite a cold start the Jr. Bills recovered in the second half and kept the Griffins from gaining any advantage during the second half, especially in the fourth quarter. 

“We were able to pick it up in the second half with our first score,” said Ratterman. “It helped our offence gain confidence and drive the ball.”

We won, that's the biggest thing. We did something that I think we need to improve on, but it’s only our third game. We need to make sure we start faster and we need to be more consistent and we still need to eliminate penalties. I think Vianney came out fired up, it was their last game and they came out ready to play and we didn’t come out with the same intensity. We have to make sure we are preparing the way we need to, I think we are spending too much time looking at the other team instead of focusing on what we are good at and improving on that."

Photo | Vince Lewchenko

Photo |