Vandals smack Piasa Birds to go to 3-1

The Vandalia offense had 488 yards of total offense as the Vandals smacked Piasa Southwestern in their second-straight running-clock game.
Vandals quarterback Qwentyn Stombaugh rushed for three touchdowns and passed for two more as the Vandals improved to 3-1 on the sea

Vandalia’s Kohnor Depew goes up to pull in a pass during the Vandals’ win over Piasa Southwestern on Friday.

son.
Kohnor Depew pulled in one touchdown pass and ran for another, and Jacob Johnson, Jay Keck and Andrew Casey added scores for the Vandals.
Stombaugh got the scoring underway with a 59-yard run six minutes into the game, and the Vandals went up 26-0 at the half on a Depew run and two rushing scores by Stombaugh.
Stombaugh and Depew connected for a touchdown, and the QB then passed to Jacob Johnson to make it 38-0, with Keck’s 7-yard run with 4:28 in the third quarter to set the running clock in motion.
Casey scored on an 11-yard run with 9:40 left in the fourth quarter to put the Vandals up 51-0 before the Piasa Birds ruined the shutout with a touchdown later in the quarter.
The running clock provided the Vandals with an opportunity to give many of its players some playing time, with eight Vandals carrying t

he ball.
Vandals coach Jason Clay said his squad got off to a slow start, but took off from there.
“I think that early on, we, as the coaches, myself included, got too caught up in some of the things that were going on and got too frustrated with one of the penalties that was called and then a couple of drops we had,” Clay said.
“It was just not really like us,” he said.
“So, I think the thing that we learned from this is just to kind of keep playing and not get too emotional. I think I got a little bit fired up and got the kids fired up, and it didn’t really help.
“So, after doing this for 23 years, there are still things to learn and still things to coach yourself on,” he said.
“I am proud of the kids for doing a good job,” Clay said.
“Obviously, nothing’s ever flawless, but we’ll get on film and find out what we need to work on.”
Clay said they will use that game film to better judge the team’s performance, and he praised Southwestern for being able to compete while missing its quarterback and fighting some other injuries.
“Hat’s off to them,” he said. “I thought they played really well in the first half, and then we just had a little too much in the second half to be held down,” he said.

“I think their game plan was trying to make us run it between the tackles, and we’re going to have to prove we can do that and keep getting better up front,” Clay said.
“I think that’s going to be our challenge, both offensively and defensively.
“Obviously, there’s some good plays and some where we give up some chunks of yardage, and we’re just going to have to learn from all of it,” Clay said.