By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

ST. JAMES – The Wildcats exploded in the opening of the quarter-finals round last Friday to send Vinton packing from the 2A football playoffs with a 59-30 routing of the Lions.

And St. James head coach Rick Gaille credits his seniors for much of this season’s success.

&#8220We’ve got a small group over here playing for us,” he said, &#8220but our nine seniors have taken it upon themselves to lead us to where we are. They set the attitude and the agenda and they lead by action. And their doing it both on and off the field. We‘re very fortunate to have these guys. They really stepped up.”

It didn’t take them long to get it started on the field last week, as the Wildcat offense scored on it’s first six possessions of the first half and went into halftime with a 39-6 lead. Luther Ambrose got on the board first with a touchdown pass and run of 61-yards on the very first play from scrimmage. Kenny Zenon got the next one on an 11-yard TD run and Craig Duronselet made it 26-0 with a 41-yard TD run on a reverse hand-off and a 27-yard pass reception for another score.

Vinton finally got their legs under them for a touchdown drive early in the second quarter, but any hopes of a rally went by the wayside when St. James got the ball back and sent Ambrose up field with a hand-off that went 30 yards for a 32-6 advantage.

Gary Davis padded that lead to close the second quarter and to open the third. Davis got his first TD of the night on a goal line burst going into halftime and his second right after the break when cornerback Demel Dumas picked off the Vinton quarterback and brought it to the goal line. That score made it 45-6.

Vinton tried to close the gap later in the third quarter with a TD, but Davis and Ambrose each added short touchdown runs to cap off drives. After Vinton closed out the scoring with two touchdowns to make it more respectable, the clock expired with a 59-30 Wildcat win.

That puts St. James in a road game against district 10-2A rival St. Charles. The two squads met earlier this year in their district match-up, where the Wildcats took a heated 17-9 win.

&#8220Our kids are excited,” said Gaille of playing the Comets again. &#8220Fans as well. We don’t have to go far. [St. Charles] is playing excellent ball. They are a team with composure and they don’t get credit for the players they have.”