St. Vincent quarterback Nick Buchheit waited his turn for three years and is finally seeing his time as the Indians' starting quarterback.

With 745 yards and eight touchdowns through three games, he has quickly established himself as the Southeast Missouri area's top passer.

And with him, two senior receivers with over 200 yards and multiple touchdowns.

John Schwartz's 241 yards is second in the area only to Caruthersville's Jermonte Alexander (258), and Max Wheeler's 215 receiving yards puts him among the top 5 as well.

Even though this is Buchheit's first run at QB, the seniors have long developed their connection after years of practice.

"I've been throwing to them my whole high school career so having that relationship and the chemistry, knowing how my receivers run their routes and what pace they're on is really big," Buchheit said.

Buchheit threw for 334 yards and four touchdowns during St. Vincent's 29-25 win over Perryville last week, in what became the most competitive game since the rivalry was renewed in 2016. Two of his touchdown passes went to Schwartz, who hauled in six catches for 115 yards including the game-winning pass. Wheeler also caught five passes for 84 yards and a touchdown.

"I threw it a lot to John and Max in the PHS game, got some big yardages and some big scores whenever we did that," Buchheit said. "I'd say with John, I can throw it up and deep and he's going to be able to outrun his defender and run under it."

Buchheit only threw to senior receiver Jake Seabaugh once against Perryville, but it resulted in a 55-yard touchdown that originally pulled the Indians ahead 22-19 after being down 19 points at halftime. Seabaugh has been a safe option for a big play, especially after catching two touchdown passes in a long-awaited 24-7 victory on the road against Valle Catholic in Week 2.

"I know that Jacob, whenever I throw to him, he's going to be able to jump higher than most people, " Buchheit said, "and he's going to usually come down with it."

Between the quarterback and his receivers, height has been an asset. That advantage also extends to the offensive line, led by 6-5, 250-pound senior Boston Tarrillion, who earned first-team all-state honors in Class 1 a year ago.

"He's been a great leader so far," Buchheit said. "He definitely set some good blocks, giving me a lot of time back there, but that's what's expected out of all of them. I think they're doing a pretty good job at it."

St. Vincent has been 3-0 before, but how the Indians reached that mark with the teams they have defeated entering Week 4 is what has been most impressive. Before clearing out their rivals, the Indians opened the season at home with a 53-0 win over St. Genevive.

The team from the previous year finished in the Class 1 semifinals and saw the departure of a handful of seniors, including Semoball finalist Christian Schaaf and Semoball Defensive Player of the Year Drake Robinson. Yet the defense seems stronger than ever, having allowed only 10.7 points per game so far this season, a six-point difference should they keep the pace.

"When you return 17 starters and 10 of them being on defense, that bodes well to kind of be able to shut some teams down just because you have guys that have been out there before," St. Vincent head coach Tim Schumer said. "I think both sides of the ball have been doing great."

St. Vincent hosts Herculaneum, a team the Indians haven't lost to since 2014, on Friday, Sept. 20. The Indians previously defeated their I55 conference foe 40-0 on the road last year.

"The first goal is conference because those are games you have on the schedule," Schumer said. "Once you get through the conference, if you take care of business there, you're going to be in a good spot for districts."

With a win this week, followed by a win against Hayti next week, St. Vincent could notch its first 5-0 start since 2000, which even includes a state-championship season in 2004.

"It'd say it looks pretty promising," Buchheit said. "You have to take it one game at a time. You can't be looking at Week 8 and 7 and thinking about those games whenever you have a game this coming week."