Mississippi Magazine didn’t publish a Power Poll this week, and as usual, there’s more than a lone reason why.
For a start, it’s hard to rank teams in the midst of the Jefferson County Power Poll when we don’t really know if the fastest-rising brand – Crystal City – truly ought to have won or lost in Week 6. Jefferson High’s defense could probably prevent Russellville from scoring so many as 38 points, though who knows if the Blue Jays would’ve scored 42 36 points after a long bus trip? We know how JHS responds to untimely losses, though, usually by coming back and winning again. So, Mississippi Magazine will have enough to rank JHS-CCHS vs each other after Week 7.
The Geek’s team has also been preoccupied with replacing a copyright image mistakenly posted on the blog last week. Copyright images, as loyal readers know, have caused no end of problems for the Magazine’s social-media scrolls over the years. TGG was so enamored by a 2018 pregame photograph from somebody called “JH Outdoors” that he missed the watermark near the bottom. Whoever “JH Outdoors” is, the blog thanks them profusely for not using the snafu to take-down a community resource from the internet, as it happened back when Limited View Pictures had their pet teams lose in the Tri-Cities business-ethics offended and got our coverage axed in 2020.
Lastly, there’s enough to report on Week 7’s kickoffs that if we posted a full slate of articles, TGG would be accused of trying to write a novel about Jeff-Co pigskin before the playoffs could begin. There’s plenty of time to wear our hands out on message-boards later, when elimination games make those same fingers suddenly free-of-nails or at least chewed down to the bone. We’ll try to stay concise this Friday in case any padawans – as has been known to happen – are reading predictions on their scrums while going through pre-game calisthenics.
St. Vincent Indians at St. Pius Lancers
SPX boosters may be wondering if The Geek even knows about the Lancers’ QB injury, but a potential collar-bone fracture isn’t something you want to report on until all the facts are in. It’s looking like an extended absence for St. Pius’ starting signal-caller James Smith, and those who have followed the Arizona Cardinals (and Kurt Warner) over the years know personally how an upper-body fracture can upend a QB’s sterling season. On the optimistic side, Warner returned to lead the Big Red to a Super Bowl berth not long after suffering that injury and a broken arm.
It’s also nice to have a stat-line on the replacement QB before a big game. Regretfully, there’s not much to glean from sophomore Brennan Ervin’s few rushing and passing attempts in the Herculaneum game, but the fact that the Varsity Lancers kept their heads in the scrum and won handily shows that Ervin’s leadership skills meet Hill Valley’s high standards. Ervin was terrific against the Cuba Wildcats last week, passing for over 50% completions and a touchdown.
HC Dan Oliver also inherits a classic strength of St. Pius coaches, in that his playbook is flexible enough to turn the QB into a role-player or to allow a special QB to shine with big plays. Mickey Karolys don’t come along very often, in fact, The Geek remains convinced that 99 out of 100 “Mickey Karolys” in the sports world are point-guards from Boston or New Jersey. What’s encouraging about Erwin’s performance so far is that the tall, young passer isn’t taking many bad chances on downfield throws, but he’s got some rushing ability in spite of a gangly 6’2″ frame, similar to Nevada Wolf Pack quarterback Nate Cox. Luckily for Erwin, he’s got an infinitely better relative supporting cast around him than what Cox must currently deal with in Reno.
St. Vincent’s rush defense looked stouter-than-ever in Week 4’s 19-16 win over Herky. But the Indians are permitting a lot of opposing success through the air, making the blog believe that SPX’s revamped offense will poke-and-prod for just enough drives to win an incredibly crucial 2022 Homecoming Game. PREDICTION: LANCERS 24, ST. VINCENT 18
Festus Tigers at Pacific Indians
Festus teams under A.J. Ofodile often appear to be playing against themselves in mismatched games – and not always successfully. But a decent defense is all Pacific has going for it this autumn, and if there’s a type of squad FHS matches-up well against in 2022, it’s a team with solid defense and poor offense. If Pacific could only trade its units’ respective strength, a good offense could score points on R-6 while the Tigers either scored TDs or made unforced errors to lose possession. Matching a “good D, bad O” team against the Tigers means that you won’t score much, and you’ll be defending speedsters who can rumble on anybody. PREDICTION: TIGERS 49, PACIFIC 12
Hillsboro Hawks at DeSoto Dragons
What happens when the top-ranked Hillsboro Hawks visit a “solid defense, horrible offense” team like DeSoto? Probably the most boring, predictable scrum of the Jefferson County season. Sorry, but if you got an old pigskin game-board with play-result cards and gave Hillsboro 50 straight 8-yard gains and DeSoto 50 straight 1-yard gains, and figured out what the 48:00 outcome would be, you would have a decent bead on the Hawks-Dragons outcome. Tonight’s final score at Joachim Junction isn’t a mystery – it’s a math problem. PREDICTION: HAWKS 56, DRAGONS 0
Bayless Bronchos at Herculaneum Blackcats
Sometime between Weeks 3 and 5, the Bayless Bronchos’ football team found a small cliff and dove off of it, giving Herky another soft conference opponent prior to the anticipated drama of Weeks 8-9. PREDICTION: BLACKCATS 37, BAYLESS 6
Seckman Jaguars at Pattonville Pirates
This may be seen as Seckman’s biggest challenge prior to the Class 6 playoffs. But the Pattonville Pirates have always been a momentum team, and there’s no bigger buzz-kill when trailing 28-14 than another 10-minute drive led by the indomitable Cole Ruble. PREDICTION: JAGUARS 35, PATTONVILLE 21
Hazelwood West Wildcats at Fox Warriors
Fox doesn’t play in Week 7 according to “Part-of-the-Region Radio,” but TGG assures Arnold readers that the Warriors will appear (and win) against an 0-6 Hazelwood West team that must have either graduated a million kids in 2022, or faced an NCAA-style “transfer portal” of its own. PREDICTION: WARRIORS 44, HAZELWOOD WEST 0
Van-Far Indians at Crystal City Hornets
Crystal City faces yet another “Iowa Hawkeyes”-modeled team in Van-Far, which hasn’t come close to conquering Alpha Centauri’s football league this season, but has played stubborn pigskin and rejected Turbo Clock bids from all but the powerful Bowling Green Bobcats. To wit, Van-Far’s meeting with common CCHS-opponent Russellville ended in a grudging 19-6 defeat.
If the (Week 7) Indians can hold Russellville to 19 points, they can hold a similar Flexbone offense to 3-or-less touchdowns on a distracting Homecoming Week. Crystal’s patience, not its 2-minute drill, will be tested profusely in the Hornets’ first home-field appearance since HC Dan Fox nearly lost the plot and began gambling against another underdog in Bayless. But the confidence of a nearly-perfect team should ultimately hold sway over a brand with a losing record, topped off by Van-Far facing a similar bus ride (or starship journey) as the Tri-City boys endured in Week 6. PREDICTION: HORNETS 26, VAN-FAR 14
Jefferson Blue Jays at Grandview Eagles
Grandview matches-up extremely well stylistically against the 2022 Jefferson Blue Jays…for a bruised and downtrodden club trying to end a losing streak. PREDICTION: BLUE JAYS 31, EAGLES 13
Windsor Owls at North County Raiders
There’s a bunch of legitimate play-makers starting to bubble to the surface for Windsor, and TGG looks for the Birds to surprise with an over-the-head performance at another point this season following last week’s encouraging TD drives against Hillsboro. However, the hostile Week 7 setting of Bonne Terre is probably not the time or place to predict such a seminal bout as WHS fighting a District 1 contender to the finish line. Besides, there’s always a good crowd at North County until 2000 football-haters leave at halftime in The Great NCHS Traffic Jam, and they’ll probably make enough noise by the 2Q break that Windsor is left on ice. PREDICTION: NORTH COUNTY 42, ALBINO BIRDS 10