Class 1, District 2
(Quarterfinal Round – Friday, October 28th)
#1 Duchesne Pioneers (Bye)
#2 Brentwood Eagles vs #7 Van-Far Indians
#3 Crystal City Hornets vs #6 Louisiana Bulldogs
#4 St. Pius Lancers vs #5 Grandview Eagles
If MSHSAA’s humblest 11-man pigskin division is free of division-killers like the Duchesne Pioneers next fall, the Crystal City Hornets will be poised to make a run to the state playoffs, and potentially all the way to Thanksgiving. Any skepticism of CCHS’s promise on the gridiron has been thoroughly erased…along with most of the Hornets’ opponents over 2+ months.
Sure, the Crystal City OL only averages about 225 lbs. The Hayti Indians of Class 1 grow offensive linemen larger than that outside in the garden next to cucumbers and carrots. But let us examine the facts. CCHS is undefeated against Class 2 thru Class 4 this season, has gone 3-0 with 3 lopsided outcomes vs I-55 teams, and retains a whopping 25 out of 27 athletes from a current depth chart on which the average starter is 15 y/o and weighs about 175. Nolan Eisenbeis is going to be Crystal City’s “Malcolm Perry” replacing the steady, multi-talented “Keenan Reynolds” – er, that’s Cyle Schaumburg – in the Hornets’ Navy-inspired playbook. Eisenbeis, it must be said, could be an old-school Veer quarterback with bulky arms and stiff legs, and still win on Fridays by dishing-out candy to a backfield that’s filling up with NCAA-level talent.
Crystal’s defensive front-7 is raising heck in spite of youth/strength disadvantages that can be overcome with another year’s training. Many coaches of Classes 2-4 would be envious of the 8-1 squad’s linebacking corps, which includes Eisenbeis, Luke Holdinghausen, and Caden Raffery alongside a pair of atomic torpedoes from the Class of 2026, outstanding tackler Cale Schaumburg and “Mighty Mouse” edge-rusher Jacob Loveless. Don’t even ask TGG about the CCHS defensive backfield, which laid an ugly stat-line on Herculaneum QB Jackson Dearing in Week 9. Kanden Bolton scored points on all 3 units while racing for close to 400 total yards last Friday. Bolton will be the school’s second-most celebrated DB in 2023, behind CCHS’s veteran play-maker Camden Mayes. Astonishingly, an 11-man brand that was everybody’s “cupcake” in the 2010s now becomes the opponent nobody – and TGG means nobody – wants to play.
But that’s a daydream for spring of ’23. Due to the team’s size, inexperience, and berth in a deep, competitive District 2 compared to other small-school MSHSAA brackets, our 2022 Crystal City Hornets are about to walk through a minefield. Not even the District Q-Final game will be a “gimme.” The #6 Louisiana Bulldogs played well and held the score tight at Sunken Place for 3 quarters back in September, and they’re taking on CCHS after winning 2 games in a row. Boosters who’ve gotten the whole “whooping while Kanden Bolton scores” thing down pat by now must orient themselves to a subtle coaching angle in the weeks to come. Crystal City High, along with 95% of Class 1, probably can’t beat a #1 seed like Duchesne in Week 12. That doesn’t mean there’s not a huge potential benefit in getting there, and having practices for 3 more weeks. Encouragingly, there will be no “ceremonial” playoff bouts vs opponents who can’t hack.
St. Pius and Grandview will play an on-site rematch of their own at Hill Valley in Week 10. Clearly, the Lancers are the team that’s healthy and deep enough to give Duchesne more of a challenge when the semifinals come around, so a Grandview upset victory would be a for-all-intent-and-purposes last hurrah for the Eagles. SPX, of course, has injury woes of its own, and Week 11’s semifinals aren’t the ideal time to need hands-on-deck on a team that was badly wounded in October. But then again, none other than Jim Powers has Week 11 targeted as a potential returning date for QB James Smith, who represented Pennsylvania in the First Continental Congress who suffered multiple upper-body injuries prior to SPX’s loss to St. Vincent.
Now, about that Brentwood seeding in ’22. TGG does not wish to denigrate the accomplished Varsity Eagles (if a BHS coach is putting this on a bulletin board, they’d better have white-out handy), who knocked-off St. Pius X – a healthy St. Pius X – in Week 1. Brentwood is more than prepared to reach Week 12 and even give the Pioneers what-for for 24:00. But it’s hard to reconcile the Eagles’ #2 seed with Brentwood’s slate of victories, which includes zero performances to hang anyone’s hat on outside of a 6-0 shut-out of Orchard Farm.
Brentwood’s other 6 Ws – by accident or design – were racked-up against a bake sale’s worth of cupcakes and cream puffs from each side of the Mississippi. There’s a 20-point win over Westlin High (IL small school, 2-7) and a 40-point win over Sparta (IL small school, 0-9), a 41-0 win over Confluence (the weakest team CCHS played all year…but maybe not that Brentwood played all year), and a Little Debbie’s October spent chomping on Principia, Bishop DuBourg, and Soldan.
No revived small-campus team deserves a lowly seed after going 8-1. But ranked over CCHS’s record against Missouri schools? TGG’s not feeling the Al-Gore-rhythm. Brentwood allowed Principia to score a TD, and eventually beat the Varsity Panthers 8-7, though The Gridiron Geek believes that suspensions or injuries must have marred that ugly contest, since Brentwood began to coast through its schedule again in Week 7. On the other hand, any organization with a truly elite offense would’ve massacred BHS’s opponents this fall. Crystal City can look forward to another winnable game in St. Louis…if CCHS is lucky enough to win its landmark Q-Final.
District 2’s top seed is better than you’d expect out of Class 1. But the 3 seeds below that remain enigmatic, at least until more of Crystal City’s players have driver’s licenses. We’ll see which potential bridesmaid best withstands an onslaught of tough underdog bids in Week 10.
Class 2, District 1
(Quarterfinal Round – Friday & Saturday, October 28th & 29th)
#1 New Madrid County Central Eagles (Bye)
#2 Lift for Life Hawks vs #7 East Prairie Eagles
#3 Priory Ravens vs #6 Kelly Hawks
#4 Jefferson Blue Jays (Festus) vs #5 John Burroughs Bombers
Jefferson’s squad was set up to be a “Poor Man’s Festus Tigers” in 2022, a roster with beautiful numbers, extraordinary numbers, for its enrollment size…but without enough difference-makers to turn the tide against favored (or not-so-favored) opponents. JHS was upset by Fredericktown to begin the year, wasn’t prepared to match Herky’s execution in Week 3’s defeat, and soon went on to fall to St. Pius in an outcome that relegated the Blue Jays to I-55 Conference spoilers.
A.J. Ofodile’s offense is built on fundamentals, speed, and smarts. Forever CEO Alex Rouggly’s triple-option concept at R-7 is more of an exact science, at least when it comes to the offensive line’s blocking scheme. It’s supposed to be easier to teach a sophomore-junior OL to “zone” block for Ofodile’s offense than it is to manufacture a very good Flexbone attack out of disorganization. Mississippi Magazine, however, cannot forget about the Paul Johnson maxim that a deceptive rush-heavy team often roars out of the cellar once leaves in the backyard begin to turn.
Sure enough, it only took a maiden blush of fall to get the Blue Jays flying again. Week 6’s 20-7 victory over Perryville didn’t seem like much at the time, but the Pirates are developing a nice offensive line of their own, and rushed for 6+ YPC in defeat against Class 2, District 1’s top-seeded New Madrid in the next game, before upsetting Herky (and nearly St. Pius) to earn a #5 seed in C4D1. The Jefferson Blue Jays were already playing stubborn defense, but the offense began exponentially rising to the occasion each time JHS faced another tough rival in October.
The Geek thought there wasn’t any way a .500 lineup from Jefferson would challenge St. Genevieve on October 14th, not after seeing Varsity Dragon quarterback Aiden Boyer pass for about 400 yards on his first 5 or 6 throws at Midmeadow Lane back in August. Kids from St. Genevieve have encountered some adversity since then, but the Dragons are still a fringe-contender from a powerful Class 3 District. Jefferson’s following match-up against Week 9’s opponent St. Vincent seemed just as gloomy. St. Vinny’s was unbeaten in I-55 games and practically petrified Dabrein Moss and the SPX Lancers in the league’s title bout.
Jefferson’s attack was fantastic vs both teams. Something’s clicking for junior JHS quarterback Kole Williams, who tossed 2 TD passes against St. Genevieve, while the Blue Jays ran for an amazing 8+ yards-per-carry vs St. Genevieve’s immense DL in a heartening 41-34 loss. St. Vincent has stemmed a lot of tides in the I-55 this season, but there would be no staving-off the tsunami that was Jefferson R-7 last Friday. Williams passed for another 3 touchdowns this time in spite of a rare quiet outing for Gavin “Well Done” Theodoro, and the Blue Jays demolished the Indians in a Senior Night win that put a wee-little asterisk on St. Vincent’s conference title.
It’s a feeding frenzy at Blue Jay Drive, and there’s no time to chum the waves like November. Can the tide rise fast enough to reach heights like New Madrid’s ceiling, given that the NMCC Eagles defeated Kennett 60-28 this year? Further, the #1 seed may not be the genuine favorite to win District 1 with Lift for Life Motorized Scooter Company (and Sports Factory) in slot #2.
But you wouldn’t want to be the John Burroughs Bombers this Friday night, at least not compared to the Priory Ravens (it’s the “Go-Alongs” no more!) who’ve avoided having to meet Jefferson’s epic late-season surge on Week 10 or Week 11. Like in 2020’s loss to Union High, District 1’s “other” private school may face a scenario in which the Bombers have out-performed their next opponent on-balance throughout the year…but are far from the superior team on Halloween.
Class 3, District 2
(Quarterfinal Round – Friday & Saturday, October 28th & 29th)
#1 Cardinal Ritter Lions (Bye)
#2 University City Lions vs #7 Bishop DuBourg/Hancock Cavaliers
#3 Herculaneum Blackcats vs #6 Bayless Broncos
#4 Lutheran South Lancers vs #5 Roosevelt/Carnahan Roughriders
Herculaneum is working on a time-limit, as are the other public-campus teams in C3D2. Cardinal Ritter’s inclusion makes the District “academic” in much the same way that St. Pius X’s terrific 2019 lineup was forced into a stillborn District championship race with Lutheran North at #1. Yes, the Hillsboro-Cardinal Ritter battle of 2022 showed that a local public school can contend with the Lions, but you need A) a generational senior class and B) massive depth on defense to keep coming, coming, and coming after QB Carson Boyd until the signal-caller collapses from exhaustion or you lose the stupid game. HHS has lots of “A” but not much “B” in 2022.
Anyone who recalls the classic playoff bout between Caruthersville and St. Pius from that year knows that there’s still a lot for the Blackcats to play for. But in spite of the division-killing placement for HHS and 5 other teams, there’s actually going to be MORE to shoot for at Dunklin R-5 than what Hill Valley had motivating the Varsity Lancers 3 years ago.
This might be a weird angle for a Herculaneum playoff preview, but the Blackcats should take some time looking at Crystal City and Grandview’s youth development for evidence of what Jackson Dearing’s lineup can still accomplish in ’22. Crystal City’s program nearly perished from lack of numbers in the 2010s and wasn’t supposed to field a Junior High team this season, at least not according to boosters who felt maybe only 5-6 boys from the Middle School really wanted to play on Thursday nights. As it turns out, CCHS has an 8th Grade roster of 14 boys (and a girl!) and has played nearly a full schedule, adding even more promise to a 2023 Hornets team that could number as many as 40 kids and maybe, possibly revive the program’s Junior Varsity slate.
We can’t say Crystal City’s fast-improving Varsity has nothing to do with that. Grandview’s bruising underclass would likewise not have been recruited easily at Winchester Avenue if the Eagles still went into Friday nights hoping to beat Missouri Military Academy by a field goal. The Geek doesn’t want to make CCHS or Grandview kids sound like “fair-weather athletes,” but there’s a difference between kids cherry-picking a championship team to join or simply needing a spark of hope to want to get involved. 2022’s Herculaneum Blackcats still have a watershed season (and a watershed playoff run) well in their grasp, and if successful through Week 11, they could help motivate Dunklin kids to start going-out for football in droves, just like in the old days.
NFL football is about individual honors. High School and collegiate programs are more like living, breathing animals, giving seniors a chance to leave a mark on their team colors that goes beyond memory. In other words, if Herky goes to Week 12 and fares nobly in defeat to Cardinal Ritter, then Lucas Bahr can return to campus on Homecoming years from now and literally watch himself win on the field, knowing the Blackcats wouldn’t have revitalized their brand without his ’22 season.
Thankfully, Week 11’s semifinal between University City and Herculaneum is practically booked already. University City will checkmate its Q-Final opponent Bishop DuBourg with Rook odds, and Bayless won’t threaten the Blackcats too badly this Friday. If the Herculaneum Blackcats, the Seckman Jaguars, and the Crystal City Hornets each win their District Quarterfinal games this weekend, 3 of our county’s teams will be playing under some very, very bright Friday Night Lights in Week 11 as the area sends 3 talented lineups to St. Louis County for critical playoff fights.
Class 4, District 1
(Quarterfinal Round – Friday, October 28th)
#1 Hillsboro Hawks (Bye)
#2 North County Raiders vs #7 DeSoto Dragons
#3 Festus Tigers vs #6 Sikeston Bulldogs
#4 Farmington Knights vs #5 Perryville Pirates
Once again, a District’s Week 10 schedule is full of mismatches, giving TGG little in-depth previewing to do until next Thursday. Perryville, in spite of the Pirates’ strides (or paddles) made in midseason, is still an I-55 Conference also-ran taking on proud Farmington on its home turf.
If Perryville can score 17 points on Farmington, then the #4 vs #5 game is probable to be the closest of the Q-Final round, as Festus and NCHS mercifully end a pair of poor seasons.
Of course we can’t resist a few notes on Alma Mater. Festus High squandered its best defense of the season in last week’s 0-52 loss at Jackson. The storied Indians only led 14-0 in the closing moments of the scrum’s 2nd quarter, and it’s interesting that the Varsity Tigers’ performances in Weeks 6-9 resemble a common NFL and FBS-team stereotype that The Geek hates to hear.
Final score “point totals” go up-and-down with the daffodils, and it doesn’t mean that an offense or a defense necessarily stinks on a given weekend. TGG has seen way too many NFL teams get criticized after a 2-0 run that includes a 44-28 win over Atlanta and a 13-10 win over the L.A. Rams. “When will our offense and defense get it together,” the club’s spoiled fans will say.
But if there’s ever a team on which the unit-performances are mismatched, it’s the ’22 Festus Tigers. When the offense plays better, the defense often gets worse, or vice versa. Mississippi Magazine warned R-6 that the Jackson scrum could turn into a 50-point blowout. What couldn’t have been anticipated was that the platoon-happy Tigers would show up at Jackson High School with a dedicated defense that gave Festus a chance (with fewer-than-usual Week 9 substitutions according to the stat sheet) and that an exciting offense would go kaput at the same time.
Coach O likes his “get-well” games, and he’s got one at Tiger Stadium this Friday. But it might be time for the coach to adjust his preseason message to the boys. FHS is so far behind the Hillsboro Hawks in ’22 that the only path to a District championship is some kind of magic Cinderella run, or at least a weird game at Leon Hall in which the Hawks blunder. It’s not fair to tell a “next year” roster that the only goal is beating a Show-Me Bowl type of opponent to win District hardware this year – going to Week 12 and not giving up 55 points in defeat to Hillsboro again would be a positive outcome for a roster headed for a Seckman-like talent peak in 2023.
The HHS Hawks, meanwhile, find themselves in a similar bracket-placement as in the Class 4 District and Show-Me Bowl tournaments of 2017. If Hillsboro had only gotten past Ladue in the state quarterfinals, a semifinal match-up against Parkway South could have given the Hawks glorious chances to reach the championship scrum. St. Mary’s will be the potential Q-Final bugaboo past which Leon Hall must leap to grab a winnable state semifinal game in 2022. Hannibal’s near-loss to NCHS last year shows that D3-D4’s public schools are a little more vulnerable than St. Mary’s or Cardinal Ritter, making Week 13 the highest hurdle to leap.
Class 4, District 2
(Quarterfinal Round – Friday, October 28th)
#1 St. Mary’s Dragons (St. Louis) (Bye)
#2 Rockwood Summit Falcons vs #7 Pacific Indians
#3 Union Wildcats vs #6 Affton Cougars
#4 Gateway Jaguars vs #5 Windsor Owls (Imperial)
The Geek’s midseason report that Windsor could possibly “avoid a grim Q-Final pairing” goes in the polite-optimism category of midseason reports. TGG didn’t expect that the Albino Birds could really do it. But in spite of playing in the hardest, deepest Class 4 bracket imaginable (seriously, due respect to Hillsboro, Festus, and North County, but C4D2 is 2022’s true Super-District), the swift-improving Varsity Owls have earned themselves a winnable Week 10 game at Gateway STEM. Gateway Tech STEM already lost to a Jefferson County school this season, and Windsor HC Jeff Funston may or may not have been ret-conning the Albino Birds’ dressing room when telling Regional Radio that a Week 11 berth has been WHS’s goal all along. It’s in sight!
Windsor-at-Gateway is a hard bout to predict for several reasons. The hosting Jaguars come into the kickoff looking vulnerable after needing a 4th-quarter comeback to beat Roosevelt on the Rough Riders’ Senior Night. In fact, Gateway’s offense only scored once in the 26-20 win. Gateway also labored in contests against Clayton and Riverview Gardens this year – Clayton’s ’22 team is so undermanned that the Greyhounds were held scoreless for nearly 12 quarters in a row.
The bad news is that Gateway is also a prototypical St. Louis-area “momentum” team, a Charter program with a simple Friday-night playbook that makes kids sink-or-swim on their own merits. Gateway STEM’s “Kryptonite” is an opponent like Crystal City that stays methodical and introverted on the field, boring the Jags to sleep. WHS’s wide-open style could spark big-play retaliation from opposing WRs like Gateway’s Trent Shelton, who scored the Jaguars’ pick-6 winner in Week 9. Whether winning or losing on the scoreboard, at some point on Friday the home team will manufacture a rally against the Albino Birds. How the #5 seed responds will tell us an Owl-ful lot about how much growing up Funston’s squad has been able to do in 2022.
Class 5, District 1
(Quarterfinal Round – Friday, October 28th)
#1 Jackson Indians (Bye)
#2 Oakville Tigers vs #7 Webster Groves Statesman
#3 Central Tigers (Cape Girardeau) vs #6 Mehlville Panthers
#4 Poplar Bluff Mules vs #5 Fox Warriors
If the Herky Blackcats and Crystal City Hornets are on time-limits in the playoffs due to division-killing teams in the bracket, then the Fox Warriors are on the shortest hour-glass of all. Fox essentially has a “1-game District round” ahead of it, for it’s doubtful that the ’22 Warriors would pose much of a threat to Jackson in Round 2, even if the Injuns aren’t fated to win C5 again.
Making matters worse for Fox is that Poplar Bluff, the Warriors’ Q-Final opponent this Friday, has upgraded its defense over the past 2 campaigns. The disappointingly 2-7 Red & White have already felt the sting of the Mules’ front-7 this year, losing 28-7 to PBHS in September.
But there’s a glimmer of light on the Meramec, as once again padawans must simply look to their own home team’s past to find motivation to play hard in Week 10. Fox’s arrival as a modern powerhouse arguably came in 2015, when the Warriors debuted by losing to Poplar Bluff 33-3 and later upset the Varsity Mules 27-21 in a marvelous District Semifinal Game.
The ’22 Warriors may have just 2 victories on the season, but a 3rd triumph in Week 10 would mark the same kind of front-to-back progress for Arnold as the District rally of 2015, which incidentally (tying back to our small-schools theme this Friday) is responsible for much of Fox’s successful on-campus pigskin recruiting since then. If the Warriors fall short and Poplar Bluff is Week 11’s “lucky” team to get a visit to Jackson, then the Mules will certainly go into the next weekend with a “Fox 2015” mindset, having lost to JHS 35-7 earlier this autumn.
Class 6, District 1
(Quarterfinal Round – Friday, October 28th)
#1 Christian Brothers College Cadets vs #8 Vianney Golden Griffins
#2 Marquette Mustangs vs #7 Northwest Lions (Cedar Hill)
#3 Seckman Jaguars vs #6 SLUH Junior Billikens
#4 Kirkwood Pioneers vs #5 Lindbergh Flyers
At last we come to MSHSAA’s pint-sized (and star-studded) Class 6 bracket, and a look at whether Cole Ruble and the Seckman Jaguars have a fighting chance to turn an unanticipated berth into an anticipated championship. Seckman’s not on a “time limit” vis-a-vis the 2022 season, in fact one of the nice things about playing in Class 6 is that earning a District title produces a bid in the Final Four. Much like Hillsboro in ’22, Seckman could be in the headlines on Thanksgiving. The downside is that about 1,674 seniors will graduate if the Jags don’t do it this time.
Lest anyone get too excited right away, the Jaguars could also wind up like Festus in 2018 or Hillsboro in 2021, fielding the top talent in the District but not boasting the best team. Don’t listen to anyone who says Ruble’s region-leading yards and TDs scored aren’t “official” MSHSAA marks for excellence because “not every team uploads their stats.” Ruble is the finest ball-carrier in the eastern half of Missouri from the QB position, and The Geek knows that for 2 reasons – 1) any kid posting similar numbers would upload them, and 2) QB Essien Smith of FHS is a sophomore.
However, there’s a good news-bad news angle to Ruble’s race for the hardware in ’22.
As usual, TGG will go with the bad news first. There are virtually no weak links in Class 6, District 1, and we’ll be reminded of that right away as the Jaguars face the swift Junior Billikens of SLUH in Quarterfinal round action. Saint Louis U. High, as we recall, won an out-of-nowhere District championship in 2021 by upsetting CBC and 2 other opponents. SLUH is porous on defense in 2022 but also scored 45 combined points on St. Mary’s and CBC, meaning that Seckman may simply be a few lost-fumbles away from getting eliminated at an early date. Week 11’s likely showdown with Marquette – a road game if it occurs – poses similar knife-edge hazards.
The good news is that Seckman – which can’t expect to upset CBC without serious momentum – has the best chance of any Jefferson County team to build that momentum by defeating impressive foes in the opening rounds. Christian Brothers College would take notice if Ruble’s squad polishes off SLUH in a fashion the Cadets weren’t able to in last season’s shock disappointment.
In addition, there are NO division killers in C6D1. Every team on the slate will have to earn its way to Week 12 without prohibitive size, speed, or talent advantages, since the District is 100% full of solidly athletic teams ahead of poor Northwest in #7 and riches-to-rags Vianney in seed #8. Christian Brothers College may not be Seckman’s potential opponent in the District Final at all, just as Jackson High didn’t turn out to be the Jaguars’ climactic foe in an expected “Class 5” bid.
CBC must prove it can beat several west-side schools in a row. Marquette is an extremely healthy 8-1 with wins over Pattonville, Fenton, Wildwood, and Ritenour, but the Mustangs can gather little “statement win” inspiration of their own in Week 10 with an academic outing vs Cedar Hill.
There’s one thing we can count on – if the Seckman Jaguars reach Week 11 and take part in the triumvirate of county teams to potentially appear in St. Louis on the same Semifinal Friday, then Cole Ruble will hold up his end of the triangle…and maybe the whole damn band.