#1 – Hillsboro Hawks

Was the Blue & White unfortunate to peak on the gridiron just as Class 3 and Class 4 are leftover-turkey full of private school division-killers? Considering the machine HHS otherwise had its hands on in 2022, it’s tone-deaf not to ask the question.

Even the Alphaville detective Lemmy Caution (who somehow saves civilization with an Oldsmobile and a single cooperative lady) couldn’t figure out why Hillsboro’s form declined by 10 touchdowns in Week 12 of 2021, a weekend after beating Festus High by exactly 1 more point than in a classic bout last September. At least this fall’s eventual playoff loss was easier to fathom, as HHS ran smack into RB John Roberts and the St. Mary’s Dragons in Week 13 after smoking the whole of District 1. But with October’s antagonist Cardinal Ritter potentially moving up to Class 4 in 2023, it seems that even a closure at the aforementioned Dragons’ campus can’t wash the Hawks’ division totally clean of ‘Godzilla’ private schools next year.

Jefferson County’s small-school teams (and northern teams) can only want to react by saying “join the club.” Hillsboro’s dilemma is nothing new for MSHSAA rosters from Classes 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, or for C4D2 representatives who toil vs assembled rosters from STL.

For years, the only good news about playing in Class 4’s tough “Super-District 1” was that you could slip through the cracks in the bracket to advance against public schools only, such as how North County reached the semifinals vs Hannibal High in 2021. MSHSAA’s ongoing adherence to tradition (and geography) means District 1 will probably stay all-public, though, and the unexpected playoff defeats of Lutheran North, Valle University, Duchesne, and Country Day (only dorks say “MICDS”) show that St. Mary’s is more of a generational lineup on a 2-year hot streak than just another private-school program doing its thing in 2022.

On the field, the ’23 Varsity Hawks may be comparable to this season’s North County Raiders, or last season’s FHS Tigers, by virtue of a senior linchpin’s presence in the backfield, and an offense as handy as the “old” one in critical ways. QB Preston Brown is poised for another mammoth dual-threat campaign after debuting as well as anyone in the county could’ve (yes, that means you too, Mr. Ruble) in a souped-up edition of Bill Sucharski’s playbook. 2022’s plethora of home-run touchdown carries will dry-up without so many Division 1 rushers cradling the rock, but the Jefferson Blue Jays of the early 2020s have shown what a classy aerial-game can do for an offense on which break-away A-backs are more readily available in some seasons than in others. Hillsboro High’s offense could look an awful lot like the 7-3 Blue Jays from 13-14 months ago, but with championship-level Class 4 offensive linemen doing the blocking. Recall that the Leon Hall offensive front was actually refashioned heading into this season, with only a couple of senior student-athletes in the nucleus. Brown’s ability to demolish defenses with the forward pass will keep Hillsboro’s blue-collar backs in business vs 7-man fronts.

Special teams should be another strong-suit in 2023. TGG would love to give PK Nick Marchetti a nickname like “No-Miss Marchetti” in homage to “Miss Manicotti” from The Honeymooners. But there can be no such pithy ledes written about the junior yet, since Manicotti Marchetti seldom had chances to grab headlines after nailing a 37-yard field goal to help Hillsboro vanquish North County in Week 4. That didn’t keep the strong-legged specialist from booting numerous touchbacks on kickoffs and putting Hillsboro’s opponents in bad field-position throughout the team’s epic October-November run. Marchetti has a deeper kickoff leg than an Emily Holt and the accuracy of a Will Breeze, making the soon-to-be senior into a potential key weapon for a more methodical version of the Blue & White next autumn. As we’ve pointed out on Mississippi Magazine, kicking 4Q field goals can pin a special-teams-challenged rival in an almost “unfair” late-game scenario.

Hillsboro’s main point of concern is its defense, which a FIFA World Cup fan (ahem, that’s “supporter”) would say has “reversion to form” – or some other fancy Negative-Nancy term – stamped all over it. Graduations will poke some holes in the Hawks’ electric ground game, but springtime will be more like a last curtain-call for an elite crew of HHS defenders. May’s graduating Austin Romaine, Jaxin Patterson, Griffin Ray, Alex Medina, and Harrison Voyles were responsible for a majority of Hillsboro’s tackles this year, in addition to 20 out of 26 of the lineup’s QB sacks. The only category in which the role-playing HHS underclass finished above the seniors was in passes intercepted, but INTs will happen when KSU’s newest linebacker is rushing an edge, and a rare Mississippi Conference All-American Bowl representative is crashing around the other.

Sucharski’s goal in 2023 will be to make opposing turns look like Hillsboro’s have traditionally looked, measured in short gains and a requirement of total discipline to score. If opposing teams blunder-away their Red Zone chances next season – as FHS among others has been wont to do – Brown’s ability to shine as a downfield passer on sudden-change downs could have HHS’s rivals staring at yet another losing scenario, whether the Hawks give-up 400+ opposing yards or not.

#2 – Seckman Jaguars

The Geek believes 2023 could be a stupendous year for several local teams, especially those located right along the water. Festus R-6 will be trending up.  Herculaneum has officially emerged from the program’s long swoon. Windsor could manufacture a legit W/L mark in receiver A.J. Patrick’s senior campaign. Jefferson vs St. Pius will be a duel of veteran QBs in ’23, except with Crystal City’s “rookie” potentially poised to out-shine both boys over the long haul.

But then there’s Seckman, a school that can only celebrate its last 3 years of Friday Night Lights…and then try to pick up the pieces.

If anyone thinks the Class of 2023 was a one-man band on the gridiron, just take a look at how many of Cole Ruble’s supporting cast are about to leave gaping holes on the Jaguar depth chart. Big blockers like Noah Hardin, who helped Ruble set what could be an all-time-and-forevermore Jefferson County record with 46 rushing TDs in 11 games this season, will move on to the next level. Will Becker, Stalwarts of the ’22 Seckman defense like Will Becker, Michael Stivers, and Hayden “Hunter” Gatterer are all graduating. SHS is graduating its finest receiver too, senior Anthony Westervelt, along with Westervelt’s fellow tongue-twisting playmaker Eli Wingbermuehle.

Nobody will begrudge the wonderful Varsity Jaguars for losing a few scrums next year. The danger is that a minority of Imperial boosters who never liked HC Nick Baer’s playbook to begin with could rabble-up a “Cole Carried Coach” chant as soon as the Jags slip below .500 again for the first time. If over a dozen new starters cannot manufacture some kind of noble effort in 2023, it’ll be like a former Heavyweight champ losing his life’s savings in a bad sequel, winding up right back on the same street-corner where he started out.

A season of 4-to-6 victories is imperative if Baer wants to maintain Seckman as a smash-mouth powerhouse, and not a program that begins to tinker with the formula as alumni become restless in losing campaigns. The positive angle is that Seckman High’s excellence in fall ’22 clouded over what would’ve readily appeared to be vulnerable teams on the schedule anyway, even if Baer still coached 2019 or 2020’s nickel-and-dime rosters against them. University City barely conquered a wounded Herky Blackcats team in this year’s playoffs, Northwest isn’t going anywhere too fast, and Mehlville finished 3-7. None of those teams will be world-beaters when Seckman meets them in Weeks 2 through 4 again, and even Week 1 foe Valle could be slightly diminished compared to the amazing lineup Valle U. fielded against SHS this year.

Ample “padding” will be necessary prior to the predictable blows taken in midseason, when Pattonville, Parkway South, and rejuvenated Oakville High come calling. But the experience on 2023’s roster should help, which may be a funny thing to say about a team with so very many graduating upperclassmen. 2022’s backup quarterback Tommy Gibbar, a senior in 2023, didn’t throw a single incomplete pass in trash-time this season. The returning edge-rusher Jaydon Ashlock led the Jaguars with 4 sacks and a truly astounding 134 combined tackles. 20+ seniors in all will dot Baer’s roster in 2023 – it’s the sophomore numbers that appeared to be ailing this summer, but that may simply be because so many seniors and juniors made Varsity that SHS produced large JV and frosh rosters to maximize playing-time.

PK Brady Gossett is in a similar place as Hillsboro’s returning Nick Marchetti going into 2023, as talented boots who hardly got a crack at kicking field goals while playing for a team which coaches simply trusted to romp into the end-zone for 6 points instead of 3. But after kicking 52 extra points in ’22, Gossett’s leg could come in handy as Seckman tries to close-out underdogs that SHS is supposed to beat – the real key to a decent record next year.

#3 – Festus Tigers

The outlook, like those November sunrises that portend precipitation at Midmeadow Lane, is rosy. FHS alumni wished for a quarterback who could hope to replace the amazing Cole Rickermann, and just perhaps for a linebacker who could replace the NCAA Division 1 freshman Eric Reuss. A.J. Ofodile’s latest roster-building effort gave us double-trouble with new faces at each position, blistering-fast Essien Smith and dual-threat quarterback Jeremiah Cunningham leading the offensive backfield, and LB Mason Schirmer growing into a ballplayer just as teammate Eli Ortmann approaches what may be a massive senior year. WR Arhmad Branch is moving on from Festus sports after basketball season, but several underclassmen emerged as downfield threats by November. Next year’s seniors Hayden Bates and Landen Yates could form a rushing and run-after-catch duo opposing teams “Hates” as badly as “He Hate Me.” 30 other juniors are poised to return to the gridiron as upperclassmen.

There’s also little doubt that the FHS defense will have a better overall showing in 2023. Brady Nolen has emerged as a star of the Lollipop Guild next to the returning Yates, and junior defensive ends Austin Gould and Dante Bridgett have been playing like student-athletes for whom the light will finally come on at age 17. If the Tigers go with a traditional starting QB and a backup signal-caller, either Smith or Cunningham could grab 5+ picks as a part-time member of the defensive backfield.

2023 is a “flip-flop” year for MSHSAA in which each team’s schedule remains essentially the same as the season before. That doesn’t mean, though, that Midmeadow Lane can’t improve substantially on a 6-6 record at its current rate of progress, especially as the Festus Tigers get older and opponents become younger. Jaxin Patterson, Jobe Smith, and Sam Drury will combine for exactly 0 touchdowns vs Black & Gold in 23. St. Genevieve County’s ace QBs Aiden Boyer and Chase Fallert will toss zero TD passes against the Tigers. Farmington’s rebuilding chore looks like it could take more than 12 months, and Hillsboro will resume draining the game-clock instead of draining everyone’s will to compete with 5 TDs in 10 minutes.

There’s only a single a bug in Ofodile’s championship potion. It’s hard to win District honors when you aren’t winning the line-of-scrimmage.

The mysterious removal of names from the late-2022 roster is making a team that went into August big, beefy, and burly appear to be dangerously thin in the trenches, at least for a platoon-team whose HC often gives the impression that he’d rather play a 140-pound linebacker than let an athlete toil on 2 units. Braydon Hanlon and Reydyn Lynch, 2 underclass players who boasted massive measurables, now seem to be off the squad. STLToday misreported senior O-lineman Eli Williams as future “Class of 2024”  for 3 consecutive seasons (imagine that), tricking The Geek along with any other reporters who have fallen out-of-favor with AD Eric Allen’s deer-hunting athletics office, and can’t get enough roster details without second-hand sources. Festus was so barren of large blockers by the 2022 campaign’s end that senior James Muellersman’s sub-200 lb. frame endured every-down punishment at guard and tackle.

Game film cannot be disguised like an administrator’s foul temperament can. FHS finished the season as a mish-mash up front, and must now rebuild for fall ’23 with less material than advertised.

Thankfully, there’s a crew of big youngsters who may be ready to step in. Rob Turner is a 275+ sophomore who presumably took practices on both sides of the ball while netting 18 total tackles this year. 250-pound Zeke Cristobol and Isaiah Desmarius’ lack of defensive statistics from 2022 is actually a good thing – it shows that even if neither bruiser cracked this year’s full-time starting lineup, they’re both getting carefully groomed to play offensive line. Senior-to-be Austin Reece, the Varsity Tigers’ biggest player at a towering 6’5 and 375 lbs., isn’t moving around quite as nimbly as Yokozuna or Big Show yet, but with 8 months’ work, he could at least raise his on-field mobility to somewhere near a One-Man Gang level.

The rest is up to Ofodile, who may need to become more of a Black Sabbath fan and utilize “Iron Man” football for a change if Festus High is going to pay-off the potential of dozens of senior skill players in 2023. Conversely, a rash of injuries across a shallow OL-DL depth chart could eliminate the boys from contention as early as October, even if some linemen return to the roster in ’23 or new transfers arrive in the summer. That could make it scary to field more than 1-2 Iron Man linemen. Ofodile’s management of what should be a promising, but very delicate effort at the LOS will be as critical as any aspect of Festus R-6’s title quest.

#4 – Fox Warriors

Fox won’t have anywhere close to FHS’s legion of senior athletes in 2023, but the good news is that Arnold’s Class of 2024 includes a lot of key names. 4 senior linemen will return to block for junior QB Cameron Underwood, whose 7.4 yards-per-carry as a sophomore illustrates that Grant Gibson’s replacement could become the next thrilling Flexbone pilot Warrior pigskin needs to succeed. But the Red & White defense must improve after producing 12 combined sacks and INTs in 2022.

#5 (Tie) – St. Pius Lancers and Jefferson Blue Jays

The placement of SPX and JHS on our season-ending Power Poll brings up an important question – are the Show-Me Bowl week rankings a “season recap and awards” column, or a measure of how bright next season looks for each team?

Taken in totality, there’s no question St. Pius had a better year than Jefferson under Friday Night Lights. The Lancers laced the Blue Jays by 3 scores in the schools’ only 2022 meeting. St. Pius X can boast of an 8-3 season, while Alex Rouggly’s program labored to finish at 5-5.

Yet it’s hard to imagine St. Pius’ modest, injury-addled offense from this autumn having the kind of surge in point-scoring of Jefferson’s late-season campaign against a killer schedule. We know how many points St. Pius X typically scores on St. Genevieve – not very many. Jefferson High scored 5 touchdowns and nearly defeated Class 3’s Dragons. St. Vincent Prep stone-walled the Varsity Lancer offense in Week 7, but then allowed nearly 50 points from Kole Williams’ burgeoning lineup just 14 days later.

A stranger might see St. Pius line-up in a spread formation while Jefferson warms-up in the Flexbone, and conclude that HC Dan Oliver’s side is the more “wide open” team between the pair of rivals. In 2023, that stereotype could be flipped on its rear-end as JHS tries to beat St. Pius X 49-35, while the Lancers patiently tackle-up and wait for a methodical O to get going.

#7 – Crystal City Hornets

We’ve been over it already. It doesn’t matter if Crystal City High went 0-1 or 6-0 in the postseason this year, at least not insofar as 2023’s team is concerned. Overconfidence, not a crisis of confidence, will be the demon that could plague CCHS once the ’23 Hornets get done stinging their schedule of regular-season opponents up, down, and sideways.

TGG won’t pretend to foresee how well Kanden Bolton, Camden Mayes, and the Hornets’ versatile Class of 2024 will play next season. Like Bill Parcells once said, every year on the gridiron is a brand-new deal. The Magazine has gotten lots of season-forecasts wrong by predicting mad development from current seniors, juniors, and sophomores, even in a Friday Night Lights landscape full of fast-rising youngsters and summer growth-spurts. The 2019 Festus Tigers, for instance, badly regressed in September in spite of returning hordes of upperclassmen from a winning playoff squad. Bolton, Mayes, and 10 other seniors could show up next campaign willing to just try the same crap they did all this year, nothing more, and expect to find more success on the field anyway. It happens.

But then there’s the Class of 2026, which makes Crystal City’s rise into Class 1 contention almost a done deal in advance. It’s not so difficult to project the development of promising frosh players who have managed to contribute on Varsity as 14-year-olds. If they play a little bit, they’re going to be pretty special later on, and if they’re already nifty with Varsity pigskin, look out. Most freshmen never sniff a snap with the Varsity squad whether they’re suited-out on Friday nights or not. Sure, local fans can surmise that a coaching staff desperate for numbers on the field was happy to take on additional players as go-to options without many older cogs around to supplement the team’s exceptional junior class. But there’s a difference between a stop-gap rookie and a freshman athlete who’s clearly set to make a difference as soon as his sophomore semesters begin.

Crystal’s 9th-graders Cale Schaumburg, Jacob Loveless, and Cohen Compton have combined to make one hell of an impact already, rapidly transforming the Hornets’ defense from a blue-collar creature into a swift, blitzing beast. The 8th-Grade Crystal City O-line that knifed through larger schools’ defenses in 2021 (okay, every team Crystal plays is from a bigger school, but a Class 1 Middle School slate with Union on it challenges your padawans against LARGER SCHOOLS) will be of a genuine Friday Night Lights age when the ’23 season rolls around. That means that blockers like Max Nelson, Hayden Westbrook, and Malakai Lang will suit-up alongside seniors like Matt Bins and Seth Senter to proportionally make-up for the loss of Hayden Reynolds on the OL, and possibly exceed even that.

TGG is a nervous to write this after watching Hillsboro’s offensive backfield for a whole autumn, but CCHS also has a chance to develop the county’s finest and deepest collection of rushers in 2023. The “finest” would not be an all-time fluke for the smallest out of 12 programs – Jefferson High alum Colby Ott arguably led the area’s most effective crew of RBs* just a couple of years ago. However, it’s that “deepest” adjective that has to catch the eye of the coaches in Classes 2-6 who read Mississippi Magazine.

*The Geek hears you, Arnold, but Brock Inman was a QB. 

There may be Suburban League teams who will wish they had something like Crystal’s QB-A-B-A combination next season. B-Back Caden Raftery is comparable to Hayden Bates as a north-south power runner, except that “Baker Street” plays on Mississippi Avenue and not at Midmeadow Lane against Hillsboro and North County. Kanden Bolton must merely stay healthy to have a 1000+ yard rushing and/or receiving senior year. Soon-to-be starting QB Nolan Eisenbeis approaches his junior season in the Flex with enough speed to score an explosive TD on any defense that happens to ignore a keep-read. Cohen Compton’s frosh stats were phenomenal, Landon DeRousse rushed for 8+ YPC, and not always in trash-time. Someone will have to start elsewhere – too many primo A-Backs!

Finally, there’s going to be an intimidation factor helping the Crystal City Hornets next fall, yet another element of having a winning team that Sunken Place coaches, students, and parents must adjust to.

The dangerous aspect of having an intimidating team is that you can demoralize too many pretty-good teams for your own good, causing the lineup to post a weird losing record in close scrums even as everybody can plainly see that players are staying cool and collected in the clutch. Just ask Hillsboro High School, or the Olympic Athletes of Valle Catholic.

The phenomenon going to be what it is, though, given that it potentially doesn’t make sense for HC Daniel Fox to field any underclass squads, since the 2023 sophomore class is more than ready to beat Varsity opponents, and 2022’s 8th Grade team could simply repeat its dull losing record, or suffer injuries and forfeits as an out-numbered Freshman brand in weekday bouts. Instead, there may be another sizable contingent of 12+ freshmen along to boost a club that’s dressing-out close to 40 kids on Fridays, a truly remarkable number for the “smallest” brand in C1.

Crystal’s frosh enrollees, including boundary-breaking position player Ryanna Raftery, cannot hope to see much playing time alongside older classes in ’23, with the exceptions of Week 6’s anticipated trampling of Missouri Military Academy, and potentially the Chaffee game. But they wouldn’t have to do a whole lot more than contribute in practices and on special-teams to give Fox’s staff an overwhelming numbers-edge that coaches could scarcely dream of when CCHS had a 15-man gang.

CCHS’s 2-way stars like Bolton, Eisenbeis, and Luke “Danhausen” Holdinghausen, will only have to play 2 ways if the coaches decide to utilize their blocking-hausen and tackling-hausen. Veteran reserves and well-rehearsed platoons will now be available whenever Fox needs them, an embarrassment of riches for a coach who has earned it. It’ll potentially be a shock for Crystal City rivals, especially less-familiar opponents who could come along in Weeks 10-12, to hear they’re playing the “smallest program in MSHSAA” only to greet a 40-up powerhouse of a roster with dedicated offense, defense, special teams, and more players on hand.

Who – tell The Geek who – is going to beat these guys in the first 9 games of 2023? Herky’s taking on a rebuilding chore that’s going to cast HHS as the underdog on Senior Night. Before that, Crystal City will face half a schedule of foes that it’s already blown-out in 2022, and another 1/2 of a slate that isn’t full of schools boasting a generational senior class AND a potentially equally-insane sophomore unit on the same team at the same time. In fact, it might be the opponents you don’t see coming who give Crystal City its hardest hurdles in the 2023 regular season, such as Vandalia, which – outer space jokes aside – had a 2022 roster that reminded TGG a lot of the fledgling CCHS Hornets from 2021.

Russellville’s visit to Sunken Place in Week 5 will be a revenge-bout for the ages, with referees carefully vetted for school-ties and basic geometry knowledge prior to the kickoff. Louisiana is a road trip that could give Crystal City problems after having gone 1-1 vs the LHS Bulldogs in 2022, just a week after CCHS is scheduled to beat visiting Chaffee by 26 touchdowns. But the toughest test on the 2023 schedule is probably Gateway Tech, which could field a bigger, meaner, and nastier team in autumn of 2023 with a gigantic junior class and athletes like WR Trent Shelton poised to return alongside quarterback Anthony Rayner.

CCHS could play a better Week 5 game than in this year’s electrifying Gateway win and still lose to the new-and-improved Jaguars in ’23. Though if the rising Varsity Hornets prove their mettle against Class 4 once again, Russellville might be staring at another foul road-trip to Jefferson County just 24 months after losing 64-7 at Grandview…with all TDs counting.

#8 – Herculaneum Blackcats

Loyal readers know that TGG runs out of steam on the final-3rd of a column, so we apologize in advance if the last 4 schools on 2022’s Power Poll are covered more briefly. But it’s hard not to be brief when going-over Herculaneum’s options to replace its graduating backfield in 2022-23. An improving defense is a credit to Dunklin R-5 and gives the Blackcats chances to post solid W/L marks in a newfangled I-55 Conference. Conversely, it’s plainly obvious that HHS will continue to need to score a few points to beat high-powered rivals like SPX, Jefferson, and CCHS.

The seniors Jackson Dearing, Lucas Bahr, Mike Moloney, Anthony Gallina, Dylan Jarvis, Luke Liles, Hunter Meyers, and Luke Brice, were responsible for ALL of Herky’s rushing, passing, and receiving yards in 2022. The youngsters Chase Payne and Brayden Mattingly combined to rush for 0 yards on 2 carries, and that’s all she wrote. The Felines go into next campaign with effectively zero players who have touched the egg.

That, padawans, is known as a GEN-YEW-WINE rebuilding project. Let’s hope HC Blane Boss is up to the task of crafting an offensive backfield out of literally nada. (Perhaps ex-GHS skipper Dave Dallas can lend advice.)

Herky’s bright side is that a hefty, hulking underclass contingent that boosted the squad up-front in 2022 will be returning for 2023 in healthier form. Carter Light is a near-300 lb. freshman with the measurables to become this generation’s Ben Grady on the OL and DL, while his big-bro Damien Light steps into his senior year following a terrific junior stint at middle linebacker. Some of the sizable frosh and sophomore linemen featured on the ’22 Blackcats are already head-toppers at 6’1″ or taller, a good sign if Boss intends to keep pass-blocking an NFL style of attack.

Don’t be tricked by receiver Gabe Moore’s HUDL profile, though. The sophomore’s “6’5” height is regretfully listed next to Moore’s “playing weight” of 250 pounds, his 4.4 time in the 40-yard dash, and his “10.2” 100-yard dash, good enough to qualify for the United States Olympic Trials. Moore earned that honor shortly after winning the IBF World Heavyweight Championship, just before curing Diabetes, and right as he was helping Washington D.C.’s joint chiefs of staff with the war-strategy effort.

Coaches should discourage padawans from making up practical-jokes like that. Heck, maybe Moore’s non-fictional stats offer some kind of promise to Herculaneum’s depth chart. Besides, just ask CCHS freshman Ricardo Pastrana – you can earn more favor from The Geek by being honest.

#9 (Tie) – Windsor Owls and Grandview Eagles

The Grandview Eagles must not be overlooked as another potential candidate to peak in 2023 and/or 2024. GHS graduates a star receiver-linebacker in Austin Blankenship and a lineman in Jayce Poole, but that’s all the players that May’s ceremony will swipe from a Birds of Prey lineup prepared to play 15+ upperclassmen around senior QB Jacob Walker.

Next to come will be Ethan Ottolini’s senior year performing alongside 3 other veteran O-linemen, and there’s even more bruising girth coming up from the Winchester Avenue underclass ranks. Keep an eye on Tucker Rhinehart, a 6’2′ sophomore-to-be, as a new force in GHS’s blocking.

Walker may be spoiled by a backfield that includes senior RBs Nash Moore and Camron Hagen. But the real key to Grandview’s winning season #3 in a 4-year span will be the defense, which was amazing at times and overwhelmed at other times in 2022.

If the Birds of Prey can consistently pursue-and-tackle like they did vs Show-Me Bowl representative St. Dominic in Week 4, the Eagles’ ability to control the ball on long drives could become prohibitive of defeat. In fact, Grandview’s brave appearance against the powerful Crusaders is a big reason why GHS and Windsor tied in our season-ending Power Poll. Windsor lost to a similar opponent in St. Clair by an ugly 4Q score.

People talk about an underdog team getting better in “fits and starts,” but Windsor’s problem has been that the Owls have gotten better in pieces. Alumni QB Derek Williams’ offense was handy enough to score some early points vs Festus and produce 5+ touchdowns vs Hillsboro, but the Albino Birds were too light on their feet to withstand 48:00 against the Hawks or Tigers. When the OL and front-7 began to get stronger in 2021, running backs like Jaxin Patterson simply ran right past Windsor’s tacklers.

The solution is…a 20-man crew of seniors and the oldest starting offense in the Mississippi league? Well, let’s hope, because that’s what the ‘Birds have on their hands for 2022. A.J. Patrick’s senior WR corps is 5-deep. HC Jeff Funston’s offensive line is 7-deep in senior athletes, with another contingent of juniors beefing the trenches up even further.

That sounds like progress to The Geek. Prepare for it, padawans – the first winning large school to lose to the Windsor Owls in 2023 will be teased mercilessly, with any protests that WHS is a new animal on the gridiron drowned-out by the predictable eye-roll of “But it’s WwwiiiNNNND-Zorrrr!”

“WwwiiiNNNND-Zorrrr” might then go on to beat its next Friday Night Lights opponent, too. Footballs don’t know what color jerseys teams are wearing, but scoreboards seem to “know” when you’ve got a terrific senior class.

#11 (Tie) – Northwest Lions and DeSoto Dragons

It would be painful to walk through Northwest or DeSoto’s seasons again, so we won’t do that today. But we do foresee DeSoto and Cedar Hill improving on 2022’s combined win-total (1) in 2023. There’s nowhere to go but up for ailing programs with 2 of the highest enrollment #s around.