DeSoto 14, Hillsboro 8
Buddhists say a man is shaped in his earliest years.
One of The Geek’s childhood friends was an All-Conference pass-rusher at a private school. In his senior year, the team played Festus and Hillsboro in consecutive weeks. The first Friday was a wild shoot-out loss in which both schools had chances.
Hillsboro was next. Everyone in the neighborhood believed that another exciting upset bid was at hand.
The Varsity Hawks won by about 50 points.
“I know what you’re about to say,” the lineman barked at me a day later. “Shut up.”
Just shy of 3 decades ago, Herculaneum had a Class 3 championship level roster. The Blackcats were in a conference with the other, bigger “HHS” at the time, and had to travel to Leon Hall to face the Blue & White. The Herky boys were stubborn and un-intimidated, and had a chance to drive for the winning points.
“Don’t run a QB Sneak on the goal line!” yelled The Geek’s father at then-Blackcat coach Stan Helms.
Helms ran a QB Sneak on the goal line. The Varsity Hawks shook the ball free and recovered for the win.
Lesson learned: Hillsboro always wins as the favorite. Hillsboro Hawk teams lose only to schools ranked near or atop their conferences, not from the pack or in the cellar, and they certainly don’t lose to programs in lower weight-classes.
The traditional pattern went a-glimmer this season already. HHS lost unexpectedly to St. Charles West, a school with falling enrollment which has not seriously contended for a Show-Me Bowl appearance in a few years. The Hawks bounced right back with a rousing triumph over Farmington, then went on to beat the Festus Tigers for the 4th season in a row.
Bumps, bruises and a youthful depth chart slowed Hillsboro again over the past few weeks.
But last Friday night was still a bolt from the blue.
Or the Green.
It was clear from the opening bell that something was amiss. Cole Watson, a brave and persistent tailback for the Dragons, scored the lone TD of the 1st half to give DHS a 6-0 lead. But holes weren’t a-plenty. Neither were Hawk 1st downs, thanks to DeSoto’s hefty weight in the trenches.
Hillsboro had decided that a slug-fest with more possessions was in its favor – typical tactics for the more-powerful team. By stacking the line of scrimmage and stuffing the DeSoto ground attack for most of the night, the Hawks hoped to create 3-and-outs and give Ethan Eckrich and the offense plenty of snaps.
That strategy also gave Briar Fischer and his receivers a go-ahead for takeoff. “Patch” managed 227 yards through the air and was intercepted twice, but only sacked once.
Fischer was also responsible, of course, for the play that shocked the entire Regional Radio network, a desperate 50-yard bomb snagged by athletic senior Clayton Snudden for the winning points with just over a minute left.
Hillsboro’s final offensive numbers are a study in frustration – less than 3 yards per rush, nothing special through the air, no explosive plays on special teams. Chris Johnson may have a Serena Williams streak with MSHSAA officials, but his game plan for a DeSoto win was classic Wimbledon. HHS expected to win on the line. Once the Hawks’ vaunted OL couldn’t block the Varsity Dragons, there was no Plan B.
The Dragons have officially snuck-up on the Mississippi conference. The Geek’s probing eye toward his alma mater helped glaze-over what was a solid performance vs the Festus Tigers, and Kolten Poorman’s greedy scoring made Fischer’s passing stats against the North County Raiders look a little fluky. But there was no fluke on Friday night, no 99-yard fumble returns, no comedy of errors or garbage-time. Just a low-scoring slobber-knocker that ended with the upstarts having arrived and the powerful Hawks falling to T-2nd in the MRAC for the 1st time in several years.
The Geek has written that Class 4, District 1 is the deepest, and therefore the toughest bracket in all of MSHSAA. Friday night’s stunner did nothing but make it better. Or worse, depending on how you look at it.
DeSoto has been an 8th seed. Hillsboro has been a 1st seed. Not only did the Dragons just trip the former #1 at Joachim Junction, but league rivals North County and Festus have shown high ceilings too (Windsor has shown life also, but the Albino Birds are in another District). Cape Central and Sikeston are still like objects in rearview – bigger than they appear. Farmington is a triple-option terror. Likely #1 seed West Plains is unbeaten, and may have its best roster of the decade.
That’s 8 teams that can fight like heck, ladies and gents, and the real battles are just getting started. 8 out of 8 excellent programs in a single high-fallutin’ Super-District? You can count on your foot the # of times MSHSAA has had this happen before.
Hark, reader! Perhaps you are joyful that DeSoto won, miserable that Hillsboro lost, or just curious about the biggest upset of the year on a Jeff County gridiron. But local alumni of all colors should be able to agree: 2018 is a special time to be a High School football fan.
-Original byline date October 8th, 2018