Festus 49, Pacific 13
Friday night was a time for Cinderella to sing. In case anyone doesn’t think virtually ALL of MSHSAA’s favorites were playing under the season’s real full moon in Week 7, consider that the DeSoto Dragons took the football and marched right down the field on Hillsboro in the 1st quarter. DeSoto missed a short field-goal attempt, but “short” field-goal attempts – or short passes into the end zone for that matter – haven’t been right-common for any of HHS’s opponents, let alone DeSoto.
Yet the Hawks’ early snafu on defense helped underscore the best thing Jefferson County had to offer on Week 7’s gridirons. Seckman, HHS, Festus R-6, and Fox holding serve against 4 underdogs isn’t a big story on most weekend mornings. This time around, we know that our top 4 programs bucked a big-time trend in avoiding upset bids. In Festus and Seckman’s cases, they did so in style. Pattonville was no pushover foe for the 7-0 Jaguars, and neither were the Pacific Indians an easy mark for the 5-2 Varsity Tigers. Not that a casual fan would recognize that from viddy-ing the box scores…or the game footage.
Whew! Did Black & Gold ever lay a beating on previously-prolific Pacific at the Homecoming Game. Festus whitewashed its Meramec Valley rivals with routine defensive stops, followed by – wait for it – CLEAN and relaxed turns on offense which produced an amazing 21 points in less than 6:00. A.J. Ofodile’s squad is sporting new jerseys that make the boys look like a cross between Joel Critchlow’s championship Windsor Owls, and the Wyoming Cowboys of collegiate football. That’s fitting enough (excuse the pun) given QB Jeremiah Cunningham’s “NCAA” quarterback’s stat line of 6-of-7 completions and a nice bomb for a TD. Junior QB Essien Smith sat out the Homecoming Game after sustaining an injury vs North County, but Ofodile had a couple of fair (COUGH, cough, cough) and decent (COUGH! GAG! SNEEZE!) running backs on the field in that 1st quarter.
We don’t want to give the county’s fans more false hope about beating Cardinal Ritter and Lutheran North etc, but our top 3 teams are punishing public-school underdogs just the way that you’d expect a Cardinal Ritter to blank them. For example, Pacific’s sideline appeared stunned – and for good reason – after falling behind 0-21 to a Midmeadow Lane program that’s always had well-contested games with PHS, even in the eras of Blake Goddard and Cole Rickermann.
Surely, the Indians would make a stand. Pacific took the next Festus kickoff with 5:21 left in the opening frame and began to overcome its own injury absence, that of the ace tailback Luke Meyer, with a nifty drive of runs and short passes. QB Seth Stack’s offense would eventually gain 300+ yards on the night, and Stack fired off a quality down-and-out pass to put the Indians in plus-territory as the opening frame wound onward. Would the visitors regroup and begin trading TDs, as Pacific has done to FHS so often? Could the Tigers rescue the promise of a much-needed Turbo Clock that would show off Ofodile’s promised roster depth in 2023?
It was time for…it was time for…
Festus DB Trey Lacey’s first (likely not his last) interception of the year teed Cunningham’s offense up in solid field position once again, and it wasn’t long before the unit had Festus up 28-0 in a scrum that The Geek predicted Festus would win with a late go-ahead rally. Not bad for a QB playing out his first full assignment as a starter at Festus High School, as crazy as that sounds. Cunningham simply played too well to be needed for the whole gig.
Now, about those running backs. Oh, good heavens, those running backs. It’s above The Geek’s pay grade (zero, for High School football anyway) to determine whether Festus has its own “Jax and Fresh” combination in the backfield of the variety that led Hillsboro into a state-playoff bid in 2022. Austin Romaine’s recent start for Kansas State (Yay!) was preceded by a career’s worth of carries for Hillsboro High and Blue-clad youth teams. RB Jaxin Patterson was dominating Mississippi Conference games when Hayden Bates was still a teenage basketball and baseball phenom, telling the would-be-recruiting football coaches at Festus “No, No, Nope, and Noooo” like the kid from The Bad News Bears who Walter Matthau wants to take a hit-by-pitch on purpose. It may be that Romaine and Patterson will go down as bigger Jeff County names than Bates and backup tailback Avery Edwards of Festus ’23, just because they got going sooner.
What we can say is that Midmeadow Lane’s “Thunder and Lightning” might not come from Smith and Cunningham teaming up on running plays, as TGG touted in August. It could come instead from a 1-2 punch combination of Bates and Edwards on simple Student Body rushes and cut-backs, with the duo already averaging a whopping 10.4 yards-per-carry and more than 2 touchdowns per game against solid opposition. Edwards’ gallop to make the score 28-0 was something special, however The Geek was just as impressed by Bates’ “Marcus Dupree” touchdown carry in the 1st quarter, combining some nifty moves near the line of scrimmage with a funny right-hook dismissal of Pacific’s final tackler at the 20-yard line.
Black & Gold’s next foe is nothing but an enigma in ’23. 4-3 Farmington’s campaign has been bookended by honest-to-goodness great stuff, like scoring 38 points against Jackson, crushing Potosi with a Turbo Clock for a change, and (most recently) fighting a tight battle with the Poplar Bluff Mules. But the Black Knights have had let-down outings against multiple teams in midseason, sandwiched around a bizarre “Exhibition” game of the sort that MSHSAA needs to cut it out with.
FHS is responsible for dodgy results against Class 5 since Coach O arrived on the scene. On the other hand, we’re pretty sure this Friday’s contest won’t come with 62 penalties and a baseball score like the ugly Festus vs Farmington game played during Ofodile’s debut in 2020. Farmington will have to try to defeat a Festus Tiger team that’s finally trending up.
Herculaneum 40, Bayless 0
Herky’s seemingly easy 40-0 romp on Friday was nothing to write home about, as skipper Blane Boss was quick to point out in postgame. Dunklin R-5 reverted to its simple formula against underdogs that involved less than 5 drop-backs and over 50 rushes, a game plan that players, coaches, and ticket buyers must have had their fill of by now. But the offensive line most certainly liked it, helping to rack-up around 400 rush yards sparking Herculaneum’s first breakout scoring day of ’23. Quarterback Keaton Reeves was more than just a Pez Dispenser, rushing for 128 yards and rivaling his RBs.
TGG felt that Windsor coach Jeff Funston was way too cheerful after the Albino Birds squeaked past the Blackcats in Week 1. Boss doesn’t want to make that mistake after snapping a losing streak, or use injuries, ailing numbers, or any other excuse as a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card for HHS pigskin, preferring to enforce a standard for all student-athletes on the team regardless of experience level. That’s just fine. But we still believe the head coach was WAAAY too downbeat in Regional Radio’s postgame, considering that Herky’s campaign has been RESCUED FROM THE BRINK at 3-4…not in the slow-motion way of prep sports revivals but in LESS THAN A WEEK starting last Monday.
Herculaneum was staring at a guaranteed losing record, a likely #6 or worse seed in a powerful Class 3 District, and a Week 10 road trip that ended in humiliation against Park Hills Central or another Godzilla. Presto, the Blackcats are now 3-4 instead of the 1-5 record they held a week ago. What’s even better is Herculaneum’s likely fate as a Week 10 Quarterfinal host.
Herky could wind up hosting a winnable – repeat, winnable – Q-Final kickoff versus brand-name opposition to start the autumn’s playoffs. Fortunately, there’s a solid chance that it won’t even matter whether Herculaneum goes 2-0, 1-1, or 0-2 against remaining rivals Perryville and Crystal City. Kennett is the probable #5 berth of Class 3, District 1 after a first 7 weeks in which the typically elite Indians have performed like the Festus Tigers of 2015 or the Hillsboro Hawks of 2019. KHS’s upset bid against #1 Dexter on Homecoming shows that the Kennett Indians still make a noble District playoff opponent. But conversely, the wounded Blackcats might be getting healthy by then, and would have their winning chances against a guest who labored against Sikeston and a horrendous Hayti squad this season, and whom was outclassed by C2’s New Madrid.
Could KHS jump over Herky for the #4 seed (and a home game) if Dunklin goes 0-2? It’s possible. But the Kennett Indians can’t claim any substantial standings-points without at least hanging around against its 2 remaining large-school opponents. The finishing stretch of Poplar Bluff and Farmington will punish Kennett’s ordinary ’23 lineup with Turbo Clock defeats. KHS potentially gains a few standings-points from the fact that Farmington and PBHS are in higher weight classes, but Herculaneum’s got its own matchup vs C4 this Friday.
All told, we’re looking at a fun, colorful ending to a Herky season that was nearly tossed into a throw-out field as of Week 6. HHS won’t score 2 victories within 5 days again, but look out for that Q-Final slugfest if some big ‘Cats come back ready to play.
Seckman 28, Pattonville 3
We regret to say there was no thrilling trashing of the PHS Pirates in Imperial on Friday night. Regret, that is, on behalf of District 1 large schools who have to deal with Seckman’s new-and-improved team speed and power this season. It’s kind of scary, but the Varsity Jaguars simply appeared to shrug, play their brand of football, and beat Pattonville High with routine ease. Eureka’s Wildcats could be about to overcome a dwindling enrollment number to dominate a Class 5 bracket. Seckman could be about to overcome its rising weight-class draw by overrunning an elite Class 6 District out of nowhere.
QB Tommy Gibbar had not just a plurality, but a majority of Imperial’s 41 rushing attempts, netting 111 yards as the Jaguars steadily moved the chains. The offense likely reminded SHS boosters of Cole Ruble’s “27-0” variety of wins over teams like Cape Girardeau Central, which as The Geek explained at the time, happened in about 90 minutes and might as well have finished 100-3. However, The Geek was actually reminded of a long-forgotten bad weather game between Navy and SMU in which Southern Methodist decided to take away all of Navy’s dangerous A-Backs, B-Backs, and even “C-Backs” if there existed such a thing, and leave everything up to Annapolis signal-caller Ricky Dobbs, perhaps hoping for a fumble in monsoon conditions. Bad move. Dobbs, like Gibbar on Friday night, pecked and poked and prodded his way past obstacles on every drive, always finding the daylight that’s produced when a defense plays all other options. Dobbs’ stat line from Navy’s win over SMU was nice, however it was that Box Score that The Geek will always remember – Dobbs rush for 4 yds. Dobbs rush for 6 yds. Niumatalolo time-out. Dobbs rush for 4 yds. Dobbs r…
No, Seckman hasn’t turned into Hillsboro (or Fox, or Jefferson, or Crystal City) in its quest to climb the Class 6 rankings against all odds in ’23. But the “Gibbar Grinder” strategy of play-calling is just another dynamic weapon that HC Nick Baer has cooked up for a season of unbridled (and unbeaten) glory by Rock Creek.
Speaking of locations, STLToday lists Seckman’s Week 9 bout as “at Kirkwood,” which would be an interesting story indeed (“did they replace the Turkey Day Game with a new match-up? In October?!”) and a risk of a dark match with scouts small-talking in the stands, except Webster Groves is playing all of its games at Kirkwood’s field this season. The Statesmen are having a revival in ’23 and Kirkwood is next door. It’ll fill up just fine.
Hillsboro 42, DeSoto 0
Mississippi Magazine was confused by something DeSoto’s new coach Russ Schmidt said over the summer. “Hillsboro’s 79-0 win over DeSoto was a big reason that I took this job,” Schmidt told Regional Radio. That’s not the kind of coach’s quote that you read from the game’s nomadic skippers often. “Well, Bob, when I saw SMU’s probation-era loss to Notre Dame in 1989, that’s when I knew I had to get on board with those Mustangs.”
After his DHS Dragons shut-out Hillsboro’s underclass kids in the 2nd half of Week 7’s game, the HC – with emphasis – repeated the same bit on the air. Now, we understand 100%. Schmidt looked across the Joachim Junction field in 2022 and saw a “conference rival” that couldn’t even stop HHS with Hawks frosh players on the pitch, and decided that that just wouldn’t do. Winning coaches might gripe about a local league being thin of contending teams, but very few of them ever get up and actually do anything about it. CRS has chosen to take on the burden.
Hillsboro’s 6 touchdowns in the opening 24:00 were most definitely burden-some. But the Dragons weren’t destined to repeat 2022’s collapse, in spite of playing on the road. HHS coach Bill Sucharski won’t be pleased about DeSoto’s brief flourish of offense against the Blue & White’s top string, but the Hillsboro 1st string did gain an important 2 quarters of rest headed into a grudge match vs unbeaten Cardinal Ritter.
And so the old Highway A coach has taken Joachim Junction on its first real stride forward already, because DeSoto pigskin was so ill in 2021 and 2022 that few DHS contests ever helped both teams. When a favorite failed to blow the Dragons away by 60 points, it was considered a knock on the favored school, not a sign of improvement for DeSoto. The way Friday’s “lopsided” game worked out, Hillsboro sealed its 4-0 MRAC record and garnered praise by taking care of business, while DeSoto at minimum showed that “0-79” is now just a thing of the past.
Van-Far 14, Crystal City 8
A pattern is emerging with the 5-2 Crystal City Hornets’ winning streaks. CCHS jumps over obstacles on its home turf and in other comfy locations, managing to upset winning teams from schools twice, 4 times, even 5-10 times the size of Bradley’s Farm. Then the Hornets visit a scrappy C1 crew and collapse in the 2nd half to lose in a confounding way. Crystal’s defense is nails as usual, but CCHS’s patented mammoth plays go missing. Crystal has lost 3 road games to Russellville, Vandalia, and Louisiana by 13 total points while going 7-0 vs C3 and C4.
In hindsight, everything seems head-slappingly clear. The nucleus of Crystal City’s ’23 lineup is made up of Varsity Track and Baseball stars, who are significantly faster, and also more comfortable, running on the hard turf of the Sunken Place. At home, CCHS is averaging close to 40 points per game. On the flip side, weak Bayless is the only team to have given up a big point-total to Crystal City on its own field. It’s got nothing to do with being a “bad road team.” The deeper and thicker a gridiron is, the less likely it is that Eisenbeis, Mayes, and Bolton will gallop away on their glorious game-changing runs.
The big bummer from Friday’s blown-lead loss is that Van-Far, while a credit to rural Missouri football (and a carbon copy of CCHS ’22 from a talent standpoint), might have cruelly nixed the Hornets out of a critical playoff seed in C1D2. For reasons that should be obvious at this point, The Geek believes strongly that Crystal City’s chances of reaching Week 13 rest on the club’s ability to earn a #1 or #2 District berth, and thus host at least 2 postseason games. Winning a road trip to a campus like St. Vincent in the semifinals would be a very tall order, given that Perryville’s football fields can be as thick as meadows. It’s noteworthy that Van-Far gave our Solar System a potential preview (on a grainy transmission from the Crab Nebula) of the horror that could await Crystal’s precision offense on a deep pitch against a determined Class 1 rival. Coach Dan Fox’s youngsters on the offensive line did not respond well after Vandalia unexpectedly matched Caden Raftery’s go-ahead touchdown. Crystal City’s traveling fans felt that the unfamiliar MSHSAA referees had hosed their school once again in the 4th quarter, when a bizarre “offensive pass-interference” call on Kanden Bolton turned a trick play into a disaster. But the fearful side of the story is that Crystal City felt the need to turn to gadget plays in the first place, only to give up a gadget-y long pass for Vandalia’s winning TD as CCHS’s blocking and tackling broke down under pressure. With another fine defensive performance wasted, the Hornets can’t even claim that they stayed turnover-free on a perfectly dry night. But the bright side is Vandalia’s upset win – to everyone’s surprise – did not necessarily succeed in turning Bradley’s Farm into a ghost venue this November.
If MSHSAA’s standings are to be believed, Crystal City remains well in the running to finish #1 or #2 in Class 1, District 2. Tipton has mysteriously fallen to 3rd place in much the same fashion Crystal was weirdly rated below Brentwood on 2022’s table. Tipton’s schedule doesn’t include the Class 3 and Class 4 opponents CCHS does, and 7-0 Adrian lurks in Week 9.
Will the Varsity Cardinals fly over CCHS (and even the current #1 St. Vincent?) based on opposing W/L records, as MSHSAA’s pesky “weighting” scrambles the site’s listed bids in Week 10? Maybe, but Tipton has been unlucky in that regard in spite of playing in a region with more prestige. #3’s opponents-played through 7 weeks are only 22-33 and likely getting worse, while Crystal’s opponents-played W/L record has gotten better as Confluence and Chaffee begin to win more of their bouts.
None of the good luck matters if Crystal loses to Herculaneum. If that happens, we can expect a “ceremonial” #3 vs #6 playoff date against a visitor like the Chaffee Red Devils, and not much else in the way of Hornets buzzing for scores on their favorite track. What the Van-Far loss has done – above all – is to place a microscope on an old, deep rivalry, just as Herculaneum football comes back from the brink. Coach Fox probably didn’t want the Hornets in a high-pressure scenario in Week 9, but that’s how the bee bumbles this time around. Dunklin R-5 has got a pretty soft gridiron after it rains a lot. Like it’s getting ready to. Ugh.
Stay tuned for more from Debbie Downer, ahem, more from The Geek on Crystal’s pivotal Week 9 road trip to Herculaneum. On a positive note, it’s better for local football (and the formative HHS Blackcats) if CCHS’s all-important playoff seed comes down to Jefferson County’s classic…not sketchy video from Van-Far.
Jefferson 26, Grandview 12
The Geek’s uncle Charles Schultz once laughed that he had a bad dream about attending a hockey game, and watching a suspenseful goaltenders’ duel that remained deadlocked deep into OT. Finally leaving for mere moments to use the restroom, he returned to find only a handful of stragglers packing-up, and a Zamboni quietly cleaning the ice. “You should’ve been here a minute ago,” a vendor said. “That goal was amazing.”
Your blogger can’t avoid a similar feeling after Friday night, having left the Jefferson-Grandview game at halftime to cover the eye-popping developments in Festus and in Vandalia. (You can only sink your head into a phone so much without feeling rude toward the kindly folks around you.) When the Grandview Eagles committed 3 turnovers in the first 20:00 to fall behind Jefferson by 20 points, TGG thought of Navy’s coach Ken Niumatalolo pulling Ricky Dobbs aside in a bowl game against Missouri, and saying, “Look. It’s impossible for us to beat Mizzou if you continue to fumble. It’s impossible.” Even if Grandview’s skipper Jason Kimminau had thought to say exactly that (well, almost exactly that) to Nash Moore’s offensive backfield at halftime, it was far too late with the Blue Jays soaring.
Or was it? Grandview, in one of the biggest shockers of an underdog’s Week 7, outscored the 1st-place Jefferson Blue Jays 12-6 in the next 24:00 of football, rushing and passing for 300+ total yards behind courageous games from QB Brendan Martin and workhorse RB Nash Moore. TGG heard the final score on Regional Radio at 10:30 in a mix of fascination and dismay for missing it. “Twenty Six to Twelve. Twenty-Six to Twelve?!?”
Jefferson’s early points-off-turnovers clouded what an even-handed match that the Eagles and ‘Jays turned out to be. GHS outgained Jefferson R-7 about 300 to 250 on the night, stone-icing the vaunted JHS ground game to less than 4 YPC. Kole Williams went 15-of-26 for 3 touchdowns and an INT, but Grandview’s pass defense was miles-ahead better too.
Grandview’s box scores are demonstrative of a team missing some parts. Birds of Prey are still trying to do too much as individuals, at least with the ball in hand if not in pass-coverage. Kimminau’s coaching staff, to quote Doctor McCoy from Star Trek, is As Tight-Lipped As An Aldebran Shell-Mouth about Grandview’s injury and-or mental game issues through 7 weeks. They’re hesitating to talk about the ’23 team’s hang-ups for the same reason Blane Boss didn’t want to pat Herky on the back following a shut-out defeat of Bayless. The Geek was very impressed that after Friday’s terrific 2nd half against the I-55 Conference leaders, Kimminau talked about GHS pigskin much the same way he spoke after losing to Perryville by 34 points. The big, burly 2023 Eagles are looking at every opponent and every game the same way, making zero excuses for anything, and improving how the team responds when things go southward on the field.
MSHSAA’s nerds will note that Grandview’s 14-point loss is the Eagles’ best outcome ever against the Jefferson Blue Jays. What’s of more interest to Mississippi Magazine is that the Grandview Eagles had their best outing of the season on defense against GHS’s toughest foe from the Tri-Cities.
It’s official – there’s a dangerous local spoiler in Class 2, and its name is Grandview. Playoff rivals had best be prepared to throw the bean around with precision against Dittmer’s seniors, since GHS has built a brick wall right up the gut that gave Jefferson’s blockers headaches on Homecoming Night. Grandview High, in a truly weird turn of events, might visit Jefferson again for a suspenseful #2 vs #7 quarterfinal rumble in Week 10.
Fox 50, Hazelwood West 14
The Fox Warriors breathe sighs of relief after a much-needed breakout win, with QB Cameron Underwood scoring 4 times and showing off the skill-set that led The Geek to accidentally call him “Anthony Richardson” in a sleepy post earlier this season. Ayden Smith looks like an A+ A-back after 207 more yards.
St. Vincent 42, St. Pius 6
The Geek gives up trying to predict football games
…that the St. Vincent Indians play in.
North County 24, Windsor 16
Then again, The Geek “gave up” on upset predictions involving the Windsor Owls a few weeks ago, and CALL ME A LIAR – here come the 2023 Albino Birds with a DOOZY of an upset-bid on Cinderella’s eve. Windsor’s offense found itself in the same straits as in Week 1 against Herky, handing the Owls’ best receivers the ball more often than throwing it to them, in desperation to get something started. But the senior-laden defense persevered to force Brian Jones’ offense into a conservative shell, and spark a thrilling late comeback.
North County, after missing a field goal that could’ve sealed the deal, would rely on the drama of a minus-territory interception to clinch Bonne Terre’s nervy win over the Mississippi upstarts. But the Varsity Owls, as Mr. Miyagi put it, Make Good Fight and Prove Point versus the well-respected Raiders in Week 7.
Parkway Central 48, Northwest 7
Northwest Cedar-Hill’s players cannot be skeptical of their coaching staff’s message any more. Despite another pale losing margin against Parkway Central, the Varsity Lions more than met their stated goal of producing a competitive game against a powerful team, forcing a Class 5 or Class 6 contender to continue to play its seniors in the final quarter. Northwest-CH manufactured an early TD against 5-2 Parkway Central, and trailed only 14-7 after 2 frantic frames of the game.
It’s hard to say if Northwest has a chance at Kirkwood (against Webster Groves) this weekend, but with Mehlville on the slate for Week 9, you’ve got to think the school’s stubborn, nemesis L streak is finally on its last legs…or at least getting wobbly.