The Mississippi Area’s season ending All-Conference Teams are designed to give small-school padawans a chance at the limelight. No reporter in her right mind would favor the best quarterback in Class 1 over the best signal-caller in Class 6, so the I-55 Conference’s annual All-Conference (All-Star) selections give equanimous love to the “best of the rest” out in the tiny towns.
Would the Gridiron Geek’s All-Star picks from 12 teams give too much credit to the big dogs? Maybe. But we’ve gone several years publishing the Jefferson County Power Poll as a straightforward measure of ability, instead of worrying about the enrollment #s of any campus. It’s a unique ranking system for High School as far as The Geek knows, and it helps to give readers a better sense of where their alma mater really stands on Fridays. We ought not to have to scrap the whole deal and define teams as “large” and “small” just to pick a Jefferson County All-Star Team.
Rushing for 100+ yards against Class 2 isn’t the same as gaining 100 yards against Class 6. We all understand that. But if you think about it, the best small-school athletes from our county are held back by dodgy teams just as often as the outstanding large-school kids are hampered in production by competitive Friday night rosters. For every “Mike Sobol” who capitalizes on their small-school opposition to rack up playoff Ws, there’s an “Austin Graves,” who gets helped off the field in Week 9 following a season in which they were asked to do too much. NCAA prospects at small schools must succeed through the burden of not benefiting from like-athletes everywhere around them in a game.
Besides, there’s never been more Class 1 through Class 3 standouts in Jeff County than there are right now. Kanden Bolton is one of the county’s most electrifying 2-way players, and he can’t even land on any “All-Conference” team since CCHS doesn’t have a Class 1 conference available to join closer than central MO. There has got to be a place for James Smith on a 2023 Jefferson County All-Star Team, whether his Lancers were drawn into Class 1 in 2022’s postseason or not.
Let’s build a local 2023 All-Star Team from Mississippi Magazine’s dozen brands that would compete with Cardinal Ritter and Valle University on even terms hold its own versus a Mississippi-Red or Suburban League honors team. Maybe Dex R. Stacky will be the head coach, because we’re going to stack the deck with a spectacular roster on scroll!
Jefferson County All-Star Team Selections can be found in full at the bottom of this week’s 12-team rundown.
Jefferson County Power Poll (and All-Star Team Selections)
#1 – Seckman Jaguars
The Geek doesn’t know enough about Jeff County’s offensive and defensive linemen to put together a whole All-Star depth chart of individuals. We therefore have to find “OL” and “DL” team units for Mississippi Magazine’s roster, and of course the Seckman Jaguars’ powerful blockers will be main candidates.
Seckman’s offensive line is pancaking so many tacklers that you’d hardly think the Class of ’23 graduated. A trio of Seckman’s leading tailbacks are averaging more than 8 YPC, which is more than any high-volume SHS rushers not named Cole Ruble were getting in 2022. QB Tommy Gibbar has scored 3x as many times by ground as by air, but the Varsity Jaguars’ execution and blocking effort on passing downs is a sight to behold. The offensive line’s power is second only to its rare versatility, for Gibbar has combined with his backups to toss just 9 incompletions on 45 passing attempts this season. There are “A-10” programs from California who aren’t throwing the bean around nearly so precisely in 2023. The burly, intimidating Pattonville Pirates recorded zero QB sacks in Week 7.
The sports media can be like a moth to a flame, though, and The Geek doesn’t want to make that mistake on MSHSAA’s only opinion-blog in the region. Cole Ruble’s offense was the big story in 2022, thus the narrative of any winning Seckman team in this season was predestined to be about the next offense to replace it. Yes, it’s amazing that the 7-0 Jaguars have just about replicated Ruble’s productivity (if not his 40+ touchdowns) with a new attack that just keeps on chugging. But TGG thinks it’s causing another elite group to be neglected.
How about that Seckman defensive line? It may be that Nick Baer’s real secret to success is a defense that makes “28-3” wins look like the solid point-scoring nights that they are. Readers know what an average Suburban League defense looks like, and more importantly you know how such a middling defense fares versus the Lindbergh-s and Pattonville-s of the world. If Seckman High had an ordinary defense, Pattonville might have scored 42 points in victory, and that “28” manufactured points on behalf of the Jaguars wouldn’t look so hot.
There are no MSHSAA stats like “opposing yards-per-carry” available on the World Wide Web. That’s okay, since the Seckman Jaguars’ sacks, tackles-for-loss, and (low) opposing point totals speak for themselves this year. Seckman exposed the Olympic Athletes of Valle Catholic with 5 sacks and zero meaningful TDs back in August, limited the Fox Warriors to a single 100+ yard running back, and later pulverized Pattonville with tackles-for-loss and 3 interceptions. SHS hasn’t surrendered a single double-digit point tally outside of mop-up TDs.
Baer’s coaching staff has a fault – maybe just the one – in not uploading QB sacks or tackles-for-loss as season stat totals on STLToday or another stats site. But it looks as though Dean Moeckel is the big man at linebacker, while defensive back Eric Miller’s 5 picked-off passes on the campaign give the senior an opportunity to surpass Chase “Napoleon” Wilson’s local INT record set at Grandview in 2021.
Note: TGG did not mean to “tease” Seckman’s crew of tight ends with a phantom selection today, but instead began to insert a spot on Hillsboro TE Gavin Hite (nice name for a TE) in the Jaguars’ article by accident. With such a good pass completion % out of Seckman High these days, it won’t be long before one of Tommy Gibbar’s tight ends reaches the same Hite-s.
#2 – Hillsboro Hawks
No disrespect to local “option” QBs like Gibbar, Anthony Richardson Cameron Underwood, and Nolan Eisenbeis. Yet the Leon Hall signal-caller Preston Brown has been the apple of TGG’s eye ever since Hillsboro started using “Muskegon” style formations that give the senior a better chance to throw and scramble.
Preston’s prodigal kin Payton Brown is clearly one of the best all-around athletes in Jefferson County, to the point where we wouldn’t be surprised if a good old “ATH” shows up next to Payton’s scouting file on Rivals-dot-com. But we ought not to give Hillsboro’s star junior the nod at running back, since there’s enough dedicated RBs in the Dirty Dozen to go around. If we don’t utilize great rushers at their alternate positions, the Jefferson County All-Stars could wind up with 15 running backs.
Brown’s got potential as a pass defender, and The Geek wants to build a great defensive backfield for his Cardinal Ritter All-Star Team. It’s still been as a split-out receiver where the youngster seems to possess his greatest potential as a game-breaker. Brown broke the Festus vs Hillsboro contest wide open with a catch-and-run down the middle, and he shined once again on special teams in Hillsboro’s ragged 69-12 romp over Windsor High. It’s important for the St. Mary’s Dragons an All-Star Team to have several DBs on the gridiron who can return an interception or a kick to the house. But since we can’t put Iron Man players on opposing sides of the ball, we’ll keep Bill Sucharski’s “slash” man where he belongs, giving our team’s offense a dose of “Marshall Faulk” versatility.
Hillsboro’s got a no-name defense working wonders this season. But there’s another HHS position-unit that tends to be “no-name” in its own right, while doing nothing except holding up the whole world for a 40-year winning tradition. Would it be too Little League of The Geek to give a Class 4 offensive line the nod over Seckman’s amazing offensive line? Nah – not everyone gets a trophy on Mississippi Magazine. Instead, let’s take a quick flash-back to 2014.
The Festus Tigers – despite being shorthanded on defense – stopped the Hillsboro Hawks’ option game cold in a 31-20 conference win that year. For the District rematch, FHS finally had gotten its entire offensive backfield healthy, which meant Midmeadow Lane could play its 2 dominant defensive ends Jaden Reddick and Elijah Cummings on defense the whole time without giving-up productivity in rushing offense. The Gridiron Geek was on-hand in Russ Schmidt’s coaches’ office beforehand, and while the Festus brass knew that Hillsboro could always beat Festus on a given night, they were pretty sure that if HHS won the District, it wouldn’t be because the Hawks had plowed right on through those DEs.
Then the opening kickoff happened and the Hillsboro Hawks got a 1st down. Then another 1st down. Then another. And another. Hillsboro’s crack offensive line had adjusted somehow, someway to get Cummings and Reddick running in the wrong directions, making 5+ crafty conversions on each scoring drive and eating up the contest’s clock like it was made out of Funnel Cakes. The talented FHS offense only got a few turns in decent field position in the 28-17 loss. After Reddick and Cummings finally broke through to force a 4th-down-and-7 for Hillsboro, The Geek can’t ever forget the next HHS play from scrimmage, on which alma mater’s rival blockers erased half of FHS’s defense. An HHS running back jogged 20 yards to seal the W.
We don’t yet know if Seckman’s offensive line is capable of clutch plays like that. They’ll have to advance further in the playoffs (and stop beating good teams by 30 points) to get a chance to show it. Seckman’s OL has been a marvelous group for 2-and-a-half seasons. Hillsboro’s offensive line is an institution of Missouri football, Leon Hall’s lifeblood in year after year of dominant rushing attacks. The Geek wouldn’t think to pick another team’s OL over Hillsboro’s blue battering-ram.
Hillsboro’s Gavin Hite has also proven to be the handiest of our county’s pass-catching Tight Ends so far, since the TE leaders of the Mississippi Conference have been quiet since FHS graduated Kaian Roberts-Day and Eric Reuss in 2022.
Don’t forget Nick Marchetti as our honors team’s kicker…unless there’s a soccer event going on when we play Valle U.
#3 – Festus Tigers
QB Jeremiah Cunningham played his way onto Mississippi Magazine’s honors team by acing his first bona-fide start ever against the Pacific Indians. TGG would have hesitated to choose a Lutheran North All-Star Team player who was still technically a part-time rotation quarterback as of about 11 days ago.
Never fear, there’s plenty of Festus boys who’ll go on Mississippi Magazine’s honor list without caveats. FHS will help fill-up the Wide Receiver slots on our team, merely because the Tigers are tossing more passes around than any other highly-ranked school from the county. Ofodile’s got his own “Captain’s Namesake” prodigy on the squad in receiver Hunter Bates (how is somebody named Hunter Bates not playing for Herculaneum, anyway?) who is averaging 16 yards-per-catch for 2023.
Landen Yates is still top dog at WR and DB, but if he trails Brady Nolen and Trey Lacey of the Lollipop Guild in interceptions, it’s likely because of Yates’ triple-trouble on offense and sometimes special teams. In fact, Yates might be the foremost Festus Tiger to have caused head coach A.J. Ofodile – under duress – to scrap his platoon-system stubbornness carried over from Columbia Rock Bridge, and use an outstanding player on more than just offense or defense for a change.
We think that at some point, a Landen Yates-themed conversation like this one took place between Ofodile and Festus R-6 assistant coach Jim “Ox” Sardo:
Sardo: Hillsboro played Preston and Payton Brown for a combined 102 minutes of a Triple-Overtime win last week. Landen Yates played in 21 minutes of our game. Just this once, could we put one of our best players on both sides of the ball?
Ofodile: Sure, Ox. You don’t have to twist my arm to get me to play Landen Yates both ways.
Sardo: Well heck, if you would have said that about your arm sooner, I wouldn’t have had to twist it.
Mason Schirmer is a shoo-in for the All-Star Team at linebacker, where he’s prodded the FHS front-7 into a superb pass-rushing weapon in spite of Festus showing up to ’23 training camp without former LB Eli Ortmann in tow. Senior edge rusher Xavier Gould has finally turned into the student-athlete that The Geek thought he could be all along, but he can’t play on Seckman’s defensive line, so we’ll consider Gould another linebacker for the purposes of this year’s selections.
Have we forgotten anyone on the 2023 Festus Tigers? Hmm. Maybe. There was something about a running back…a running back who just plays running back most of the time, and would therefore be a perfect choice as the #1 RB on our team. This rumored running back from Festus High School is said to have scored 20 TDs this season, with 11+ yards-per-touch on combined rushes and catches. The guy might turn out to be everything that we hoped Kaian-Roberts Day would be in Midmeadow Lane’s offensive backfield, before KRD became obsessed with hunting down rival QBs instead.
We’re still not recalling a name. But he’s wearing #10, and scoring long TDs like he’s bloody Marcus Dupree.
#4 – Fox Warriors
There’s a case to be made for Anthony Richardson Cameron Underwood as the Option-QB specialist on our team. Underwood has been Fox’s most dangerous, reliable weapon in a series of hard-fought losses against the Suburban League’s toughest foes. Underwood’s 4 TDs against Hazelwood West gave us a taste of what the upperclassman can really do in a fair fight, alongside Ayden Smith who’s going for a 1500-yard season running with footballs for the frustrated Fox Warriors.
Fox’s pass rush is ailing this season, but LB Tommy George boasts 42 total tackles and 5 TFL.
#5 – Jefferson Blue Jays
Kole Williams is playing quarterback for The Geek’s team, and there’s nothing anybody can do about it. If our starting QB Preston Brown – from the “Dr. Evil” offense of Hillsboro – goes down with an injury, then we’ll want Mini-Me’s outstanding kid to take over the reigns. Williams has hit 61% of his targets for 1400 yards, 20 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions this year, a revelation of aerial offense for a Jefferson High brand formerly-known-as-the-Prince of pure power pigskin and running. Williams can run and scramble too, which seals his selection over C3-thru-C6 quarterbacks on our All-Star Team.
Nate Breeze’s injured hand is still healing, hopefully in time to lead the 7-0 Varsity Blue Jays into the Class 2 postseason. But here’s hoping his fingers could flex around a pen enough to sign on the d-o-t-t-e-d line as TGG’s #1 county receiver. It was when Breeze went up sky-high to collect a 50-50 ball in the end zone that the host SPX spectators at 2023’s Highway 61 Game collectively sighed, realizing that they were up against one monster of an I-55 Conference wideout.
#6 – St. Pius Lancers
Iron Man players present a challenge when picking a 2-sided honors team. James Smith creates a category all of his own. Where do we put such an excellent player who’s been handy at SO many different things on Hill Valley’s gridiron that Mississippi Magazine’s made it a running gag, while warning SPX coaches not to get too greedy before Week 10?
Smith is going in The Geek’s defensive backfield. The senior is rivaling Seckman’s key man with 5 interceptions this year, and has 50+ total tackles to land 2nd on the St. Pius Lancers despite hauling a full load for Frank Ray’s busy offense. Meanwhile, we’d be crazy not to draft Justin Lehn’s as the county’s All-Pro EDGE rusher across from Austin Gould of the Festus Tigers. Lehn’s got a phenomenal 10 QB sacks and 20 combined tackles-for-loss in just 7 games-played, numbers that dwarfs our most powerful rushers’ stats across the wide spectrum of Jefferson County football. SPX has recorded 30+ sacks overall.
T-7 – Windsor Owls
Movement in the Power Poll – FINALLY! Windsor’s close-shave loss to North County was more impressive than Crystal City’s performance against the lower tiers of Class 4 this season (1 quality win + 1 tie with Perryville at the Jamboree), though the Windsor Owls are producing only pedestrian numbers on offense in spite of showing well with a 3-4 record. Who can be selected to play for Lift For Life Academy the Jefferson County All-Stars other than WHS’s ace receiver A.J. Patrick?
Look to the defense again. Senior LB Colin Carter has been a wrecking ball for the Windsor D’ in ’23, coming up with all kinds of sacks, interceptions, and fumble recoveries to help the Albino Birds’ offense get plenty of turns (and to get its Xs and Os unscrambled by Wk 7). Carter was kind enough to upload this awesome clip of himself setting the edge vs North County.
T-7 – Crystal City Hornets
Once again, a talented Iron Man team creates a weird All-Star Team selection issue. We have a pretty good idea which of the 2023 Crystal City Hornets belong on a county honors’ list, but they’re competing against themselves on the opposite side of the pigskin. Where would a coach put athletes like Kanden Bolton if he had to pick offense, defense, or special teams?
Caden Raffery could flourish as any kind of fullback, anywhere from Bradley’s Farm to Bayern Munich. Besides, the senior has been moved to Dan Fox’s defensive line as of late, and can’t join the already-full team on that side. The Geek wants Camden Mayes as a WR-PR after watching #8 turn another nickel pass into a gem of a TD in the 1st frame vs Russellville. CCHS’s top quarterback linebacker has an entire stats-snafu named after him due to rushing the QBs so fast. We don’t have too many linebackers of that caliber in Jefferson County, so Nolan Eisenbeis becomes our “Pat Fischer” undersized LB selection.
As for Kanden Bolton, we want #2 as our all-the-time TD threat at kick returner and at cornerback, don’t we? After all, Bolton has the greatest kick-return touchdown of any padawan since Mississippi Magazine began just under a decade ago, and – wouldn’t you know – that legendary play was followed right up by another 100-yard Bolton TD off an interception.
When a player can polish-off a fierce C3 rival all by their lonesome, they belong on an honors team next to Class 6 kids.
#9 – Grandview Eagles
We’ve left the tailback position as open as possible so far, mostly on behalf of a gentleman from Grandview. Nash Moore’s brave performance as GHS’s all-the-time inside rusher has only manufactured 6.0 YPC this season, while Moore’s defensive stat line of 70+ total tackles is a lot gaudier to the naked eye. Moore’s Iron Man effort in 2023 is comparable to Colin Carter’s play for the Windsor Owls, a one-man exercise in holding a troubled team out of its conference’s cellar while the supporting cast works to improve by autumn. Moore was fabulous on defense in the 2nd half against Jefferson, but it was his 180+ rushing yards that gave Grandview a fighting chance. If you needed 2 yards to win a playoff game, Moore is the Man.
#10 – Herculaneum Blackcats
Nash Moore is a great 4th-down-and-2 option for the Jeff County All-Star Team. But heck, if we just needed ONE YARD – ABSOLUTELY AND ONLY ONE YARD to win a championship, Shea Eberhardt is our guy as the resident “Refrigerator Perry” of Jefferson County. Eberhardt’s only had one chance to fracture the Space-Time Continuum with a goal-line TD this season, but that’s only because the brave Blackcats have been wracked by long-term injuries and reduced to about 12 Red Zone attempts. Eberhardt’s 250+ lb. senior frame, and 33 tackles plus 2 fumble recoveries for a Herky defense that’s just as banged up, should answer any questions about his size, strength, and ball skills as our team’s secret weapon on 3rd-and-goal.
#11 – Northwest Lions
The cellar of our Power Poll is getting better, and Northwest wide receiver Wes Knuckles is having a nice year in spite of playing for an overwhelmed offense. Knuckles’ 13 catches for 200+ yards stands way, way out on a Northwest season stats-sheet that sadly includes no 4+ YPC tailbacks with 5+ carries per game, 7 TDs scored, 3 INTs, and not one measly sack. Given how handy Wes’ “knuckles” are when catching and running with the ball, it’s a mild surprise that Cedar Hill hasn’t metamorphosed the WR into a “Deebo Samuel” style hybrid threat like HHS’s Payton Brown or WHS’s A.J. Patrick.
#12 – DeSoto Dragons
Gosh, we’re still thin in the defensive backfield, and DeSoto’s at least made the papers with a couple of neat interceptions this year. Who does Coach Russ Schmidt already have who can help out Mr. Yates and Mr. Bolton on the back end?
#12 Colton Fischer is providing the most juice for Joachim Junction so far. Fischer’s got 3 interceptions and 22 total tackles for a secondary that looks almost as wan as Northwest or Herculaneum’s offense based on the raw numbers. But we know that DeSoto looked miles better against the Hillsboro underclass last Friday, and Fischer is the foremost reason for that.
MISSISSIPPI MAGAZINE’S 2023 JEFFERSON COUNTY ALL-STAR TEAM
Offensive Line: Hillsboro Hawks
Defensive Line: Seckman Jaguars
Quarterback: Preston Brown (Hillsboro), Kole Williams (Jefferson), Jeremiah Cunningham (Festus), 4th Quarter RBI Hitter/Option Specialist Cameron Underwood (Fox)
Running Back: Hayden Bates (Festus), Nash Moore (Grandview)
Fullback: Caden Raftery (Crystal City)
Tight End: Gavin Hite (Hillsboro)
Wide Receiver: Nate Breeze (Jefferson), A.J. Patrick (Windsor), Camden Mayes (Crystal City), Wes Knuckles (Northwest), Hunter Bates (Festus)
SLASH: Payton Brown (Hillsboro)
Kick Returner: Kanden Bolton (Crystal City), Payton Brown (Hillsboro)
“Refrigerator Perry” Goal-Line RB: Shea Eberhardt (Herculaneum)
Linebacker: Mason Schirmer (Festus), Tommy George (Fox), Nolan Eisenbeis (Crystal City), Colin Carter (Windsor)
EDGE: Justin Lehn (St. Pius X), Austin Gould (Festus), Dean Moeckel (Seckman)
Defensive Back: James Smith (St. Pius X), Eric Miller (Seckman), Landen Yates (Festus), Colton Fischer (DeSoto), Kanden Bolton (Crystal City)
Placekicker: Nick Marchetti (Hillsboro)
Punter: Won’t Need One
Head Coach: Nick Baer (Seckman)