St. Pius Lancers at Jefferson Blue Jays (Class 2, District 2)
Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?
St. Vincent may have turned out to be the “A-Team” of the I-55 Conference this season, and yet it’s a crazy fact that the Jefferson Blue Jays and St. Pius X Lancers may have gotten just as favorable of a postseason draw as the Indians, and in a higher weight class to boot. Any bid for a District championship is a Moon-shot with teams like Lift for Life and Hermann High in the bracket. But the Blue Jays and Lancers have been looking for another crack at each other ever since waging a fast, entertaining bout at Hill Valley back in September, and the teams’ circumstances couldn’t have panned out much better when it comes to the winner having a chance to win in Week 12. The #2 and #3 seeds could well be about to pound each other to a pulp, while the rivalry-rumble motivation and momentum of the Tri-City teams proves to overcome any fatigue factor. If you had drawn up a MSHSAA seeding “plan” to give our 2 schools the best chance at an upset title, it would look like 2023.
Then again, there’s only one local Class 2 side that will have to worry about being tired anymore by Saturday, and the one that doesn’t have to worry about it won’t be the happy one. Both of Festus’ small-school teams will walk into the stadium by Blue Jay Way on Friday night, and only one will waltz away with that precious opportunity at a District grail.
The “paradox” of Friday’s rematch on Highway 61 is so simple to explain, it shouldn’t need a fancy word like that. Jefferson is the natural favorite after beating SPX on the road with a game that was more disciplined, more dynamic, and more favorable to QB Kole Williams having a good night from the pocket. There’s every reason to think the older, established home team will beat James Smith and his young supporting cast again. But it’s a tricky thing, because if Jefferson had beaten St. Pius by 2 touchdowns with a SLOPPY first game, it would impart more value to a prediction of the Blue Jays winning Week 11 by a bunch of points. It took a crisp, fortunate outing for JHS to beat St. Pius. Jefferson may have hit its ceiling in midseason.
The 7-2 Jefferson Blue Jays won the rivalry bout at Hill Valley with a balanced attack that featured a great TD catch from WR Nate Breeze, but that would be Breeze’s final game for a number of weeks as the lanky receiver nursed a badly wounded hand. Soon the I-55 bridesmaid was enduring a pitched battle on Perryville’s Homecoming Game, which ended in heart-stopping triumph for Jefferson. Maybe the JHS kids were a little wrung out after all that. They’ve certainly played like it.
Is it time for SPX signal-caller James Smith to have a better game under bright lights? We think that the key upperclassman’s side-armed throws and happy feet from Week 4 were a product of fatigue from playing too many roles, and HC Frank Ray’s game plan for the Priory win last week showed how Smith’s many duties can be safely dialed-back without the Lancers losing efficiency. Patrick Flanigan caught 3 beans for 85 yards and a score while picking-off Priory twice in a seminal performance from the 6’1 senior, who appears to be just as dangerous as a ball-hawk as Hill Valley’s Iron Man quarterback when in the defensive backfield. It’s easy to say that Jefferson’s older team has the edge in experience in a high-pressure contest like Friday’s semifinal, but the St. Pius kids can play with less pressure knowing that A) they lost the first game and can now perform as spoilers, and B) Hill Valley drew a “#4 seed” that’s better than a lot of clubs’ #1 District seeds, for instance St. Vincent’s seed likely pairing the Indians versus Van-Far’s mean defense. SPX is on familiar turf, not very far from home. Jefferson’s offense is 10x more dangerous with Breeze back in the fold, but St. Vinny’s showed that it’s still not perfect.
Picking the Highway 61 rematch’s winner feels impossible. Thankfully, there’s always the trick of picking out which other sport Friday’s semifinal game could turn out to be similar to. The Geek’s ongoing TV Wrestling theme would cast the Jefferson vs St. Pius X grudge match as AEW’s bananas chaos-agent Jon Moxley “visiting” the silky, smooth, confident Will Ospreay. But Jefferson’s role as the home team messes that up because a “Will Ospreay Home Game” puts Friday night’s kickoff in Japan. (“Blue Jay Way” did sell a ton of copies in Japan, come to think of it.) The oft-reliable Tennis comparison doesn’t work either, since we don’t know if Smith is going to “storm the net” for SPX, or stand on the baseline in the pocket and fire forehands.
Basketball is the ticket. But not in the usual “high-scoring basketball game” sense. Week 11’s host Blue Jays are the “half-court” team that wants everything to be neat, sharp, and orderly all night. If the Lancers and Blue Jays each drive down the field exactly 5 times, and the W becomes a matter of who can go and collect more TDs in the Red Zone, then Nate Breeze probably wins that battle, with due respect to Mr. Flanigan. But the St. Pius Lancers’ pass rushers have amassed about 43,675 QB Sacks and a trillion Tackles-For-Loss this season. SPX’s defensive line doesn’t have to perform like the St. Genevieve Dragons to disrupt Williams in the pocket, and threaten to swipe the ball away. Ray’s defense has swiftly developed the speed, depth, and confidence to Full-Court Press – AHEM – to blitz an OL like Jefferson’s for 48:00.
The fast-break team always has a rally. Look for the St. Pius Lancers to capitalize on at least one big break to score rapidly and put a hurtin’ on the hosts in midgame. Like coach Kyle Shanahan in more than one Super Bowl, coach Matt Atley of the Varsity Blue Jays will be tasked to keep his nerve and remember that a “death march” of option-run plays remains Jefferson’s finest 4th quarter weapon, no matter how high Mr. Breeze can jump in the end zone. St. Pius’ pass rush is a perfect hammer when trying to drive-home a single TD lead in the late going, but the young Lancer defense won’t cannot “press” if Jefferson threatens the long toss to Breeze enough. Jefferson’s body-punching offense (boxing, not basketball that time, sorry!) also remains an excellent antidote to a pass rush. Atley’s task is to make sure Breeze is a first-strike TD threat at any point that opposing LBs start to organize in groups of 4 and 5 at a time, making that final drive go with or without the aerial fireworks.
Meanwhile, if it’s a sloppy football game this time around, expect St. Pius X to run away with a resourceful victory. Regretfully for the Lancers, it’s more often that a Week 4 scrum would be sloppy. PREDICTION: BLUE JAYS 24, LANCERS 22
Oakville Tigers at Seckman Jaguars (Class 6, District 1)
Week 11’s likely mismatch in Imperial turns the “hard to beat ’em again” notion on its head. Coaches love telling a playoff team which has beaten its upcoming opponent in Jamboree or regular-season play that the hardest thing in the world is defeating one of your victims for a second time. But that might be true for Seckman if the 10-0 Jaguars hadn’t gotten a frightening message from scrappy Oakville in October. OHS ’23 can’t hold a candle to Jefferson County’s Class 6 titans, considered from a 2-deep roster analysis POV. It would still be possible for Oakville to surprise Seckman and secure a halftime lead if Seckman had won a boring debut match 28-0. However, since a bad memory of the Tigers’ early lead in preliminary pigskin is fresh in SHS’s mind, the Jags will come out focused. PREDICTION: JAGUARS 39, OAKVILLE 7
Herculaneum Blackcats at Park Hills Central Rebels (Class 3, District 1)
Whenever an aging NFL superstar tried to hang on to his roster spot a year too long, the late San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh used to look the player in the eye – often after a championship season – and say, “Welp, that’s it. We’re done now. Aren’t we?”
That’s what The Geek would like to say to Herky’s head coach Blane Boss this week. If the CEO coaches with a chip on his shoulder because of the unfair idea that Blackcat football is “limited to what it is,” he should know that Mississippi Magazine – HHS’s closest nearby news beat and therefore the most knowledgeable one – does not share in that skepticism. This author fell in love with Friday Night Lights watching Herculaneum’s scrums by the old smokestack, and cheered Scott Croom’s every TD from 1991 right along with everybody. The Class of 2026 gives the Felines a chance to roar in Class 3’s brackets to come, just as they roared in quarterfinal play this year. But this weekend’s step up in difficulty isn’t like a normal Week 10 to Week 11 degree-of-difficulty adjustment. Herky’s sophomore filled group is now headed to visit one of the finest football teams in the region, from any enrollment class. Now, more than ever, Boss must set realistic goals for his team. It’s the only way that HHS can succeed 3 times in a row. Expecting a W of Herky’s brave lads is too much. That’s it, we’re done with that, aren’t we?
Just because the winning is done doesn’t mean the season is done. Herky just can’t go into Week 11 thinking about a win, or else 2 weeks of absolute G-L-O-R-Y will turn into L-E-T-D-O-W-N disappointment just as HHS seniors need to be strutting their success in Dunklin’s hallways, and encouraging more freshmen athletes to go out for the football team next season. Perceiving a win as “good” and a loss as “bad” against Park Hills Central just leads to a lousy ending for all but the most indomitable Class 3 bids, public or private. CHS could easily go 2-1 against Hillsboro, Seckman, and Festus. If Central competed in the I-55 Conference, the St. Vincent Indians – who whipped Herky by 6 scores – would have zero chance.
We said we wanted Herky to “eye-poke” Cardinal Ritter in Week 12 of last season, should the ‘Cats have cashed-in on a chance to beat University City and advance onward. This postseason, Herky can handle its unwinnable David vs Goliath scenario with the old “Role Model” tactic, and see how often that Herculaneum can produce even-handed outcomes from scrimmage, such as a 3-yard gain or a solo tackle short of the 1st Down marker against Park Hills Central, to demonstrate Herculaneum’s players belong on the field versus Show-Me Bowl contenders in their weight class. Park Hills Central’s 21st century tradition of great teams is not unlike Herky’s vibe in the 1990s, and the fact that Central’s roster is made up of Flat River boys and a few spare transfers shows what kind of tremendous things are still possible for honest teams. The more often Herculaneum looks like an even opponent – snap by snap – the more 2023’s finish will inspire Dunklin kids to play.
You’d rather see Herky’s defense get 2 sacks, 5 tackles-for-loss, and an INT while giving up 60 or 70 points than to be caught sliding backward on several easy 5:00 drives by the #1 seed Rebels and somehow only lose 38-0. That point’s likely to be lost on such a hard-driving set of HHS coaches this Friday, but let’s hope they can cork the competitive juices for just one kickoff, and prioritize growth and fun over a victory. Their players deserve it after turning a modest bid into magic. And it’d serve the program better than sending ’em home with their ears ringing. PREDICTION: PARK HILLS CENTRAL 56, BLACKCATS 6
Harrisburg Bulldogs at Crystal City Hornets (Class 1, District 2)
One fun aspect of Districts is that Mississippi Magazine gets to dive into 100% stranger teams and try to find out what they’re made of, before our Dirty Dozen takes them on. Harrisburg looks like a neat little program and would be a pleasure to tackle in this way, except that Crystal City’s crisis has made a #2 seed feel more like an emergency. Harrisburg’s offense is alive and kicking in spite of the Bulldogs just escaping a Week 10 elimination bout at 3-6 on the season. The spirited HHS offense produced an eye-popping 44 points in a heartbreakingly close defeat to Milan (Missouri has a Mexico, California, Cuba, and a Milan!), frightening anyone who’s followed CCHS football for the last 3 weeks. If the 6-3 Hornets play offense like they did in Week 9, they’ll wind up without a single playoff victory to show for a crazy-great revival that began back in 2021.
If CCHS coaches are determined to keep shifting QBs and players around on offense, then the outcome against Harrisburg could be so awful that we don’t want to talk about it here. For a head coach as savvy and accomplished as Dan Fox to come out with the QB at wide receiver, the receivers at QB, the Left Tackle playing Safety and an old guy from the press box covering the punt-return would be a nightmare that’s beyond all imagination, so we’ll just leave it where it is.
Let’s focus on what happens if Nolan Eisenbeis blinks his eyes at 6:59 PM on Friday night, and everything is like it was in Week 6 when the Hornets improved to 5-1 with a 48-8 Homecoming win. Coaches might protest that Eisenbeis’ breakout game happened with a weak Russellville defense on the other side, but a football doesn’t know that Russellville’s senior classes go up and down in quality. The pigskin was FLYING out of Eisenbeis’ hand on long passes and razor sharp laterals, something that was missing 2 weeks ago when Herky’s defense kept daring QB Cale Schaumburg to give straight up the middle to FB Caden Raftery, trusting that CCHS would do something to gum-up its own drives along the way. (It did.)
Far from criticizing the young Schaumburg for that, we’ll defend Crystal City’s “play calling” against the chorus of complaints after Week 9’s surprise shut-out loss. Crystal City runs an option offense that includes audibles-to-pass or go outside on a whim, so the coaches are never actually telling a QB to “hand off up the middle” any more than they tell him to “lateral to Bolton on the outside.” If “Lateral To Bolton On The Outside” was a play that Crystal City could call, CCHS would call it constantly. Bolton’s scary lack of touches in the 4th quarter was due to a smart defense and awkward circumstances. Distributing the ball to kids in a Flexbone option offense is a knack. #12 has it, and let’s hope he gets to use it soon.
Harrisburg’s weak point is that HHS has the problems Crystal City might have had if Hayden Westbrook and a crew of big underclassmen had not come along to boost CCHS’s numbers in the trenches this year. There’s 19 boys on a Bulldog roster that reminds The Geek of some of Brentwood and Maplewood’s better teams over the past 20 years. with a nimble spread-offense and several slick skill-position players around QB Trace Combs. The Varsity Bulldogs would probably be a championship bid if they had 10 solid linemen, but that’s the issue – it’s all HHS can do to field a front line in ’23.
Harrisburg has lovely complete heights-and-weights across its HUDL roster, and no one’s name listed who’s not actually on the team (take note, Hillsboro!) but regretfully that serves to show that 14 or 15 of the Bulldogs are light on their feet. The biggest player on the roster is a sophomore, and senior Gavin Samuels appears to lead an offensive line that’s got just enough 200+ pound kids for the starting lineup. For once, CCHS could be the side with the “numbers” advantage.
Crystal City must resist the pressure of having a high-scoring opponent in a must-win game. Turnovers, blunders, and holding penalties will croak Crystal’s otherwise fine chance to win a shoot-out over Harrisburg if necessary. But it’s actually just as important for CCHS’s defense – with or without the banged-up Camden Mayes – to get the kind of heavy edge-pressure it has generated against Gateway Tech and other finesse teams similar to Harrisburg’s attack. If the defense penetrates and threatens to blow-out Harrisburg’s delicate blocking scheme, then that takes some of Crystal’s “pressure” off. CCHS manufactures its best football when all 3 units are making big plays and setting up TDs, not simply one.
Be patient with Crystal City’s offense if the Hornets body-punch Harrisburg in Friday’s opening half. More body-punching could be the ticket to wearing down Harrisburg’s small set of Iron Man linemen, and making sure the coast is finally clear for Mr. Bolton in the 4th quarter. The Bulldogs labored to beat 3-7 Scotland County, a program on Russellville’s level, in Week 9, a possible clue that HHS’s short interior depth chart is wearing down already. Crystal City’s total rollercoaster of an up-and-down 2023 lineup now has a binary choice – play a crisp game and land the knock-out punch, or allow another underdog to hang around until it’s too late, and another November slips on by. PREDICTION: HORNETS 36, HARRISBURG 26
North County Raiders at Hillsboro Hawks (Class 4, District 1)
The Geek feels chagrin over having a tit-for-tat with someone named “Paul Stuthers” who contributed to Hillsboro’s small photo-set at Cardinal Ritter, then posted a comment accusing Mississippi Magazine of breaking the law when one of the pictures from Facebook was reused here. The comment was made without periods, commas, etc in the fashion that usually characterizes flame throwing from older folks and not from kids, in fact we’ve never gotten an angry remark from a reader who’s under 21. So TGG was mortified and upset after finding a “Paul Stuthers” from Hillsboro’s 10th Grade buried deep within HHS’s HUDL football roster for this season. It can’t be a coincidence. Paul Stuthers from the HUDL roster must be related at least, if not one-and-the-same with the poor photographer whose (very good) image was displayed on many Jefferson County computers. Did the Magazine just break its #1 rule and (Ugh!) criticize a KID instead of a grown up?
That week’s editor’s note – ala The Geek’s snide remarks – have been wiped off the blog in favor of an old-fashioned photo credit to Mr. Stuthers, whether he’s a player, a practice hand, a student photographer, or whatever else. We don’t aim snide remarks at our padawans here! But the scenario with Hillsboro’s HUDL page, in addition to the Cardinal Ritter game, only creates more of a mystery for a guilty Geek to grapple with. If the sophomore Paul Stuthers is really on Hillsboro’s roster, what’s he doing taking a camera on the sidelines and snapping photos when he’s not on the field? The Gridiron Geek assumed that whoever had complained on the blog wasn’t really a Hillsboro booster, since everyone – and TGG means everyone – at Leon Hall has treated The Geek like gold for 10 years running. They didn’t complain when our original, tiny Mississippi Magazine scroll on Facebook swiped photos from associates at STLToday, let alone from other Facebooks. “Campus,” as in “vibes on campus” was something TGG meant to apply to any campus, anywhere, or wherever the local “Cardinal Ritter guy”‘s photos he didn’t want shared was headed. It was a head-fake for the photo set from Cardinal Ritter to have been so different and few in number, which seemed to add up with the Hillsboro-borrowed-a-few-pictures-from-some-fellow-in-STL theory. We certainly hope not to have ruffled feathers at HHS, considering the BOOM-level shock of looking down that HUDL roster and finding the name of a 16-year-old that as many as 50 readers saw posted late on the page.
The photographer’s name isn’t listed among Hillsboro’s teachers, coaches, or School Board, which is why The Gridiron Geek wasn’t beaten to a pulp. The most likely explanation is that photographer Paul Stuthers is a Dad, Grandpa, or Uncle related to the Grade 10 student listed on site, who has no stat line on STLToday (or maybe they’re just hiding stats from me, still holding a grudge over those naively taken photos that about 14 readers saw back in 2013) this season. But then again, when you’re talking about the Hillsboro HUDL roster, you’ve got to have a sense of humor. It’s one of the truly zany quirks of an otherwise sharply organized program. There are Hillsboro Hawks “performing” on this year’s squad by the names of Heather Hartley, Mindy Boyer, and Bella Brown. (If there was a Powder Puff Show-Me Bowl, you gotta think Hillsboro would win it.) Hundreds of students, including what looks to be entire teams of extra-curricular kids, are listed on the Hillsboro HUDL page. For all we know, the Hillsboro boys sat down and included everyone that they’d ever met on the sidelines at a home or away-game as a “Varsity contributor” on HUDL. There’s 11-year-olds listed as full-blown High School players on there, so grown up Gateway City media folks wouldn’t be a major shock. If the Hillsboro HUDL roster was correct, you couldn’t fit the entire dang gang on the sidelines for a game. But in any case, even if Mr. Stuthers is a young, local volunteer-manager who’s related to an older volunteer-manager for prep sports, it must have caused some undeserved grief for him. We deeply, deeply apologize!
Hillsboro’s sophomore class deserves everyone’s soft spots anyway, given a very strange season of scraps in the sense that 9th and 10th Grade backups haven’t played much at all, for boys toiling on an 8-1 lineup that’s about to go 9-1, anyhow. Bill Sucharski’s team has been more dominant and impressive than 2022’s club in a handful of ways this year, such as time-of-possession. Blue & White backups saw a TON of playing time in 2022. You’d think that with a similar record and lots of overmatched foes on the schedule, they’d be getting lots of playing time in this autumn as well. But it’s been a matter of circumstances. The HHS Hawks’ offense is more methodical now, and the schedule tightened up as teams like Cape Girardeau Central rose back to the top of their divisions. Only the conference slate has allowed for garbage-time.
Will this week’s North County game offer that chance at playoff experience for the newbies? You’d like to think so. NCHS is having one of its patented .500-or-less years that look a whole lot like Festus’ .500 seasons do, at least before 2022’s FHS team went 6-6 by scoring TDs to overcome turn-stile defense. Bonne Terre’s defense is still rowdy enough to hang in a tussle and cause problems for superior teams like Mount Vernon, Poplar Bluff, and (maybe) Hillsboro with turnovers. But the Raiders stand well below Class 4’s brands whom Hillsboro would also be favored to eliminate with 2023’s dynamic lineup, which has remained as healthy as the roster of any ranked Large School on this side of the state. The Geek is not convinced that the Varsity Hawks are in any more danger (read: none) than Festus, Park Hills Central, or Seckman this Friday night.
Round 2’s only real demon is overconfidence. But with Mississippi Magazine there encouraging student-athletes to be fans and follow Regional Radio from week to week (sorry again Blue & White, we’re just killin’ ya over here!), it’s an all-too-real danger that comes with Week 11’s visit from North County. It’s hard to follow 12 teams at a time, and some Hillsboro kids – well, any “kids” from anywhere who track Missouri football and not just one team – may have gotten the wrong idea from Sullivan’s easy-at-a-glance 40-14 win over North County to end the season. Sullivan is the playoff team that Hillsboro or Festus expects to play in a potential State Q-Final if lucky enough to reach Week 13, and so if local boys have their eyes on the Eagles’ games, that’s just fine. Conference and District rivals like HHS and North County have an eye on each other’s scores for sure. Yet the Sullivan Eagles were actually embarrassed by Bonne Terre’s pesky defense in Week 9. Funny enough, it just didn’t show up on the scoreboard, or even on YouTube at all, unless you followed along very closely.
NCHS punched the ball out of Sullivan’s hands. A lot. Sullivan fumbled as many times as Crystal City against Louisiana this year, and could have lost to the Bonne Terre Buccaneers by more than the 6 points by which LHS upset the Hornets. Time and again, the contending Sullivan Eagles were stripped of the pigskin, only to have the football bounce neatly out-of-bounds, or backwards where only the SHS offensive line could get it, or even just straight back up into a running back’s hands, as if Sullivan had become the 1985 Dallas Cowboys with head coach Tom Landry and the Holy Trinity looking on. If any one of those bobbles caused by an aggressive North County defense had turned into a lost fumble, as they normally do, then Sullivan’s win wouldn’t have been so easy. If NCHS recovers 4+ out of 7 fumbles, the Raiders knock off a #1 seed.
The moral of the story is that Hillsboro can lose to North County, but ONLY if the visitors are given free gifts like it’s Christmas already. Ball security on Friday night means a stress-free ride to the District Championship Game in Week 12. As for a score, we forecast that a faster-paced bout than usual will make way for plenty of points scored in trash-time, as those sophomores finally enjoy a hurrah, and get their own pics taken for a change. PREDICTION: HAWKS 54, NORTH COUNTY 20
Sikeston Bulldogs at Festus Tigers (Class 4, District 1)
Last weekend’s storms at kickoff time couldn’t help but remind The Geek of his worst ever experience at Tiger Stadium. TGG had just waved goodbye to a Lyft driver and started down the walkway when a scary thunder head struck R-6, with winds which finished off the writer’s shaky umbrella and threatened to ruin a bag’s worth of laptop devices. Racing to the entrance, hoping for any dry spot to wait things out, he was met by an older teacher at the gate, one of those chaps who says “Yeah” when he really means No. “Yeah,” he began, “No, we can’t let you bring that bag in, and I don’t have another umbrella.”
There was no handy “parked car” to run to. In a panic, The Geek started to sprint toward the concession stand house, hoping a friendly clerk would understand. Suddenly the tall, stern, older teacher was in front of him again. “Yeah,” he said. “We can’t let you take your bag into the concession stand either.” “But the rain will ruin all my things,” TGG protested. “Can’t I stand somewhere under a roof so it doesn’t cost 500 bucks? I can’t even take my phone out to get another Lyft!” “YEAH,” he responded, getting a little annoyed. “No, I can’t let you stay with that baa…” he tried to say, just before the tornado hit.
FHS coach A.J. Ofodile pulled a “Dan Devine” move in postgame last Friday. For those who don’t know, Devine was a Missouri (and Notre Dame) coach whose teams always seemed to be defeating very good opponents. Part of the reason was that Devine was a terrific coach, and his college football teams did beat a lot of quality opponents. But another reason was that Devine took ALL opportunities to build up each and every Mizzou rival as if Missouri was up against King Kong. “Oh, Middle Tennessee,” Devine would say, “they have a player who Coach Jones said ought to be an All-American. Very dangerous team, Middle Tennessee, and we just hope to hold our own.” (Final Score: Mizzou 44, Opponent 3)
Coach O told Hal Neisler following the DeSoto game that Sikeston is a tough opponent for a Week 11 playoff game. Ofodile praised the Sikeston coaches and called the Bulldogs’ roster “very athletic,” and most notably, did not say what coaches in MSHSAA always do whenever they expect to win convincingly – that their team is going to take a week just focusing on itself. Sikeston’s performance as a #6 seed in the District Q-Finals seems to back up Coach O’s kind words and set up a match of quality District foes for the right to see who goes on to face Hillsboro next week. Sikeston, much like Herky against favored Kennett, had the best show of its season on offense against Perryville’s improved Pirates in a 33-14 win. It’s Game-On!
Yeah. Something is wrong with the Perryville Pirates, though. Like the Fox Warriors of 2021, it’s probably best that the PHS football season ended when it did. The Geek didn’t catch whether it was Perryville’s head man or another coach who took on Regional Radio duties after Week 10’s so-called upset loss to the #6 Bulldogs, because the voice sounded oddly unfamiliar. Whoever it was barely spoke above a whisper, and was too upset to offer many details on Sikeston’s victory. Perryville’s chance to contend in 2023 was always more of a high-wire act than the Pirates’ “paper” Varsity roster of 40+ would make you speculate. Perryville lost to the St. Pius Lancers by an ugly final score, and did not defeat a .500 or better team this year. Of course, you still have to credit Sikeston for winning 2 times in a row and advancing, after dropping its first 8 meetings.
Yeah. No, it’s not really a scary streak when an opponent has played with Sikeston’s degree-of-difficulty. The #6 Bulldogs’ other victim before Perryville was Charleston, which lost to Chaffee and Kelly High this season. Sikeston’s special teams was also porous against Hillsboro in a blow-out defeat, though Sikeston did score a 1st quarter TD on the Hawks’ top 11.
YEAH. No, that was just Hillsboro’s new lineup getting things figured out on defense, we’re afraid, because since then the Sikeston Bulldogs haven’t scored more than 5 meaningful times on anyone outside of an ailing I-55 Conference team. It’s hard to upset a skillful point-scoring group in the Class 4 playoffs, but it’s even harder to upset a #2 seed without visiting the end zone. The Geek had it flipped when we said the Festus offense would be its “prohibitively good” unit in early November – the Midmeadow Lane offense IS very, very good, but now it’s the Black & Gold defense that looks too strong for any league’s cellar-dwellers to handle. Sikeston’s best hope to score is if Festus loads-up the offense hoping to improve on last week.
Festus’ biggest worry this week is that an overconfident defense will play not to get hurt, which is a good way to produce a long, ragged game in which you do tend to get hurt. A rash of injuries up the middle would ruin the Tigers’ chances to stop Hillsboro’s offense in next Friday’s all-important bout at HHS. The best counter-strategy is to stop Sikeston on 3 straight snaps, then enjoy the 100% safety of the sideline. PREDICTION: TIGERS 49, SIKESTON 0