So the Gridiron Geek (and everyone else) had to endure a Class 4 Show-Me Bowl that went as badly for the FHS Tigers as one could have possibly feared. The quick 0-14 deficit. The stalled-out drives. The weird, conservative play-calling that persisted even after Essien Smith sparked Festus with perfect downfield bombs in the 1st half. Lutheran North’s “first string for 48:00” mentality forced Black & Gold to fight hard through an otherwise pointless ending, lest those “LUTHERAN BY 50!” snarks get proven right. Mississippi Magazine, for the record, only had our Week 15 Predictions removed by Facebook software during the game because incredible numbers of folks were sharing it – that’s a “good problem” to have, and TGG thanks the Tri-Cities for your support at the tail end of another 4-month season.
The Geek thought he might receive a dozen “Hardy-har-har” emails from Rivals users, saying “You hid your predictions once Lutheran North was winning!” But instead, they seemed preoccupied all day Friday with how many more spectators FHS brought to Mizzou compared to Lutheran North, which is drawing more NCAA scouts than fans as of 2024.
Then a couple of great, amazing, wonderful things happened, right in a row! First came a surprise on-air announcement from president Jennifer Rukstad of MSHSAA during the 3rd quarter of DeSmet’s classic state final against Nixa for the Class 6 crown. Friday’s in-game color commentary was regretfully right in line with the worst Friday Night Lights announcing (we know it when we hear it), a performance from somebody who’s more in love with themselves than with sports, who uses each play to take a deep breath and then NEVER STOPS TALKING. The Gridiron Geek felt it went out-of-bounds when a MSHSAA color analyst compared Lutheran North to “Bishop Sycamore,” but the DeSmet-Nixa guy took the cake, saying stuff like “St. Louis football teams are just superior” and “Nixa was unacceptably bad on that pass play.” (That was as Nixa led in the game.) Rukstad had heard enough. She spoke to the live audience after halftime – a live audience who noticed just *ONE* announcer in the booth for Quarter 3.
“I wanted to talk to everyone who purchased this broadcast,” Dr. Rukstad said. “I want you to hear my personal apology. Our (football schools) are all in equal standing. We respect all our teams, no matter where they come from.” That settled that. Mississippi Magazine will resist temptation to look up the guy who was fired on-air, but oh, to be a fly on that wall! (Not unpredictably, Saturday’s replacement color-commentators were VERY polite, and did not dare to favor any team.)
That’s when the underdog DeSmet Spartans took over the Class 6 contest, led by another epic performance by QB Dillon Duff. Austin Romaine’s soon-to-be teammate at Kansas State was clutch in a championship that Nixa’s 5-star prospects were supposed to prevail in, responding to NHS’s early points with 3 combined TDs in midgame, and building a 14-point DeSmet edge which withstood Nixa’s desperate comeback try until Jayden McCaster put Class 6 to bed with a 70-yard scamper. McCaster’s performance vs the Eagles was so sterling (238 total yards, 2 TDs) that he could be FBS-bound, right beside his quarterback.
Wait, why is DeSmet’s win so great for a bummed-out Black & Gold? Because the ’24 Festus Tigers need something that they can tell their kids about how a record-breaking season turned out, other than “we made it to Class 4’s championship and lost badly.” If DeSmet hadn’t have gone on another hot streak and reached the Class 6 title bout on Friday, then that would have been the final prognosis on the Tigers’ campaign for sure. But when Week 15’s DeSmet Jesuit Spartans came from behind and smoked NHS’s powerful Eagles in prime time, that served to change the conversation for Festus R-6 once more. Now the boys can grow up to tell grandchildren: We played the state champion from the #1 biggest class on Senior Night, we scored 2 touchdowns in 45 seconds, and shook ’em the heck up! That’s as good of a story as any Class 4 roster ever gets to tell in adulthood. It’s possible that NO “middle enrollment” Missouri team besides Festus has ever gone against the eventual Class 6 champion and not only made it an outstanding game into the 3rd quarter, but co-created one of the year’s best highlight reels. Lutheran North hasn’t turned that trick. Crusader coaches don’t tend to schedule Class 6 at all. St. Mary’s didn’t do it in 2021 or 2022. Kearney High doesn’t even think about playing Liberty North, and it would be way more peculiar to see 2020’s C6 champion Raymore-Peculiar scheduling C4s.
In short, this year’s 11-3 Varsity Tigers have a calling card that no other Class 3-4 program can boast of, not even reigning and former state champions. Until the Hillsboro Hawks or Park Hills Central Rebels start scheduling CBC, the ’24 Tigers are the kings of their region’s mountain when it comes to going toe-to-toe with the absolute best. It’s not a state championship, but it’s unique!
The rest of the 2024 Show-Me Bowl has been a tale of hair-raising finishes and Cinderella stories. Lamar repeated as Class 2’s champion with a frantic late comeback, one year after squeaking past Valle University in overtime. Blair Oaks outlasted Seneca 38-28 in another elite contest for Class 3’s trophy. Platte County came out of nowhere this postseason to bring Helias Catholic’s scrappy run for the grail to an unceremonious end with a blow-out victory on Saturday night. Archie beat North Shelby 48-20 in Saturday’s 8-Man Football clash, which accidentally turned into one of The Geek’s only solid predictions since Week 12. Lastly, but not leastly, the 9-5 Penney Hornets took an early lead on the Archie Blackhawks, the latter 13-1 school eventually winning MSHSAA’s Class 1 showdown 34-13 after a whole lot of midgame drama. TGG has never been gladder to be bass-ackward wrong about a playoff team than Penney, from which an against-all-odds run to a rollicking Show-Me Bowl scrum will stand as inspiration to each of the Crystal City-style powerhouses out there (not that there are that many), whether they’re called the “Hornets” or not. Penney’s 5’9″ senior QB Titus McGee had a hot streak in the 1st half that reminded The Geek of CCHS quarterback Nolan Eisenbeis, making every pass-attempt feel like an adventure, but somehow going 9-of-10 for some TDs.
Well, it was promised there would be no in-depth Show-Me Bowl recap (Google and you’ll find 12,961 of them) and this wrap-up will grow perilously close to that if it keeps going! Mississippi Magazine will post our Jefferson County All-Star Team selections by this coming weekend, along with a final Jefferson County Power Poll of the year. So long, Show-Me Bowl…until we meet again.