The Geek knows that everyone’s been waiting a while for this year’s All-Star selections (thanks to Festus and Crystal City!) so we won’t dare publish a long preface before getting right to it. Just a fair warning first, though – 2024’s Jefferson County All-Star Team picks *cannot* have been too injured to finish the season to qualify, though TGG’s made an editor’s exception for one special kid from Hillsboro, and 2 very honorable mentions.
Also, the selections are NOT ranked. They’re just alphabetical (by team). Let’s have no one from Imperial coming for The Geek because the Seckman and Windsor honorees are toward the bottom of each depth chart for our team. If we had Anarene High’s fictional 0-10 football roster from “The Last Picture Show” in Jefferson County, its one (or half-of-one) player who made the cut would be atop his position. But we’re gonna game-plan like it’s a real lineup.
Quarterback
Essien Smith, Festus Tigers
Cooper Frisk, Jefferson Blue Jays
Cohenn Stark, Northwest Lions
Emergency/Gadget QB: Nolan Eisenbeis, Crystal City Hornets
Honorable Mention: Preston Brown, Hillsboro Hawks
Essien Smith of the Festus Tigers needs no introduction in this space. The linchpin of the greatest FHS crew in history, Midmeadow Lane’s senior QB got the Tigers’ ground game going like no one’s seen since the days of Chris Kavlick, then started tossing bombs for touchdowns as the Black & Gold swept its conference and District with a 6-0 record. Essien’s essential to 2024’s All-Star Team, but any team needs more than one QB.
Cohenn Stark was the prime mover in Northwest’s watershed of 2024. Stark took over a Week 9 contest at Oakville when his Varsity Lions needed a spark, leading Cedar Hill to a breathless comeback-win and a 5-4 record that rang cheers through the Big River valley. There will be no QB debate at Northwest in 2025, but its conference is growing tough.
Jefferson High’s signal-caller Cooper Frisk was magnificent for R-7’s Varsity Blue Jays in 2024, squeezing the most out of JHS’s offense while attempting to keep up with too many high-scoring foes. Frisk’s option-keepers meant everything to a Blue Jay squad on which everybody’s rushing totals couldn’t add up to match #9’s 1300+ yards and 17 TDs. Frisk also spent too much of 2024 on the run while trying to lead Jefferson’s passing attack, however he heroically dodged and scrambled and flung bombs for another 1200+ yards, complementing a whole set of outstanding WRs instead of just one. Frisk will return as an upperclassman in 2025, along with one of Jefferson High’s better receivers from this campaign, the 6’1″ Noah “Please Don’t Do Your Ben Stein Impression” Buehler.
NDSU’s Preston Brown was injured prior to Hillsboro’s stretch run, but 2023’s All-State quarterback selection deserves an Honorable Mention…or 100 Honorable Mentions. Brown not only led Hillsboro to untold heights in Class 4’s state playoffs, he revitalized the Hawks’ entire playbook and made Bill Sucharski’s team known for something other than scoring points with Midline Option. Preston’s injury, as untimely as it was, also wound up demonstrating just what an *awesome* difference Brown was making for HHS.
Finally, don’t think of Nolan Eisenbeis’ “Emergency QB” status to mean “Junior Varsity” or anything like that, until considering just what kind of “emergency” that The Geek’s talking about, and how 2024’s All-Stars can avoid that very kind of emergency on the gridiron. If we have 4th-down-and-10 in a tied game against a dangerous opposing offense, that’s an emergency. So that’s when our Jefferson County All-Stars sneak QB Nolan Eisenbeis into the game as a “punt blocker,” only to snap him the football and behold the insanity to follow. There goes Eisenbeis running a backwards Figure-8 to escape the pressure. Now he’s racing toward the sideline like it’s a CFL-width football field, and he’s Doug Flutie. There’s no receivers open downfield at all. EISENBEIS FINDS ONE ANYWAY. He lets it sail.
It’s a 60-yard TD pass to Evan Wolfe…as usual. And that ain’t no kind of emergency The Geek’s ever heard of.
Running Back
Eli Thebeau, DeSoto Dragons
Leauntae Williams, Festus Tigers
Brady Ambrose, Seckman Jaguars Short Yardage: Justin Lehn, St. Pius Lancers
Honorable Mention: Wyatt Keim, Grandview Eagles
You can’t ignore any of the 5 running backs listed above after their amazing 2024 seasons. Yet if there’s a problem with the Jefferson County All-Star Team’s offensive backfield, it’s that our 3 competing RBs are too alike, not necessarily in style but in production. Williams had a 1000+ yard season while playing for a Festus lineup on which it was tough for any single athlete to stand out, since there were too many good’uns. Ambrose was featured slightly more by the 10-1 Seckman Jaguars, scoring 17 touchdowns to lead the corps, though Ambrose was nearly matched by his teammate Ben Lewis in the Red Zone. Eli Thebeau’s junior year at DeSoto High was as promising as Williams’ junior campaign at Midmeadow Lane, lifting their respective teams in different circumstances. We’ll avoid having a “RB Controversy” by putting our team (The Jefferson Jays? Jackals? Jackrabbits?) into The Geek’s favorite offense, the “Gun-T” of Muskegon High School that puts 3 RBs on-field at the same time, though 2 of them at a time have to operate as WRs also.
Justin Lehn of St. Pius is a no-brainer for Short Yardage tailback, at least so long as we’re going to need Mason Schirmer at Linebacker. Hill Valley assistant coach Nate Ruble most likely thought he was watching a younger version of himself play ball as Justin jaunted for 1400+ yards this season. Lehn’s carries were lean during a banged-up stretch earlier in the Lancers’ campaign, only averaging 10 touches per contest as St. Pius banged its collective head against the wall with a newfangled tough schedule. By the time HC Frank Ray’s team grew ready to rock in Week 5, Lehn sprang into 100% form and manufactured around 500 yards of rushing-and-receiving to lead St. Pius to a critical 3-game winning streak. Most incredibly, our 220 lb. power “B-Back” rushed for 176 yards (6+ yards at a pop!) in a postseason road game against the Hermann Bearcats’ outstanding defense.
Wyatt Keim joins Lehn as our “Iron Men” of the rushing corps who’ll contribute at linebacker. The 2 so-called “All-Star Running Backs” combined for over 300 total tackles, double-digit turnovers, and 20 tackles-for-loss on defense in ’24. That would be All-Star worthy if they weren’t RBs. Mason, you’ve got extra company on your left and right!
Wide Receiver
Tanner Duncan, Herculaneum Blackcats
Ian Phillips, Hillsboro Hawks
Omarion Frazier, Northwest Lions
Devin Gosser, Seckman Jaguars
Slot WR: Evan Wolfe, Crystal City Hornets
Screen Pass/RPO Package: Kamden Yates, Festus Tigers
Honorable Mention: Braxton Chazelle, Hillsboro Hawks
Hillsboro quarterback/receiver Braxton Chazelle is one of 2 All-Star honorees who left the position he’s nominated at to line up right over the football during late fall. But the junior performed a miracle by keeping the Hillsboro High point-scoring machine rolling – somehow – despite the Hawks’ stunning loss of an All-State athlete. No performer other than Preston Brown made a bigger impact for Hillsboro’s offense than Chazelle this season, as he was headed for double-digit catches as of Week 6, then went behind center and produced 1100 combined yards with 10 touchdowns and very few turnovers. Seriously, this blogger has argued that only young *women* athletes can adapt to a new scenario so well as that!
Elsewhere, our Wide Receiving corps is full of players who were out of the local headlines for the most part, but quietly caught the bean and manufactured great runs-after-catch for teams that didn’t pass the ball too often by November. Trey Lacey will be busy at 2,236 positions for The Geek’s offense, and his R-6 teammate Jeremy Davis-Mayes is needed on our defense. Noah Buehler is ineligible at WR for the same reason. Besides, Gosser and Frazier were part of Seckman and Northwest’s brief flourishes of big-time passing offense, respectively, with Seckman’s coming toward the beginning of the year while Northwest shined in 2:00 drills by Week 9. Herky’s offense made Tanner Duncan into too much of a “Lonely End,” but Ian Phillips joined Chazelle in turning a hell of a trick at Hillsboro.
Tight End
Aiden Clifton, Festus Tigers
Dawson Litterall, St. Pius Lancers
Honorable Mention: Riley Hendrickson, Crystal City Hornets
You don’t really need more than one Tight End at a time in our “Gun-T” offense, since the Muskegon attack has enough potential receivers running around as it is, and you need all the pure blockers you can get even when there’s 6 men in linemen’s stances. Don’t worry, we’re not overlooking Aiden Clifton’s magic midseason home-runs on Live Stream STL, or Dawson Litterall’s “Taylor Swift Must Be Watching” performance snagging QB Danny DeGeare’s passes in St. Pius’ playoff win over Grandview. If Essien Smith has gotten significant practice-time in with the Festus second-string this year, then our star quarterback knows how to feed the ball to 3 talented TEs out of any offense.
Hendrickson pulled a “Chazelle” in Crystal City’s postseason, rescuing the Hornets’ interior line as an undersized blocker when head injuries started to pick-off Crystal’s hefty offensive line corps in November. The center Mike Moss of St. Pius is honored in our linemen awards below after coming to Hill Valley’s rescue in much the same way in 2024. Crystal and St. Pius kids were just great for going to Mizzou to support FHS in the state championship tilt. However, we think they should talk to the Hillsboro Hawks, another team forced to run a merry-go-round offense that found success anyway. They’ve all got a lot in common!
Offensive and Defensive Line
Owen Williams, DeSoto Dragons
Isaiah Desmarais, Festus Tigers
Rob Turner, Festus Tigers
Zeke Cristobal, Festus Tigers
Payton Younger, Fox Warriors
Tucker Rhinehart, Grandview Eagles
Micah Bacher, Hillsboro Hawks
Lukaus Steinnerd, Seckman Jaguars
Isaac Johnson, Seckman Jaguars
Evan Wessel, Windsor Owls
Honorable Mention: Trent Eisenbeis, Crystal City Hornets, Mike Moss, St. Pius Lancers
It’s a Klingon “Wessel,” captain! No, really, The Geek can’t go around making silly puns and Dad jokes about THIS group of athletes, who could pound TGG into one of the mud-clumps he found when searching for Rock Creek’s deeper waters near Evan Wessel’s practice field. The crazy-cool thing about this campaign’s set of All-Star county linemen is that despite performing for Large School teams (with exception of Grandview’s Tucker Rhinehart), everyone’s accomplished enough as an Iron Man that the corps doesn’t need an offense + defense depth chart. If the first-string offensive line gets hurt, bring “Big” Rob Turner and several other “defensive” linemen over with the quarterback and we’ll block just fine. If defensive linemen such as Turner have to sit injured, there is a slew of other tackling specialists in the mix. The only excuse for “platoons” is that our battalion’s so burly.
In case anyone thinks the Jefferson Jackrabbits can’t handle a power-running situation due to the name, the fancy “Spread” formation, the pass-catching Tight Ends or anything else, here’s what we’re going to do on a critical 4th-and-1. A whole trio of blockers listed above – weighing in at a combined 900 pounds – will be added to the offensive line as The Geek closes down the Jackrabbits’ “Gun-T” formation into triple-tights. Then we will bring in Barrett Wheeler from Perryville (a ringer!) as a decoy and a blocker, and hand it off to Justin Lehn – all 6+ feet and 220+ pounds of him – diving into the hole behind THAT.
Sorry about the earthquake. But we’re getting that 1st down.
Linebacker
Mason Schirmer, Festus Tigers
Charlie Chapman, Fox Warriors
Drew Spratt, Northwest Lions
Dominick Lograsso, Seckman Jaguars
Dylan Lappe, Seckman Jaguars
Cody Shaver, St. Pius Lancers
Honorable Mention: Levi Huck, DeSoto Dragons
EDGE (Pass Rushing Specialist)
Connor Siebert, DeSoto Dragons
Aiden Roland, Hillsboro Hawks
Honorable Mention: Corbin Fullerton, Fox Warriors
If you’ve seen “Moneyball,” you know that baseball coaches can err by valuing power and stamina over finesse too much. That’s a bad trait for baseball coaches and a good thing for Mason Schirmer as he enters the world of SEC hardball next year. With any luck, Mizzou boosters aren’t waiting for senior Boys Baseball highlights to come out in March. They’re already ooh-ing and ahh-ing about the strength, stamina, and savvy evident in the senior linebacker’s football highlights from 14 weekends. Mason was the FHS Tigers’ “Louisville Slugger” in the snowy Warrenton semifinal (does Warrenton High go in for some GREAT state-semifinals with our teams, or what!?) in which he keyed R-6’s last-ditch defensive stand, but most notably rescued a stuck-in-the-ice Festus ground game when the rugged Warrenton tacklers wouldn’t let Williams or Yates get rolling. One thing that we know for certain about NCAA baseball coaches is that they LOVE to see versatility, the kid who can demolish a hanging curve-ball and then leap down the line to save a triple at 3rd base on defense. Mizzou got another look at Schirmer’s all-around athletic prowess this autumn.
Not so surprisingly, edge-rushing linebackers were among the season’s top Iron Men who contributed to offense along the way. Connor Siebert produced a sterling 7.1 YPC average galloping for DeSoto’s watershed attack this year, and Aiden Roland was one of the core Hillsboro cogs who helped Chazelle keep an offense patched together without Mr. Brown, rushing for 700+ yards and 6 TDs in between all of his tackles and QB takedowns. Don’t overlook Drew Spratt’s 4 rushing TDs for Northwest. He can eat all the fat he wants to.
Defensive Backs
Jeremy Davis-Mayes, Festus Tigers
Avery Edwards, Festus Tigers
DJ Cox, Fox Warriors
Noah Buehler, Jefferson Blue Jays
Jackson Compton, Seckman Jaguars
Jackson Rutledge, Seckman Jaguars
Jack Michaud, St. Pius Lancers
Honorable Mention: Preston Brown, Hillsboro Hawks
The Jefferson County All-Star Team awards of 2024 have saved the best for last. Here’s a list of great defensive backs that can compete with any Missouri county’s top names, even including St. Louis, KC, and Columbia. Avery Edwards and Jeremy Davis-Mayes’ defensive backfield shut down Dillon Duff and the re-ascending state #1 DeSmet Spartans for longer than Nixa or Liberty High’s wonderful starting lineups were able to keep Duff on the down-low. Seckman’s swift Compton-Rutledge combination would have held Pattonville’s resurgent offense to less than 100 passing yards were it not for one trick play. Fox’s top defensive back D.J. Cox manufactured 500 rush yards to go with his 2 interceptions.
Small-school pass defenders Jack Michaud and Noah Buehler would be anything but sideshow additions on a Festus or Seckman defense. Michaud became so dominant as a ball-hawk for St. Pius in 2024 that opposing teams had to game-plan to try to keep all pass-attempts away from his real estate. Buehler of JHS is among the Quad County Conference’s leading “Turnover Chain” recipients, and the 6’1″ DB returning as an upperclassman is one of the best things Jefferson’s defense will have going for it.
Jefferson County’s 2024 All-Star Team: Specialists, Slashes, and Special Teams
Wildcat: Logan Wilson, Windsor Owls
Slash Offense: Trey Lacey, Festus Tigers, Landon Weiss, Jefferson Blue Jays
Kick Returner: Brock Poole, Grandview Eagles
Punt Returner: Brenton Drummond, DeSoto Dragons
Long Snapper: Calvin Ellis, Festus Tigers
Kicker: Luke Wacker, Festus Tigers
Punter: Hayden Westbrook, Crystal City Hornets
Big thanks to everyone, especially the 56 All-Stars! Stay tuned for Mississippi Magazine’s year-end Power Poll, and Coach of the Year awards in 2 categories.