Northwest 42, Webster Groves 35
When does Mississippi Magazine break its rule about county-vs-county recaps going on top? When both Big River teams win in heart-stopping style, that’s when! Northwest and Grandview played their trademark brand of pigskin on Friday, nothing more, nothing less, and emerged looking as clutch as any two local teams ever have.
If you’ve got Will Travers at quarterback, the football Will Travel. Travers passed for another two TDs and nearly 300 yards on the Varsity Lions, staking WGHS to a 28-21 lead with just over 4:00 remaining in Quarter 4. But that’s when QB Cohenn Stark and the Northwest Lions offense (and special teams) took over a rowdy contest once and for all.
Stark was fabulous in the final moments of Northwest’s comeback win. He wound up dominating the Lions’ stat sheet like QB Brendan Martin or dare-we-say QB Tristin Coon in the Grandview-Principia shootout, but it wasn’t thanks to a perfect 2:00 drill that had everyone working in harmony. Stark was visibly frustrated by the penalties and the WR drops (all Troy can do is get it there, Peggy!) that were holding the Lions’ comeback bid back and decided to put Northwest on his shoulders in a fashion of such determination that it was almost comical. Northwest managed to turn WGHS’s main weakness (the fact that Webster Groves had 9 coaches, 12 headsets, 6 managers, and 40 players on the sideline but couldn’t get all of its injured players replaced and even sent hobbling kids out as “replacements”!) into a strength when the NHS line collapsed and allowed an extra-point block after touchdown #1 of Stark’s game ending tour de force, one that sent the Statesmen into a celebration with the score still 35-34 for Hixson Middle School WGHS.
The Lions recovered an onside kick, and Stark went back on the field like a man possessed. He was throwing the ball into crowds as soon as he got it in his hands, trying to cross up the Webster defense with quick tosses to his favorite WRs. When the coaches frowned on that, Stark took off running again, and there was simply no chance for the Statesmen to hold off Cedar Hill’s super dual threat. Stark took a swift, cutting carry down to the 1-yard line, where a delightful “Tush Push” play call gave Northwest its 42-35 lead and the W.
The Geek heard that Cohenn was upset about Mississippi Magazine’s advice to Northwest going into last postseason. “If you’re down 14 points with two minutes left, Stark’s rushes will run the clock out, plus you don’t want a sophomore to get hurt taking hits in the pocket, so put your senior QB back in then.” Now that we’ve seen Northwest’s star QB at the helm for more games, we’ll reverse that. Cohenn Stark is a great choice at the 2:00 mark no matter what the scoreboard is. It’s hard to hurt a guy when you can’t catch him.
Grandview 46, Principia (38) (OT)
Well heck, this one worked out more-or-less like the Friday Night Predictions for a change, except Principia’s double duty last week didn’t keep the Panthers from fighting all the way into the 4th quarter and beyond. Then again, they really just relied on one player. QB Tristin Coon bamboozled the Birds of Prey as expected for 396 yards and threw for all but one of Principia’s scores. Grandview’s defense made Principia one-dimensional to the point of absurdity, as Principia’s offense wound up with just two RB carries in the whole game! It was Coon against the galaxy, and the galaxy had fallen behind 38 to 30.
The 3-1 Grandview Eagles roared to the finish line. Wyatt Keim, replacing a nicked-up Isaac Walker in his own return from injury, carried several of Principia’s potential tacklers out to midfield on a kickoff return with 2:00 left. The Panthers finally just yanked his facemask, spotting Grandview the egg in plus-territory. Keim scored on a goal-line plunge moments later, and QB Brendan Martin, who racked up an astounding dual-threat stat line comparable to Coon’s aerial numbers, scored a two-pointer to send the contest into overtime.
There’s no need for an OT recap – here’s the entire thing compressed in a short vid:
That was Mississippi Magazine’s 2024 All-Star performer Brock Poole on the big interception of Coon that sealed the deal. It’s almost looking like The Geek is decent at predicting Friday Night Lights outcomes again, though it’s probably just luck. Soon, the blog will predict that a Grandview Eagles game will finish 100-99 and the real final score will be 6-3.
Herculaneum 28, St. Vincent 13
There are no less than three recaps which are too important to go below Festus-DeSoto in Week 4. Historically speaking, the Herculaneum Blackcats’ watershed 28-13 triumph over St. Vincent may be the most significant. Herculaneum didn’t just beat St. Vincent, a school that has beaten HHS by 40+ points in three games over the last four years. Dunklin drove the proud St. Vinny’s defense up and down the gridiron, producing an immense 310 rushing yards in a game that was SHOCKINGLY “Herky 22, St. Vincent 0” at halftime. Like the Grandview Eagles of 2021, Herculaneum snagged a pick-six to seal the deal in Quarter 4.
Head coach Blane Boss has almost certainly proven The Geek wrong about his program’s potential. Herky is performing like a well-coached team in addition to a dangerous one. In a sequence from the second half, when QB Keaton Reeves was gripped, grabbed, and groped by what felt like more than 11 of the St. Vincent Indians on a sweep around end. Many local QBs would have panicked, and reversed field, but a gritty Reeves held true to Herky’s playbook on 2nd and long.
Deets made the first down. On the next play, Clark Struckhoff took a fleet-footed carry down to the St. Vincent 20. But when that drive fizzled out, the Blackcat defense did the hardest thing for any defense on any level to do – and that’s make a critical play when the momentum has turned against you. Ethan Thompson jumped all over a miscommunication between Indians QB Will Winkler and one of his WRs on the subsequent St. Vinny’s possession and took his INT to the house for a commanding 28-7 lead. The only hiccup was when Herky let STV score on its “Prevent” defense, but Herky’s defense is still getting better each Friday.
Boss is showing an ability to adapt and break old habits. That doesn’t just go for radio interviews! For instance, Herky’s coach was one of the administrators at Perryville who had the novel concept of letting student-athletes learn “Madden” plays – as in the video game – and run only those plays on Frosh and JV teams if not on Varsity, where we assume the best of the “Madden” playbook was worked into Perryville’s tactics. It was a nice idea because kids take so many long hours on PlayStation playing sports games. Why yell at them to “Memorize Harder!” when they can memorize your plays naturally by having fun? But the idea had its pitfalls, namely that NFL playbooks are subtle, and they’re designed to be made to work by players with unlimited time for the science. The Perryville kids knew how to run “Slow Draw Right” by Bill Walsh, but they couldn’t make it work like Roger Craig.
Herky ran so often out of so many “Pro Set” formations in Blane Boss’ debut years that The Geek thought he must have another kind of NFL-style system but with the passing plays taken out. (It’s hard to run against a 10-Man defensive front on Madden’s or in real life.) Now the Blackcats are trying a different idea that’s working like a charm, getting Reeves’ offense into a Wing-T formation and doing whatever they please out of it without the “wheel motion” going behind Struckhoff that Dunklin would be expected to put in play.
It’s made Herky’s hard charging running game more difficult to defend because of Herky’s ability to line up and snap the ball quickly without fidgeting over a signal to motion. In simple terms, Herculaneum has put a fresh coat of paint on an old offense, and it’s turned the Reeves-Struckhoff backfield into a monster that also rarely takes a false start.
Don’t look now, but the HHS Blackcats have four winnable games in front of them. Perryville, we remind you, just lost to St. Vincent last weekend. Windsor and Herculaneum’s success is making Week 1’s deadlocked game look better. The JCTV Bowl between Herky and DeSoto in Week 9 – a snoozer in 2024 – could turn into a real good ‘un too.
Festus 33, DeSoto 0
The Geek is pleased to see 9 out of 10 teams of the Dirty Dozen win against outside opponents in Week 4, several with a Turbo Clock. Our one “intramural” tilt didn’t go so hot.
Festus and DeSoto let us down at Joachim Junction, putting on a clinic in how to draw penalty flags, have long plays called back on needless infractions, and bobble the bean in a game that was sloppier and less lopsided than the final score suggests. Parker Perry showed his inexperience on the Black & Gold’s second possession by following a groovy scramble with an ill-advised Figure Eight that led to a 20-yard sack and took the Tigers out of FG range. He looked a little bit like this guy (Movie timestamped for one play):
Festus took all four quarters to eke out its five TDs, while the DeSoto Dragons squandered at least 250 yards of offense without any points. DHS coach Russ Schmidt has to answer for a special-teams unit that is mishandling kickoffs in what should be easy scenarios, and which could not be trusted to build a big enough lead over North County last weekend. That’s a weird problem for a Schmidt team to have. If next week’s game at Windsor is the grind that it looks like it will be, the Dragons must sharpen up in all three phases.
Meanwhile, the Varsity Tigers have slipped into their old bad habits on offense just as Hillsboro’s defense comes off its best game of the season thus far. That dual development could change Midmeadow Lane from a potential 14-point favorite over Hillsboro-2025 into just another Festus team that hopes it can defeat the archrival Hawks in Week 5.
Hillsboro 28, North County 6
Hillsboro’s defense has been reading The Geek’s complaints, and you know how that goes. The 3-1 Varsity Hawks have made a statement by allowing no significant TDs in what was supposed to be a fun shootout, adding a whole new layer of intrigue to the Festus-Hillsboro clash this coming Friday. We don’t have a whole lot of recap info to share because Bonne Terre’s typically lively media effort has grown cold and detached as the Raiders struggle this year, and there wasn’t a MSHSAA TV stream of the Mississippi Conference showdown from North County either. Nobody wants our friend Brian Jones to lose his long-time job. Hillsboro’s defense reviving itself was yet another bad break for NCHS.
Windsor 66, Clayton-Brentwood 26
The Windsor Owls needed a victory like Friday’s to build confidence. They almost built a new Missouri record in the process. Lee Freeman’s “Knute Rockne” style of predictable-on-purpose option offense is finally hitting its stride, thrashing a thin Clayton-Brentwood defense for 642 rushing yards, the fifth-most in Missouri lore and close to the record of 712.
It’s one thing the Blackbirds are 3-1. Moreover, the Varsity Owls just look better on offense despite 2024’s star rusher Willie Coleman III flying the coop. Windsor High’s consistent ability to score points makes us want to peer into the abyss again and ask whether this is finally the year in which WHS becomes a playoff winner. Windsor seems capable of defeating just about any team in District 1 on a good day, save for Festus or Hillsboro, so that the Owls just need to avoid a lowly #7 seed to get a winnable Week 10 bout.
Seckman 53, Mehlville 0
Seckman quarterback Brody Kube has had two wonderful games in a row, tossing so many TD balls against Mehlville with just 14 pass attempts that later in life he might get store clerks asking, “Tell us about your nine–touchdown game!” like it happened to Kurt Russell in “The Best of Times.” Seckman’s weak spot was apparent even in a 50+ point victory, however, as Coach Baer’s staff tried about 600 running backs during the game hoping to identify a warhorse going forward. Nope – it will remain a backfield-by-committee at SHS.
St. Pius 42, Roosevelt 0 (Saturday)
St. Pius gets into the win column with a total whitewash in the first half against Roosevelt, taking that 42-0 lead into the halftime break before coasting to the finish line. We’re sure that Frank Ray took steps to protect Roosevelt from embarrassment (and injury) in the second half, since the Roughriders appear so depleted from RHS’s noble lineup of 2024.
SPX isn’t poised to romp through a win streak like it did last midseason. Not to say St. Pius X can’t prevail in Week 5, but it’ll be tough on the road at St. James. More relief will come against the Cuba Wildcats in Week 6, and the fish-out-of-water Miller Career Academy Phoenix (we’ll call them “Icarus” if they have to stay up in Class 5) the following Saturday. MSHSAA has put TDW Academy’s hoax out of business and made campuses schedule real teams in their place, so Miller Career won’t be a hyper-rested dynamo this time.
Crystal City 42, Confluence 14
This game took place, Crystal City won it, and Landyn DeRousse’s injury proved to be nothing to worry about. Those are the critical headlines for Bradley’s Farm, though we’re also happy to see Skyler Fowler getting some turns in the Crystal backfield again, a needed boost to the stable of RBs while Alex Parham takes his lumps as a freshman.
Like the St. Pius Lancers, the 1-3 Crystal City Hornets have one giant hurdle in the slate before the Hornets’ schedule turns easier. Gateway STEM has surprised The Geek with a solid start this season, casting the Jaguars as yet another punishing Class 4 opponent of the variety that the Sunken Place is booking too often and needs to cut it out. After that, however, the Hornets will be favored in their next two tilts against Roosevelt and Duchesne, followed by a potential revenge-game against Scotland County in mid-October.
Jefferson 62, Cuba 14
“We Asked For This” clap, clap, clap clap clap, “We Asked For This” clap, clap, clap clap clap
Eureka 45, Fox 7
Next up: The Soviet Red Army, or at least the 4-0 Summit Falcons of Fenton. The only good thing about Arnold’s relentlessly tough schedule is that the Warriors’ placement in Class 5 gives them bonus points for every Class 6 opponent. Fox is still poised to finish at least fourth in a top-heavy District that somehow includes Miller Career Academy in Class 5 (we need a “demotion” rule for Charter Schools who can’t beat Potosi, before any of them wind up in a District bracket with DeSmet) and a host of weak teams below Farmington and Cape Girardeau at the top. Farmington’s new fancy-schmancy-up-your-pants-y style can be had by the bruising Warriors in Week 11 of Fox can only finish third somehow.