What a pigskin Mecca our riverside will be this Friday night! St. Pius X of Kansas City visits Hill Valley to represent Country Day’s elite “Class 5 Small Schools” division against the burgeoning St. Pius Lancers of Festus. Festus High School hosts Farmington for the Tigers’ 2025 Homecoming Game, one that we think will be a barn-burner, so long as no one brings any Vuvuzelas. You can also expect the Black & Gold marching band to provide a nobler (and fairer) atmosphere than last Friday’s “Two Man Quartet” band at DeSmet.
Crystal City joins in the Senior Night parade with a contest against the Rams of Derby County Scotland County Tigers, though the Hornets’ ceremonial quest is more personal than that of Festus and SPX. Given the Tigers and Lancers’ comfortable spots atop their District standings (albeit FHS’s more comfortable than St. Pius’s), it’s safe to say that Hill Valley and Midmeadow Lane’s administrators would rather lose 39-38 in a put-you-on-the-map classic than win an ugly “Festus-DeSoto 2017” mess with a thrown-interception-for-TD like the Tennessee Titans. St. Pius and Festus football are happy to roll along and grow in tight games for now, hopefully tighter than last week’s lopsided tilts. The Crystal City Hornets can’t afford to worry about the aesthetics – they’re finally on level ground against Class 1 opponents and they desperately want to claw back above .500 and qualify as a top seed.
Those games are where Week 8’s local action starts, not where it ends. Add in Herculaneum’s Pink Ribbon underdog bid vs visiting Perryville, and the central-east end of Jefferson County is about to be a tourist trap like we haven’t seen since 2024’s Solar Eclipse. Kansas City Chiefs jerseys could be worn by hometown fans of Pat Mahomes’ club. Traffic along the construction-zone stretch of I-55 Highway is likely to be horrendous. Friday Night Lights reporters from St. Louis will drive south at 6 PM with hopes of catching all four games, being that the FHS-SPX-HHS-CCHS stadiums are so close together. They’ll get jammed in traffic and slow down to 5 MPH on the Glaize Creek overpass in Barnhart.
Meanwhile, this Friday’s other dates for the Dirty Dozen include a shot at a David-beats-all-Goliaths trophy.
Week 8 Friday Night Predictions
Grandview Eagles at St. Vincent Indians
We can’t forget about this one in all the hubbub for the Tri-Cities. After all, a Mississippi Magazine team is playing for a conference title, and it would be a special one, a victory over schools as big as 5x as large as Grandview, not to mention one of 2024’s “Sweet Sixteen” squads of Class 4 in Perryville. Cory Hanger’s coaching staff has a decision to make – go for broke and potentially harm your District chances with a train-wreck of a battle on what is a Homecoming Friday for St. Vincent, or take it easy and safe and just hope to win?
Grandview’s natural power-football style is a good matchup against St. Vincent in any case. The Varsity In’juns have been held together by toy-teepee tape at the line of scrimmage, benefiting when this year’s schedule offered relief in the way of off-weeks. (Thank goodness for Grandview that St. Vincent’s string of practice weeks ended with a replacement game against Ash Grove, or else Grandview would be staring at a “Turbo Team” opponent instead of a teepee.) The GHS defense is also defending opposing quarterbacks like it’s “Napoleon Wilson”s era of 2021 again. But the St. Vincent Indians play with passion, not to mention their own aerial style, in which swift wide receivers receive short tosses and run for daylight. It’s a different challenge than Cooper Frisk’s offense. Most of all, Grandview’s QB Brendan Martin has to make sure his unit nixes the turnovers that threaten to hold back a watershed for the Birds of Prey. Oh, and don’t expect friendly calls from the referees versus St. Vincent. (See Image). PREDICTION: EAGLES 27, ST. VINCENT 20
Farmington Black Knights at Festus Tigers
Farmington arrives with all-guns-blazing in a fast-paced new playbook. Jackson’s old coach Brent Eckley has given the Black Knights a dose of white-hot enthusiasm that’s led to a 6-1 record and Top 10 rankings in Class 5 this season. If last week’s out-of-tune performance at DeSmet was the Festus Tigers’ rehearsal for a potential Class 4 state playoff bid, the Homecoming Game is going to be a litmus test for the Black & Gold defense going against a Mini-Me version of the Jackson Indians, to find out if the boys are poised to let Jackson’s racecar run all evening on Senior Night.
Parker Perry’s task is to resist audibling to the pass, and save his wonderful arm for a “Trevor Lawrence to Justyn Ross” TKO after the Black Knights collide with Mason Weinhaus’ offensive line for 36 minutes. Bill Parcells would know what to do against an all-the-time 2:00 drill team like Farmington’s new brand. The Tigers could prevail over a fellow six-win team with a great rushing night, good care of the ball, and more INTs from senior ball-hawk David Russell. We’re fearful that a case of “Homecoming Blues” could lose the T/O battle for R-6 anyway. PREDICTION: FARMINGTON 32, TIGERS 28
Scotland County Tigers at Crystal City Hornets
Is Crystal City’s Homecoming Senior Night game an evenly-matched contest, or is it a small, solid program (SCHS) visiting a dungeon of disappointment? Crystal’s campaign wouldn’t look so sour overall if the Hornets hadn’t blown chances to beat weaker teams like Louisiana and Bayless along the way. To turn things around, get back to .500, and get the Sunken Place’s mojo going again, Rico Pastrana’s team has to defeat a squad that is less big, fast, and numerous as the teams they played against in September, but which has been better than CCHS in close scrums without any shred of a doubt.
We like the idea of Crystal City playing a wide-open game with Scotland County that runs far into the night. Not only will the Tigers be fatigued from a long bus ride, but they might be staring at a numbers-and-substitutes edge for CCHS too. Crystal has so many youngsters going out for its revitalized football team that the Hornets could pass for “Class 2” sometimes. You can use that advantage to outscore a Class 1 rival. PREDICTION: HORNETS 42, SCHS 26
Author’s Note: WHOOPS, Homecoming was last week in the Sunken Place’s parade of ceremonies.
Potosi Trojans at DeSoto Dragons
DeSoto must watch out for a hangover after its greatest win of an era last Friday. Potosi’s visit on DHS Senior Night will be anything but a cermonial romp. Potosi has shown the liveliness in ’25 that Fredericktown showed in 2024, refusing a Turbo Clock loss to Valle University and whipping burly teams like Charleston. DeSoto High proved that it was physical enough to conquer Hillsboro in Week 7. In Week 8, it’s time for Cannon Kisner’s offense to show how flashy and dynamic it can be against a slower (if perhaps older) Varsity roster from Potosi. PREDICTION: DRAGONS 35, POTOSI 14
St. Pius X (Kansas City) Warriors at St. Pius X (Festus) Lancers
The Gridiron Geek has been ranking St. Pius X in the top half of the Jefferson County Power Poll, a “speculative” ranking based on what the Varsity Lancers appear to have cooking at QB-RB-WR-DB to go with a boosted OL-DL combination keyed by Lucas Reitzel, Mike Moss, and Jackson Jercinovic. In a scene full of regional teams that re really, really good but incomplete this season, the Lancers are working on a well-balanced formula.
St. Pius has put nowhere near the “quality wins” on the board as the Grandview Eagles this year – at least not yet. It’s hard to forecast exactly what 2025’s SPX Lancers are capable of, given their “reverse Scotland County” syndrome in which Hill Valley has lost all of its close contests while winning Turbo Clock games. The St. Pius Bowl is the Lancers’ opportunity to show they’re for real.
Whatever hazy idea we’ve got of the Lancers’ district title chances, it’s harder to quantify how tough of a visitor the St. Pius X of Kansas City Warriors will be for any Small School from our region. St. Pius of KC is 3-4 against an all-star schedule that includes many out-of-state games. The Warriors have played exactly one team that resembles Cody Shaver’s contingent athletically in any way, the Varsity Guardians of St. Michael (and MSHSAA Class 3) in a game that the Warriors had to battle hard to win 34-13. St. Michael’s loss to 7-0 Mountain Grove ran in parallel to SPX’s episodes in Weeks 1-3.
SPXKC was crushing the Class 3 state bracket before moving up to Class 5 under Missouri’s watershed of a promotion system. The Varsity Warriors were Class 3 Show-Me Bowl bridesmaids to Lamar and Seneca early in the 2020s. Do we think Hill Valley has a shot against those kinds of opponents yet? Pray for us. But it’s noteworthy that back when Week 8’s decorated visitors were going to state title games, they were beating the Missouri teams far worse than they are now. It’s certainly not a “Duchesne” syndrome with the Warriors now, but it’s akin to Lutheran North and Hillsboro’s hangovers.
It’s good that SPXKC is a power-running team first and foremost, and not a breathless speed-it-up team like Farmington. (Festus can only withstand one “Jackson Indians” imitator per Friday without going nuts.) The host Lancers might still look undersized in places on the offensive line, but they’ve got more than enough size (and speed) to put up with a mega-meaty opposing rush offense and keep tackling to stay in the game. St. James High’s profilic ground game has taken a downturn against its why-on-Earth-don’t-they-travel October schedule of Large Schools. But it’s fair to say that DC Kyle Hylton’s defense exposed the flaws in a first-year Flexbone offense that’s just getting its feet straight in the Vineyards.
The Warriors’ defense could be a tougher nut to crack. SPXKC’s defensive backfield turned the ball over on St. Michael almost immediately, the senior cornerback Dwight Medbery’s diving interception saving the day for the Warriors in the Red Zone before SPXKC went on an explosive six-play drive for a TD. QB Evan Eckrich’s youth gives him a disadvantage (for now) versus a cast of elite ball-hawks with championship experience. Hill Valley may need to keep the air out of the pigskin more often than play-callers are comfortable with, even if the Lancers are down 28-7. The alternative is to open up and invite chaos-making from a Warriors defense that specailizes in it. PREDICTION: SPXKC 42, LANCERS 14
Parkway North Vikings at Fox Warriors (Pete’s Predictions)
Parkway North has a dangerous passing game. Last week, the Vikings’ QB Kenyon Boldin connected with JWR Jordan McDavid three times for 103 yards. Fox will be sorely tested by the scoring capability of McDavid, who has two TDs on kick returns, five TDs from receptions, and one TD rushing.
Fox’s W/L record may not adequately represent some of the performances from the Warrior lineup. For example, Fox Warrior Ryan Joggerst has recorded 10 or more tackles in every game this year, and has a combined total of 104 tackles and assists along with two interceptions. Additionally, Fox running backs DJ Cox, Antonio Jarillo, Jude Pribish, and Chandler Price have combined for 1,700 yards rushing. Prediction: Parkway North (51) Vs Fox (13)
Perryville Pirates at Herculaneum Blackcats (Pete’s Predictions)
It is a contest of two power running teams. Perryville has four wins since losing to St. Vincent in Week 3, defeating Saxony Lutheran last week 56-42 and beating Jefferson 35-0. Perryville had exactly 400 yards rushing against Saxony. Barrett Wheeler and Kayd Luckey combined for 361 yards on the ground. Joshua Gremaud led the defense with 9 tackles and 7 assists. In the last two years, Perryville has scored 99 points to Herculaneum’s 8 points in the matchup.
Herculaneum beat Bayless 37-20 last week. The Blackcats are currently 4-3. The Blackcat rushing attack manufactured 308 yards. Clark Struckhoff had 120 yards on 17 carries. Struckhoff, Keaton Reeves, and Chase Luebbert led the rushing attack. Gavin Feltmann led the Blackcat defense in tackles and assists. Prediction: Perryville (22) Vs Herculaneum (20)
Chaminade Prep Hawks at Hillsboro Hawks
Hillsboro’s plight against Chaminade is what A.J. Ofodile would call “circumstantial,” meaning that Chaminade at-its-peak would be favored over even the championship teams of Class 4. The Red Devils of Class 5 aren’t back to the form of their glory years from the 2010s, but they’re getting close, having beaten Class 4’s likely District 2 champion in Vianney by a similar score as DeSmet. Chaminade played a better defensive game against SLUH than Hillsboro did while HHS and Chaminade’s offenses looked similar against the Junior Billikens. If the Hawks forget having lost out in conference play, Chaminade won’t have it easy as Friday’s natural two-TD favorite. PREDICTION: CHAMINADE 39, HAWKS 27
Hazelwood West Wildcats at Seckman Jaguars
PREDICTION: JAGUARS 55, HAZELWOOD WEST 0
Northwest Lions at Parkway Central Colts
PREDICTION: NORTHWEST 63, PARKWAY CENTRAL 7
Jefferson Blue Jays at St. Genevieve Dragons
Jefferson and Hillsboro’s programs keep running in parallel trend lines. The schools played similar brands of grind-it-out football in the original glory days, then they transformed into dynamic play-makers’ teams with the arrival of stars like Preston Brown and Kole Williams, leading to many more triumphant nights. Now, however, the Blue Jays and Hawks are performing with blue-collar athletes who need to play the old ball-control style to be successful, and maybe they’ve forgotten how to do it.
St. Genevieve is having its best season of recent years, making the Dragons a very tough out for a slumping Blue Jays brand. St. Genevieve’s early-season softness vs smaller programs is a clue that Jefferson does have the upset in its sights if the Blue Jays are outstanding this Friday. PREDICTION: ST. GENEVIEVE 35, BLUE JAYS 19
Windsor Owls at Fredericktown Blackcats (Pete’s Predictions)
Logan Wilson and Carter Gemes have led the 3-4 Windsor Owls’ defense in the last two weeks. They combined for 30 tackles and assists in Windsor’s last two games against North County and Hillsboro. Jet Black and Logan Wilson are leading the Owls offense and have scored in most of the games played this season. The Owl’s offense will be grinding out points against a porous Fredricktown Defense. Expect the offensive yards to be plentiful for Windsor.
The 0-7 Fredericktown Blackcats scored 13 heartening points against St. Genevieve last week, and did not get shut out by DeSoto. Windsor has allowed an average of 33.86 points per game this season. The Owls soft defense will provide an opportunity for Fredricktown to score some TDs in front of their fans this week. If the Fredricktown offense can take advantage of the Owls struggling defense, then they can make this close if not pull off a win. Pete’s Prediction: Windsor (38) Vs Fredricktown (21)