Festus Tigers vs North County Raiders (Class 4, District 1 Championship Game)

Teams filled with talented rookies are the ultimate Friday Night Lights spoilers in late fall. Sophomores, more so than juniors, seniors, or perhaps even freshmen, don’t stop growing up physically between September and December. Coaches drive them to lift more in the weight room, yet even without that, they get taller, longer, and stamina-boosted in three months’ time. Festus faithful can recall the 2018 Varsity Tigers’ sophomores having the night of their lives to beat Farmington 28-21 in the District Semifinals. Farmington’s bad luck that year was to meet the Tigers after their sophomores had a season under their belts. The Black Knights would probably have destroyed the gang of greenhorns Festus fielded that August. It makes a November surge from a young lineup especially sneaky that opponents saw how shaky they were earlier-on, which can lead to a dangerously breezy attitude on behalf of the older, favored team.

The moral of that story? Forget all about the North County Raiders of Week 6!

North County’s got the same crew of juniors and seniors that it did when the Bonne Terre Buccaneers lost to the Festus Tigers 46-21 six weeks ago. That much is obvious. But even though NCHS’s underclassmen will be sporting the same names on their jerseys, they are better athletes than they were at the beginning of October. North County’s turnaround, in which the Raiders have rebounded from a 1-5 start to win their last five contests in a row, is powered in-part by a sophomore class which outnumbers NCHS’s juniors substantially. Bonne Terre’s contingent of sophomore linemen accounts for six trench fighters, or nearly half of the Raiders’ rostered linemen counting Grade 10 and up. North County’s uber-dangerous tailback Noah Lashley is flourishing with a supporting cast that’s come of age in a hurry. North County never gave Perryville any chance in last Friday’s 51-6 rout.

Visiting coach Brian Jones is off the hot seat and playing with house money in the District Championship Game at FHS. How can the top-seeded Festus Tigers avoid losing the Trap Game Of The Decade?

Step #1 is to be mentally prepared for a tough skirmish. Festus R-6 has played in exactly two close games this fall (neither of which were close the whole way), first versus Hillsboro in Week 5 and then in Homecoming’s huge comeback that smote Farmington. FHS head coach A.J. Ofodile has said that his team’s psychological weakness is thinking that some opponents aren’t “supposed” to drive the ball and hang around with Tiger Stadium’s vaunted club. If they give up an early lead to an underdog, they believe that they’ve screwed up. Friday’s situation demands that the boys dunk their heads, scrabble their eyes, and punt that sort of nonsense out of their locker room. It worked out okay last Friday when Hillsboro wasn’t supposed to fare well at Tiger Stadium and the Hawks did not. North County could surprise – even shock – Festus into a sloppy contest if the Tigers aren’t fully prepared for a 48:00 dogfight. Quarterback Braydee McClure’s team is so improved from Week 6 that they’re like a whole new opponent. If Festus believes that it’s supposed to wipe out North County again, the chances of the Tigers getting lucky enough to do so will go down to 0%. The Raiders intend to spoil a special season and take the rest of the Tigers’ Halloween candy away.

FHS coaches thinking outside the box – literally – would help deter a disaster of an upset defeat. The Geek isn’t fond of “First this, THEN that” game plans, and it’s good that Festus assistant coaches like Robert Martucci and Jim “Ox” Sardo tend to feel the same way. The gridiron is littered with fallen coaches who went into a Friday saying, “What we really want to do is ABC, but FIRST we need to establish XYZ.” Then they get into the first half and whatever success “XYZ” is does not get established, and they’re lost without a plan. A commonplace example is when play-callers decide to pass first and then run second even though they’re hoping to run more than they pass. The Tigers’ foremost weapon remains the offensive line’s blocking and a great stable of tailbacks. It’s probably a bad idea to think about putting quarterback Parker Perry in harm’s way early against North County, a sizzling-hot visitor that will look for something, anything to grab the momentum. To quote General George S. Patton, “therefore that’s exactly what (the Tigers) should do.”

If North County wants to shock Festus with a better performance, Black & Gold should shock the Raiders right back, by utilizing the best junior quarterback in the STL Metro to full effect. Perry has the most accurate arm of any signal-caller in R-6 history, and its targets are seeking a pack of WRs, TEs, and pass-catching RBs who are coming into their own just as the real pigskin gets going. The flip side of Perry’s pretty stat line is the gritty Tigers’ WRs like David Russell and Gus Drinen, who don’t have the insane collective speed of last year’s corps and more than make up for that with slick execution and fantastic hands. Perry’s completion rate wouldn’t be 99.99% if those players weren’t escaping coverage and snagging the bean. When the wide receivers are covered, hit North County’s defense with catch-and-run tosses to Kamden Yates, Leuontae Williams, and Braydon Wilkes.

If Ofodile opens up the playbook from the start, gambling to try to burn North County down the field, there could be a sack or a fumble or an INT. Perry, though, has been as good at protecting the ball as he’s been at moving the chains. The stout FHS defense has allowed less than 30 combined points in the first halves of five games against conference rivals. We trust 2025’s defense to pull Midmeadow Lane through the tight spots if a turnover occurs. Meanwhile, a high-scoring first half – even for both teams – sets up Black & Gold to play its trump card.

Put the Bonne Terre offense under pressure to respond, and Antonio Pinkston’s pass rush comes alive. The 245-pound sack hunter has been relatively tame with five takedowns this season, partly due to opponents trying in vain to hog the football by not throwing it very much, i.e. Hillsboro in Week 11. If Pinkston can get to McClure’s pocket, that brings the entire win streak’s momentum crashing down for the Bonne Terre Buccaneers. Sacks upset a less experienced OL like North County’s most of all, as players bicker about who should’ve blocked who instead of playing their way out of 2nd-Down-and-20. If it’s a dull, low-scoring District Championship Game with both teams running up the middle, manufacturing QB sacks will be no easy task for any lineman. If, instead, the Tigers can turn Friday into a sprint to the finish line, Pinkston will loom large against NCHS.

Festus was glad that Hillsboro arrived so quiet last week. This time, a rock’em, sock’em, noisy encounter gives FHS its best chance to pull away. PREDICTION: TIGERS 42, NORTH COUNTY 23

Grandview Eagles vs Van-Far Indians (Class 1, District 2 Championship Game)

There’s a space ship about to land in Hillsboro. Van-Far hosted and beat Mississippi Magazine’s other Class 1 team by six touchdowns in the Delta Quadrant  Vandalia last Friday, setting up a C1D2 District Championship Game with the #1 seeded Grandview Eagles. The name Van-Far always struck The Geek as fitting for a brand that’s so unfamiliar to local folks, since it sounds like a far-away planet discovered by Buck Rogers or Dr. Spock, even though the actual town is named after an onion. We’ve gotten to know the Van-Far Indians a little bit through their rivalry with the Klingons Crystal City in the 2020s, though we didn’t learn all that much from the overwhelmed Hornets’ defeat in Week 11.

What we have learned is that Van-Far has an adjusted playbook with which it can snap the ball to the QB any which way. The Geek gives the Indians’ coaches (who we’ve barked at for their attitude at times) full props for mixing vintage 1920s tactics with the I-Formation and the Shotgun Spread. Coaches spent about 10 decades – no exaggeration – saying that you had to snap the football to your signal-caller one primary way and that was that. How many Wing-T schools would win more contests in the last minute if only they could learn a few Spread tactics? How many fancy, schmancy, up-your-pantsy Air Raid teams could use a Tush Push or a simple Quarterback Sneak from under center? But nope – just look at the SEC teams who snap the ball six yards deep on 4th-Down-and-Inches! There’s still a belief out there that your offensive line can master only one tempo and your Center/QB can’t adjust their snaps in the middle of a contest. Van-Far’s 98 points scored over the Indians’ last two games is proof that they can.

Vandalia’s added a “Four Horseman” look to its powerful rush offense that chewed up the turf against Crystal City. There are four potential runners in the backfield, but the setup doesn’t adhere to the Wishbone or other familiar Xs and Os that put three RBs around a QB. Van-Far’s 6-4 season of 2025 is an odd duck because the Indians’ defense has gotten blown off the ball more often than its OL has failed to produce daylight for Vandalia’s rushers. Usually, it’s the other way around – an undersized team like St. Pius-2024 or DeSoto-2025 offen fares better at the line-of-scrimmage on defense than on offense, because a 200-pound blitzing linebacker is way more intimidating than the same kid lining up as the 200-pound offensive tackle. Van-Far’s offense has found a rhythm that works in every one of its various formations, going 4-1 against Class 1 with Russellville as the only loss.

Grandview’s offense can move the chains against Vandalia’s defensive line. Each time the chains are moved in Grandview’s favor, the Eagles will be one step closer to earning their first district title of a generation. But last weekend, the Birds of Prey nearly self-destructed, turning a 42-21 lead over Louisiana into a bad dream that didn’t end until Isaac Walker rescued GHS on its winning drive. QB Brendan Martin is either “Lamar Jackson” or “Jake Browning” depending on the day. Grandview’s defense is a stone wall or a sieve. Is Grandview destined to lose to a team that spanked Louisiana properly, 46-20, in Week 4? Or can the Eagles foil that “1920s” stuff and win a championship here and now?

T.G.G. thinks the key-key-key is Grandview’s “DST” – Defense and Special Teams. Martin’s offense does not need to go into the Van-Far game thinking, “Okay, we have to score 55 points again, but this time, don’t turn the ball over.” The best way to spark an accident-prone offense is to give it simple things to do, to take good field position and turn it into points, or mount a time-consuming drive on the ground. Grandview’s big defense is physical enough to have thrown a hard wrench in Herculaneum’s offense, holding Clark Struckhoff to minimal yards on dive plays that the Blackcats were forced to give up on. Van-Far will be sneaky on special teams, forcing Grandview’s reserves to improve in the kicking game after a wobbly Week 11. But there’s nothing sneaky about Van-Far’s shift into the I-Formation, when the Indians just go all-out to set the edge. What’s intriguing for Grandview’s sake is that Van-Far, for all of its midgame shifting of styles, clearly does not want QB Kasen Christian having to put the ball in the air too often. That revealed itself last week when Vandalia could have done anything it wanted against Crystal’s clumsy defense, yet held to a minimum of wide-open tactics in the first half.

Load up the BEEF, Birds of Prey! Force the #2 seed Indians into their Shotgun snap setup from which they don’t know as many plays to attempt as when Van-Far was going to the Spread offense full-time. Make it clear that our guests can’t fly to outer space unless they let Christian try to throw on a ball-hawking defense. When Vandalia runs, The Geek wants to see the Indians get bogged down in the onion patch. Tucker Rhinehart should lead a “Punt Rush” defense against the “Four Horseman” formation as far as Mississippi Magazine is concerned, until Van-Far at least has to call a Bootleg for Christian to roll with. He might complete a few passes against the Punt Rush, but it won’t last all night, and it’s not what Van-Far wants to do. Herky scored points on Grandview, but R-5 lost because it was out of its comfort zone. The bruising Eagles can make Van-Far uncomfortable too. Grandview’s edge in numbers will rear its head if the Eagles play a higher-tempo game, tiring out Van-Far’s defense by making them run from sideline-to-sideline.

Once the opposing Four Horsemen are saddled low, it’s time for Grandview’s own fantastic foursome to carry the day. We called Van-Far’s loss to Russellville its worst of the year because Russellville’s “8-2” record is as thin as Brentwood’s in 2022, and since RHS was the only Class 1 underdog Vandalia lost to all season. Grandview is not such an underdog against Van-Far, so long as the Eagles are confident enough to play like a favorite. They can vanquish Van-Far with merely a few TDs once the Indians’ offense has been checked. Hillsboro, Dittmer, whatever it is – Big River is where the Martin-Walker-Keim-Poole combination can ride into the sunset with a trophy.

So is Friday’s championship clash a Western, or a Sci-Fi movie? For now, we’re calling it Close Encounters of the “30-22” Kind. PREDICTION: EAGLES 30, VAN-FAR 22

Caruthersville Tigers vs St. Pius Lancers (Class 2, District 1 Championship Game)

The Geek once nicknamed the Cape Girardeau Central Tigers the “Bootheel Bengals,” which caused a bit of an uproar because Cape Girardeau is in the “Bootheel” like the GHS Eagles are in “Hillsboro,” and Caruthersville fans at the SEMOBall Varsity Football forum began to sing the Caruthersville Tigers’ trademark war music. “We’re the REAL Bootheel Bengals!” the CHS alumni wrote. “And by the way, your predictions are stupid! Last week you only got 10 out of 11 winners, and Van-Far only runs Shotgun 20% of the time! HA!”

St. Pius thinks it’s got something that can conquer the “real” Bootheel Bengals in Friday’s championship game, even though the Caruthersville Tigers tripped Hill Valley 33-25 back in Week 1. In fact, based on Week 11’s stats, the Cincinnati Bengals had better not get too cocky about Cody Shaver. Shaver’s 483 yards (GULP) rushing in the District 1 semis against St. Vincent were the most of any Jefferson County tailback in a single game since 2003. Want to see something funny? LOOK WHO OWNS THE JEFFCO RECORD!

Woo! Who knew Coach Boss was one fast Son-of-a-Baconator?

Shaver is plenty fast in his own right. But what’s amazing about SPX’s linchpin is that Shaver is such a dynamic runner, a chameleon who can change pace, change gears, and hurt opposing teams in a myriad of ways, as if head coach Frank Ray was subbing a bunch of different running backs into the action with “#40” on their jerseys. (No “Cardinal Ritter” jokes, thank you.) The 5’11” junior’s most memorable TD run of ’25 so far might be this one, in which he scores with zero blocking, shrugging off a point-blank hit like it didn’t happen:

At other times, though, Shaver plays like a small running back – and that’s a compliment! Look at the stop-on-a-dime agility of this Week 5 carry in the Vineyards:

Friday Night Lights is full of “gradual surprises,” or things we didn’t foresee in July that are plainly obvious in November. St. Pius X didn’t look anything like a district championship favorite in Week 1, even though the Lancers outgained the Tigers in their first trip to Caruthersville. SPX began and ended 2025’s regular season by feeding the ball to Shaver, the only constant to speak of as the Lancers turn into more and more of a power-running team. There’s no comparison between the size and strength of last year’s offensive line as compared to this season’s. Jackson Jercinovic’s OL packs more of a punch than DeSoto’s or Hillsboro’s ended this year with. The unit just needed to stay healthy … and it has. Caruthersville, meanwhile, is boasting the same type of late-season surge from a younger lineup that North County is. The coach sandbagged the first SPX game in the media. Not again!

Friday’s district title contest in the Bootheel … the real Bootheel … remains a question of SPX’s mental game and execution more than a quest to knock Caruthersville off its game. The tools are there to outplay CHS and advance. Mississippi Magazine isn’t worried about SPX being outblocked, outhustled, or outplayed by Caruthersville on either side of the ball. On defense, Shaver is an Iron Man weapon with 10 sacks. Harrison Ray has five INTs to go with his 815 reception yards and eight TD catches. Shaver and Danny DeGeare lead a linebacking corps that stuffed Valle’s running backs and pressured two Warrior QBs in Week 9. We said SPX would need 300+ rush yards to beat CHS convincingly. After last week (!) 300 rush yards is more like a baseline.

TGG is nonetheless worried that Caruthersville will scratch, claw, and deceive its way through a close opening half in the rematch, utilizing enough tricky run plays and surprise passes to keep St. Pius off guard, and produce a scoreboard on which anything can happen in Quarter 4. Remember that the Lancers haven’t had to play against a run-heavy offense since they met St. Pius of Kansas City in the St. Pius Bowl of Week 8 … and we’ll wince to recall what happened in the first half of that game. Caruthersville won’t play quite such a “college” style as Valle Catholic or St. Vincent, forcing Hill Valley’s stout defense to buck-up immediately and face the raging of a Tigers team hosting another championship tilt. CHS, stricken with tough injuries at linebacker and safety, will try everything it can to hold onto the pigskin and keep Shaver from getting warm.

Caruthersville wants to make St. Pius X have to throw it more often. The Tigers, and their cagey coaches, are aware of QB Evan Eckrich’s occasional turnover issues this season. They might stack up a “Punt Rush” defense of their own if St. Pius begins by moving the chains with Shaver, attempting to get SPX to do something, anything but give it to #40. Hill Valley’s X-factor – and we don’t mean the school name – is that the Varsity Lancers finally have enough girth, guts, and go-ahead to focus on playing their own style and beat any Caruthersville tactics that might be attempted. Ray has held on to a multiple-offense playbook that includes the Wishbone, the style of rush attack that took old-time Herculaneum to two Show-Me Bowls in five years. If Caruthersville stacks the line against Shaver and the Lancers, St. Pius could stack up a “Jumbo” package and ram right up the middle anyway.

It may not be pretty, but if Shaver’s legs churn out four-to-six yards at a time, that starts chewing up the Game Clock and takes Caruthersville’s natural game plan away from the Tigers. We don’t see Caruthersville scoring many times on St. Pius in a methodical game as opposed to the frantic, wayward action of Week 1. If the Tigers cheat too much toward the line-of-scrimmage, that’s when Eckrich will target his receivers in green pastures. Remember also that when Caruthersville sells out to stop the run, and Shaver refuses to be tackled anyway, there will be few bodies left between SPX’s junior phenom and the opposing end zone.

It’s not time for Shaver to be “Travis Spraul.” It’s time to be Chris Kavlick. St. Pius can use obstinate play-calling and its beast of a tailback to run into the teeth of CHS’ defense successfully. If the Wishbone helps Hill Valley control the ball and punch in its touchdowns on the goal-line, it’s unlikely that Caruthersville can answer with 21+ points. PREDICTION: LANCERS 31, CARUTHERSVILLE 16

Jackson Indians vs Northwest Lions (Class 6, District 1 Championship Game)

Yup. The Gridiron Geek saved this one for last because it’s painful. Northwest has an almost unwinnable title game in front of it this Friday, taking on a Class 6 state championship hopeful in the Jackson Indians. Jackson is well known to Suburban League fans as the brand that makes a “wall” in the bracket that Seckman or another finalist can’t ever hurdle, although some perspective is in order because if Seckman (and now Northwest) fans didn’t hold a grudge against Jackson for always blocking the path, they’d hold one against CBC, or Lafayette, or whichever team from C6’s upper echelon was habitually placed in District 1. The stinky part is that this particular Jackson lineup is pretty special even in that program’s terms. Jackson is not a recent Missouri champion, but that could change this December. QB Drew Parsons leads a 10-0 roster that’s been immaculate against Missouri and out-of-state powerhouses alike, defeating Cardinal Ritter and Edwardsville before any leaves could fall. The Lions’ momentum is likely to come to a thudding halt.

There’s always the chance of a surprise upset bid, especially from a rising commodity like 2025’s Northwest Lions. Some of MSHSAA’s final scores from Week 11 were admittedly a shock, such as the Lift for Life Hawks coming close to defeat against the Ste. Genevieve Dragons. Lift for Life’s assembled team has been known for crazy-level underachieving in the playoffs of years past, but The Geek thought the Hawks would be immune to that syndrome for the time being against Ste. Genevieve’s small schools. Jackson is known for weird postseason losses in its own right, but those defeats tend to always come in the state playoffs. It’s no help to Northwest that Jackson’s iffy state playoff record is backed by a rock-solid district dynasty.

Your author prefers to think of noble endings, so the bright side of Northwest’s tough luck draw against Jackson this week is that the game brings a dose of the Show-Me Bowl’s appeal to Lions Nation. Part of the reason you try to get to the Show-Me Bowl is for the accomplishment, the acclaim, and the notoriety. The other reason you try to get to a Show-Me Bowl is to see how your school can perform against the absolute best. Cohenn Stark’s team could have gone through a lot of playoff conquest, drama, and heartbreak without getting to play a Show-Me Bowl type of opponent, EVER. That’s what happens to most High School programs every year. MSHSAA has done us a favor, in a weird way, by pitting Northwest against a team that we think could go to the biggest Show-Me Bowl game and win it. The fascinating 8-2 Lions are about to show us whether they could compete for Missouri’s big kahuna someday soon. They don’t have to beat the Indians to do it. It’s important for NHS to make some kind of noise in Friday’s bout, on offense or defense.

Big River’s best also can aim to outdo the Festus Tigers by scoring more than 21 points, or holding Jackson’s offense to less TDs than FHS allowed in Week 9. TGG isn’t conceited enough to think that the Jefferson County Power Poll is a motivator for local football players. This year, however, the Northwest Lions have soared up the Power Poll so far and so quickly that the teenagers would probably love to cap it off by getting to #1 in the 12-team rankings. Jeff County’s rankings are more prestigious than ever before. What if Northwest comes within 20 points of Jackson while Festus loses in the next two rounds? NHS would finish #1 or tied for #1. We’d rather see both teams win, but it’s yet another goal for NHS.

Northwest’s coaches will tell their student-athletes to ignore that sort of talk, and give it the old “Why Not Us” and “It’s Anyone’s Ballgame.” If they really plan to upset JHS in the title tilt, they’ll need a lot more than good slogans. The key to bothering Jackson is to load up a defense and somehow, someway stop the Indians just once or twice, not because that prevents Jackson from adding points on most of its other possessions, but because the No Huddle Air Raid is a racecar that burns once it crashes. Once a team frustrates Jackson’s offense this fall – which may take a matchup against CBC – spectators will remember just how pitiful and sad a Hurry-Up offense looks when it’s in 1st-and-10, 2nd-and-15, 3rd-and-20, and finally hurrying (for no reason) to line up for a punt, IF they’re lucky and the ball hasn’t been turned over or backed up another 20 yards first. We are not saying that Northwest has the defense to do that to the Jackson Indians, but after the last few weeks, it would appear that the Lions have a better chance than most defenses do.

Stark’s offense takes care of itself if Jackson’s offense falls apart. If the Jackson offense keeps humming, there’s no chance to outscore Parsons’ attack anyway. Will HC Scott Gerling get creative and call for a defensive alignment like Frazier-Stark-Spratt jamming up on the Indians’ top three WRs, casting aside concerns of injury or fatigue in the mix once Cedar Hill gets the football back? More likely, the Lions will load up on offense with the best Iron Men available, and try to hog the Game Clock with Stark and Spratt running the Read-Option. Fireworks could ensue if Northwest decides to just have fun. Maybe it will be a little of both, and NHS will tie Jackson 14-14 in the second half. PREDICTION: JACKSON 56, LIONS 20

Photo Credits: Festus R-6 Facebook, Northwest Lions HUDL, St. Pius Football Facebook, Mary Jo Koetting Nicks