We’re going to make football history. There’ll be a lot of history, believe me. So much history, we’ll get tired of making it. People are saying.
The Festus Tigers and St. Pius Lancers have advanced to play in next weekend’s Final Four of Class 4 and Class 2 respectively, whipping Sullivan and Montgomery County by a stunning combined score of 49-7 in the second halves of State Quarterfinal games played yesterday. We are blessed, beatific, and bowled over by a neighborhood of kids who’re so good at Friday Night Lights, they’ve put two brands in the state semis in the same amazing year.
So much history is being made by Mississippi Magazine’s teams that it’s hard to capture it all in one post. It isn’t the first time that two Jefferson County schools made it to Week 14’s state semifinals in the same season. We saw the Fox Warriors and the Jefferson Blue Jays do that in 2020. This is the first time that we’ve ever had two mascots from the same town dancing in late November. It might be one of the first times that’s happened in MSHSAA’s modern era, counting any town anywhere. St. Pius had never been to the Elite Eight before going 1-0 with the Lancers’ shut-out win over MCHS yesterday. The Festus Varsity Football Tigers had never made back-to-back runs through the final bracket … until now. HISS-TOE-REE!Â
This is the time of year when The Geek stops writing recaps. Everybody who cares about a team in Missouri’s state playoffs is already going to know the final score and some trivia about the last victory within 12 hours even if they didn’t see it happen. But there’s time for a couple thoughts on yesterday’s action, especially since the Sullivan-Festus tilt was jilted out of a Live Stream STL broadcast and demoted by KTUI in favor of St. Clair’s radio call.
Parker Perry can take a lopsided loss and make it close with a comeback. If you give the FHS junior quarterback a close game, why, he can help make it lopsided in the Tigers’ favor. Sullivan had Festus locked in a tight 7-0 battle at halftime, one which Kamden Yates’ biggest breakout performance of 2025 wasn’t making much of a dent in on the scoreboard. That is, until Perry’s symbiosis with an All-Star cast of rushers and receivers came to the fore again. The third quarter at Sullivan was highlighted with Perry “beautiful drops,” in the words of Midmeadow Lane’s long-time booster Steve Ellis. The emerging WR Gus Drinen snagged his second long bomb of the Q-Final, teeing up Yates’ short TD to go up 14-0 before Parker propelled a 40-yarder to Yates for another TD. Yates then intercepted an Eagles pass and raced for a Pick-6 that sealed the deal. A dent? Yates hammered SHS with three TDs in 8:00!
St. Pius X had its own episodes in the first half against Montgomery County. In fact, the first half of the Lancers-Wildcats game had “Never Been Here Before” written all over it on account of both teams, producing an 0-0 half and a “2023 Cotton Bowl” level of quality relative to what each program was capable of. Neither starting quarterback was ready to handle the stress of the moment when the bout began. Adrian Combs was so inaccurate in the face of the Lancers’ pass rush that half of his first-half completions came by accident. In the second quarter at Hill Valley, Combs rolled out and attempted to make a 20-yard throw underhanded, in the style of the former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Dan Quisenberry. It appeared to be intended for one wide receiver and caught by another one. St. Pius QB Evan Eckrich went on a 1-for-5 streak and then tripped over his feet trying to scramble. St. Pius accumulated so many penalty flags that The Geek lost count. The only thing saving the day was a mean SPX defense that shut down MCHS.
Oh, and St. Pius messed up two punt-snaps before botching the Lancers’ first XP. Was it a Blunder Bowl? Nope, not if you stuck around for Quarter 3! SPX made a brilliant move, bringing Danny DeGeare into the contest as a “package” quarterback to execute a devlish set of option plays. It fooled Montgomery County’s defense so badly that it felt like a different Lancers offense had taken the field, especially when Brody Ervin made another scintillating, game-winning TD run on a pitch from DeGeare. But the coolest thing was that Eckrich didn’t trudge back to the sideline and contemplate his let-down of a first half. Like a couple of Winners with a capital W, DeGeare’s secret plan for the offense raised Eckrich’s game and had the sophomore quarterback zinging key completions on his own snaps. Eckrich was badly behind the down-and-distance when he found Wyatt Harris, a sophomore himself, for a 50-yard catch that turned the field-position battle around and made the Wildcats’ defense stop cheating its way forward. The one dangerous component of SPX’s ace-in-the-hole tactic that led to DeGeare’s heroic day was that if you have a young signal-caller who’s struggling, putting a senior quarterback in for any brief time could wreck #4’s moxie more. Eckrich responded like a champ with a fine second half and yet another massive win.
The history expands wider as we look forward. Tiger Stadium, as expected, will host the unbeaten Kearney Bulldogs in a Final Four kickoff this Saturday. In a nice surprise, St. Pius has drawn another home game for the next round against Monroe City, which massacred Mid-Buchanan 58-21 in an outcome from Week 13 that The Geek didn’t see coming. That’s just the start of the scores that surprised Mississippi Magazine in the State Q-Final round, a sign that the Class 2 and Class 4 titles are wide open to any hot-as-lava team that can put two really good games together. FHS and St. Pius easily qualify. Historically speaking, it’s got to be a first time anything like this has happened in JeffCo. It’s like Hillsboro and Grandview hosting the semis together! Festus thought that its local traffic was bad on Friday of Week 8. Just wait until there are two gigantic playoff games taking place 2.7 miles apart.
Lamar was upset 12-7 by Liberty Mountain View, which means both of The Geek’s predicted Show-Me Bowl teams in Class 2 have gone tumbling down the gully. St. Pius getting drawn against Monroe City instead of Mid-Buchanan will help the Lancers’ confidence, since they shined against a common opponent in Valle Catholic, which doubled-up Saturday’s visiting Varsity Panthers six touchdowns to three in another regular-season contest. It’s a confusing note that St. Pius will fight its second “M-C-H-S” opponent in two weeks! The Lancers need two good halves to conquer this MCHS.
Festus versus Kearney is the Big Kahuna for MSHSAA Large Schools in Week 14. Hannibal versus St. Mary’s makes an interesting Class 4 sideshow on Saturday, and maybe one of those “wooOOOooo” murmurs from the crowd if a lopsided score is announced at Tiger Stadium. Make no mistake, Festus-Kearney is C4’s “main event” which pits STL and KC-area schools in a battle for supremacy. Perry’s opponent is none other than Carter Temple, another Division 1 prospect who can fly up the field like Jackson’s QB Drew Parsons. But the Festus signal-caller has a golden arm and a great supporting cast.
Scores from 2025’s playoffs have made the Tigers and Lancers’ state bids look better, and not just from Class 4 or Class 2. Parsons’ offense is more of a phenomenon than ever following a 45-42 win over CBC in which the Jackson Indians led 31-7 early in the Class 6 quarterfinal. The Farmington Black Knights scored F…F…FIFTY SIX POINTS ON KIRKWOOD, though the favored KHS Pioneers still prevailed 70-56 in an absolute track meet in Class 5. Recall that we thought the Black & Gold defense had one of its worst turns in the Farmington contest. In hindsight, they fared better than Kirkwood’s.
Liberty hosts Blair Oaks after taking down Lamar. Blair Oaks may be disappointed and underprepared after waiting to play Lamar all this postseason, a deadly blend of poisons when you’re facing a fanatical team on its home turf. Whoever wins the Class 2 semifinal at SPX may be drawn in the Show-Me Bowl with a tired club, following a pitched battle at Liberty. Blair Oaks won big yesterday, but the jury’s still out on whether C3’s champ will dominate C2.
Nothing else from the State Championship brackets stands out too finely. We’re pleased to see Pattonville make the Final Four again, a triumph for the Suburban League that reminds kids at Seckman, Northwest, and Fox that the Class 6 obstacle course is not impossible. The Gridiron Geek still wants to think that if a casual fan from Columbia is looking at the 12 semifinal matchups this weekend, their eyes are going to be drawn toward the pair of semifinals in the Tri-Cities. Two battles of east-versus-west, each featuring Missouri’s newest hotbed against the tops of western MO football.
Enjoy the buzz this week, Festonians! The Geek personally guarantees that you’ll have never seen – or heard – anything like it.
Photo Credits: Purchased from Rivals (Pixieset), St. Pius X Football Facebook