The Gridiron Geek likes how the 2026 season sets up for Mississippi Magazine, and not just because we have so many exciting teams to report on. Namely, five out of the six home teams which finished top-half in 2025’s final Jefferson County Power Poll are appearing against comparable schedules this season. Not just “comparable” in the sense that our Class 3-thru-Class 6 contenders are playing equal combinations of favorites and underdogs. Comparable as in honest-to-goodness alike in clear-as-the-night-sky ways, including a handful of common opponents for a start.
It could help to legitimize the Power Poll into “the real thing” as a rankings resource – finally! – just as Mississippi Magazine goes mainstream. The Power Poll is meant to keep the old Jefferson County Conference’s heritage alive by ranking the seeds in an all-county Fantasy tournament, so to speak. When it comes to weighting local teams from different divisions who do not play each other, the Magazine has had to use guesswork. Not anymore! In 2026, we’re going to have enough fine, comparable info to rank most of the top-6 to perfection, based on their success or failure.
“‘Most of,’ you say?” Yes, there is one odd duck on the ledger of Jeff County strongholds’ schedules this year. The Northwest Lions have drawn an easier schedule of relatively smaller schools, relative to what Seckman, Fox, Hillsboro, Festus, and St. Pius X have lined up in 2026. The Lions could feel pressure to go at least 7-2 to stay relevant. They could plunge in the Power Poll if they don’t.
NHS head coach Scott Gerling has not booked a cupcake schedule for senior QB Cohenn Stark’s squad, a move that would get Northwest clobbered as soon as it reached the Class 6 playoffs. Gerling, as The Geek predicted last December, negotiated a new Cedar Hill schedule that is very colorful, fair, and interesting. It’s just different, and less physically taxing than the Class 6 norm.
The 2026 Seckman Jaguars are facing one of the Dirty Dozen’s toughest slates. Seckman’s four foes in September are North Point, Lindbergh, Pattonville, and Fox. HC Nick Baer’s club concludes its regular season versus Ritenour and Parkway North. Sheesh! Meanwhile, the Fox Warriors greet Ladue, Seckman, Parkway West, and the Kirkwood (gulp) Pioneers consecutively.
Can Imperial and Arnold mount winning regular seasons against schedules dotted with Godzillas? What will happen to Northwest’s street-cred if the Lions don’t vanquish rival Fox on September 4, and there’s no handy regular-season Northwest vs Seckman rematch to prove themselves in?
Fox Warriors: Defense Must Buy Time for Offense to Grow
The Fox Warriors are doubling-down on their brand of football. Senior fullback Jude Pribish has been asked to take the reins as Arnold’s starting quarterback this season, which is an anvil falling from the ceiling with a sign that says “we’re going to run the football like the pass isn’t invented yet.”
Don’t mourn the lack of a “Farmington” offseason. Coach Brent Tinker, the longest-tenured HC in the Dirty Dozen, isn’t just plugging another kid into his Flexbone offense and hoping that the Warriors race for 400 yards a game. Fox thinks that moving Pribish to QB – always the No. 1 highlighted rusher for the Warriors – could help Pribish pay off the promise he’s fallen shy of thus far.
Fox’s latest QB has been a victim of hype and high expectations. Pribish was ballyhooed as the savior of Arnold’s backfield as a sophomore, when the unit remained fleet-footed, but needed more beef on the hoof. Bothered by several injuries, Pribish has rushed for about 1100 yards and eight TDs in two campaigns since then. But he was terrific against Ritenour last season, with nearly 8.0 yards per carry against Overland’s gang, compared to Pribish’s meeker stats when Antonio Jarillo was featured. If Pribish is under center, his legs will be warmed up in every game scenario.
The 6’3” 220 lb. Pribish’s power could turn 3rd-and-2s into automatic first downs for Fox, potentially playing behind an offensive line that gives “Tush Push” a new meaning. Even though the Warriors went with a veteran OL last season, you’ve got to like the size, strength, and seasoning of a line fronted by 6’6” senior Eli Spicer and 6’3” junior Cayden Biggs, to go with the sheer thump of Benjamin Lessor the senior at 285 lbs. OL Will Peralta comes off a nice sophomore year.
The Flexbone will flex, and it will score, and it will stutter. It’s a known quantity until we get into a clutch 4th-and-goal moment and see what Pribish can do with the snap. More pressure weighs on Fox’s defense this season, because it’s the defense that has to give Pribish’s offense a chance to develop on the field. 2026’s schedule is too tough to play lax defense and expect to succeed.
Fox senior Ryan Joggerst wants to be known as the best inside linebacker in the Dirty Dozen, and he has the tools to keep making that happen, even among a field of players with names like “Schirmer” in it. Joggerst led the county with 154 total tackles in 2025, while leading the Warriors with three sacks. Second-leading tackler Corbin Fullerton returns as a senior, boosting the LB corps.
Ooh, if Gavin Pecararo’s defensive backfield has a big year, Arnold might have a defense as mighty as its water tower! But if Tinker’s staff tinkers in the way The Geek wants them to, Pecararo will be a busy Iron Man. TGG believes that Fox should move Pecararo, and another one of the Warriors’ fastest WR-CBs, to permanent A-Back slots on either side of Pribish, to give 2026’s backfield speed.
It’s okay to have a 90% running offense if you’re creative! Fox’s defense can hold the line while the pieces of a superior offense begin to fall into place. However, the further willingness of Coach Tinker to shift players around could make the difference between an explosive Fox offense and a dull one.
Northwest Lions: Season Begins on Somber Note Following Senseless Tragedy
Northwest High School’s cheers will have a bittersweet sound as Friday Night Lights kick off again. NHS lost two of its treasured family members when Lions senior Jersey Greer and her mom Jessica Lashley were murdered by an evil, lunatic neighbor at their home in House Springs on July 25. It’s the toughest story that The Gridiron Geek has had to report on since former Hillsboro and Festus student-athlete Justice Johnson was murdered in Kirkwood nearly a decade ago. There wasn’t any justice for Greer’s murderer, who shot and killed himself in a final act of cowardice.
It would be a shock if each and every player on the Northwest Varsity Football Lions hasn’t already dedicated their upcoming season to Jersey, her surviving family, and the grieving NHS Girls Lacrosse team. Northwest’s community raised nearly $60K to help the folks in need.
So, about that Northwest schedule. To clarify once more, The Geek does not mean to imply, wrongly, that the Lions have it easy this fall. Northwest’s slate isn’t just challenging, it’s refreshing, offering crowds a chance to watch our Suburban League kids playing somebody besides Lindbergh, Lafayette, Hazelwood East/West/Central and so on. Apart from three potential mismatches against McCluer North, Mehlville, and Parkway South, it’s a chill schedule that takes the Lions to new places.
2026’s out-of-conference slate represents Gerling’s canny attempt to vault above Jackson in the District race, to book the Indians into a postseason game that’s not at The Pit for once. Jackson’s schedule is gutsier than usual, replacing its cream-puffs such as Miller Career Academy with powerhouses such as Hannibal. If Jackson trips up against Hannibal, Cardinal Ritter, or Edwardsville (or all three), it opens the door for Northwest or Seckman to seed No. 1.
Gerling is also taking a risk with his choice of out-of-conference opponents. Cedar Hill’s scoreboards could cause the wrong kind of fan chatter, distracting a watershed team in its star QB’s senior season. It’ll be a thankless job for Stark’s supporting cast, striving to conquer talented boys from nine consecutive opposing schools that are smaller than Northwest, according to 2025’s classifications. Rivals might remark, “another cupcake!” with every Lions win … but “Class 4” does not a cupcake-make.
The Varsity Lions will spend 2026 fighting off upset bids from improving teams folks haven’t heard about yet. Take the University City Lions, who would’ve been nicknamed the “Kitty Cats” for a week if they had to play Chase Belcher’s lineup in a Lions-vs-Lions game in 2024. But the U-City brand has since been revitalized, going 9-2 in 2025. Similar praise has to go out to the Jennings Warriors, Northwest’s next Homecoming opponents, who aren’t likely to be pushovers. Jennings ended last postseason with a breakthrough effort against Class 4 powerhouse St. Mary’s, losing just 40-24.
Is Cedar Hill’s lineup ready to take advantage of this autumn’s “8-1” potential, or will NHS fall prey to the minefield of high expectations following its most historic season in many decades? The Geek likes what he sees on the Lions’ latest roster, a mix of wily veteran playmakers and fresh blood right where Big River’s kids need it – in the trenches. There’s a menagerie of up-and-coming bruisers who could collectively make up for the loss of graduate Hunter Williams as NHS’s anchor between the hashes.
Gerling does have one challenging chore in preseason, taking a bunch of seasoned bigs who’ve contributed on offense-only thus far, such as 6’2” 240 lb. junior OT Evan Walls, and figure out which of them can become NHS’s best “upperclass rookie” on the D-Line, as a convert or as an Iron Man. For Northwest’s defense to be big enough this year, a “transfer portal” must run from OL to DL.
Senior LB Jeremiah Clines is also the only returning starter with significant pass-rushing stats on his ledger. That puts pressure on Cedar Hill’s defensive backfield, which will rely on juniors such as the aptly-named Jax Newcomer. Gerling must make the difficult adjustment to coaching like his team is favored to win, something that former Crystal City skipper Dan Fox and others have struggled with. It’s tough to put underdogs away if your pass defense is a little shaky.
The Geek thinks 2025’s Large Schools COTY can make the transition, though, since playing as the favorite fits Gerling’s game-management philosophy of getting into the fourth quarter, and then winning it. Northwest can afford to play conservative defense, with deep safety coverages, against underdogs like Jennings, who will look for the home-run touchdown. Even if opponents move the football between the 20s, it will not lead to a time-of-possession disadvantage for Northwest, because lordy, we already know how Stark’s offense hogs the football on the Lions’ behalf.
Seckman Jaguars: Ruble Steps Away, But There’s Plenty of Gems Left Over
It’s unlucky that Seckman’s new schedule is a reporter’s clue to observe Jaguars head coach Nick Baer’s efforts closely this season. The Geek knows that his SHS Jaguars postseason recaps from November offended at least one or two of our readers from West Imperial, who’re now known as “Anonymous” in Mississippi Magazine’s Facebook Group. Our reporter was compelled to criticize the skipper he’d stuck up for countless times in the Cole Ruble years, going over how Northwest’s perception of disrespect from an early-season YouTube interview drove the Lions to bite back hard in Week 11.
Coaches, like athletes, must follow the Mark Messier Rule, and never give their opponent a special reason to feel motivated. Motivation is part of the competition. Let them have to try to come up with their own! But on the good side, Seckman’s 2026 season preview doesn’t need to belabor The Geek’s thoughts on any media snafus. Baer’s challenge this season is fun, harmless, and socially desirable to discuss. Baer has to remind Imperial that he can successfully manage an underdog this fall.
The Varsity Jaguars aren’t “underdogs” in broad terms, having lived in the top-four of the Jefferson County Power Poll for ages, winning many middle-tier conferences of the Suburban League. It’s the Varsity Jaguars’ extremely tough slate of opponents that will make Seckman’s coaches remember what it was like in 2019-thru-2021, when their school was but an overlooked Cinderella, hoping to knock on Jackson’s door in the Class 6 District Finals.
How often will Seckman be stressed by an opponent this year? Heck, the Jaguars can’t even book a game against a Hazelwood and get off easy. Following a reprieve of one ceremonial game versus Hazelwood Central, which comes after the Fox-Seckman battle of Week 5, the Jaguars will face Hazelwood East, far-and-away the finest of the Hazelwoods, and a school which did not lose in regulation to either Parkway North or Parkway West last season. Bus Loop Burgers isn’t as indescribably tasty after you’ve lost against a Hazelwood, putting all kinds of pressure on Week 7’s outcome.
Senior QB Brody Kube is a seasoned performer as a favorite and an underdog. Kube’s wonderful ball-security skills allowed the Jaguars to hang around against rivals like Pattonville in 2025. We didn’t know how impressive it was that Seckman mounted a second-half comeback bid against Pattonville until the Varsity Pirates went to the Class 6 state semifinals last November.
Kube has to help develop Imperial’s new weapons on the boundary, following the graduations of The Valley’s pace-setting WRs like Cameron Benson and Kylar Huckfeldt. Senior WR Nick Weidler comes off a season of 361 receiving yards and 5 TD catches. Kube should get superb pass-pro from Seckman’s perennially beefy offensive line, led by the Jags’ senior offensive tackle Evan Hufford.
Live Stream STL host Ray Halbrook gets credit for one of the best preseason interviews The Geek has ever heard this August, a training-camp rap with Seckman’s HC in which Baer was more candid than he is able to be on the skipper’s “program resource”-styled Seckman Football Podcast with the excellent Karl Bierach. Baer gushed about Kube’s skills and seasoning as a four-year Varsity kid, while explaining that the Suburban League promoted SHS two colors (divisions) following 2025’s repeat title trek.
The coach’s deeper confessions revealed bad news. RB Chance Ruble will not be returning to play his senior season, following a standout junior year that included a 3-TD performance versus Pattonville. What’s more, Baer’s lack of specifics when it came to naming his starting offensive backfield was not standard coach’s PR prior to a season, or at least it didn’t feel that way in the context of Halbrook’s incisive interview. It’s really going to be an open competition for carries in The Valley this year, but August’s kickoff is not devoid of exciting new rushers. When Baer says, “Some of our kids are fast enough, I don’t mind if they make moves,” junior Jaxson Jablonski is likely who he has in mind.
Seckman has a defensive backfield that could keep up with Parkways and Hazelwoods. Senior DB Elliot Burris led the Jaguars in takeaways last year via a sensational six combined INTs and fumble recoveries. Chase Borawski, the senior linebacker whose name is a complete sentence, received heady praise from MyMyInfo’s revamped sports department over the summer.
Coach Baer’s task is to adjust Seckman’s solid, cautious Game Management, to find ways to take more chances, flip the field, and score upset victories, without throwing away Kube’s fantastic TD-to-INT ratio. Seckman should consider highlighting DE Ryan Woods, a 6’4” senior who administered heat to the opposing pocket in 2025, to harass the QBs of elite opponents.
The Valley has a legit shot to extend its streak of five 7+ win regular seasons, even against one of the hardest slates that we’ve seen anyone from the Dirty Dozen have to face. If there’s an early-season game in which Seckman ought to be able to romp to victory, it’s the Jaguars’ debut against Oakville on 8/28. We’ll dish on Seckman’s edge in the Week 1 Friday Night Predictions.
Photo Credit: Jaguar Football Booster Club