Let’s take a look at the Dirty Dozen’s seven Jamborees! But, uh, first, maybe some folks would like to know what happens at a Jamboree if they have never seen one. It’s a -TWEET!- spectacle all its own.
Friday Night Lights could continue to rise in viewership as fans seek alternatives to college football’s awful new “semi-pro” phase of competition. NFL fiends also need something to do before mid-September. Jamboree Friday, for instance, is a really cool preseason format compared to both the NFL’s dull preseason games, and the FBS Spring Game tradition that became an “Amateur String” intramural as soon as NIL contracts began luring the best players.
Jamboree Friday doesn’t bore viewers to death with weeks’ worth of slow-paced snaps. Varsity teams get their preseason over with nice and quickly. But because of the focus that the Jamborees put on exactly one day, we know that the kids try very hard, and that we will learn a lot. It shouldn’t take three weeks to play three warm-ups. You can play three miniature games all at once on 8/21.
Jamboree football has its own quirky set of rules and conditions. Teams are either given 10 plays at a time from the opposing 40-yard line, or in a “static possession” of 10 offensive snaps, with regular down markers, missed fourth-down turns returning the pigskin to the 40. The Geek prefers the 10-snaps-from-the-line-gained method and wishes each state would use it every year, but lately, it seems Missouri prefers putting the down-markers into play, helping Chain Gang crews get warmed up for the season.
It also looks like *12* offensive plays are in the quiver for some teams this year, according to today’s bulletin from Bradley’s Farm.
You can only score by crossing the goal line, and that “6 points” returns the ball to the 40. There is a question as to how opponents keep score for themselves in a Jamboree – since there is only one way to score, they might as well score a Jamboree outcome “2-1” like in hockey or soccer. Flags fly like confetti as rookies make errors, letting the refs “TWEET!” till their hearts’ content. Coaches take the field and direct traffic on offense to help the inexperienced players along.
There are often two Jamboree games held at a time on the same field, aimed at separate end zones, increasing the decibel levels of the constant “TWEET!” concerto at midfield. When a player gets a turnover and starts galloping toward paydirt, another ‘TWEET!” halts them at the 50-yard line. However, having four teams on the field at a time helps to give every school at your Jamboree opportunities to perform twice or (quite often) three times, depending on what’s worked out.
Don’t count on there being exactly four teams at your Alma Mater’s Jamboree. You can rotate three teams just fine at a Jamboree. The Tri-Cities have had many Jamboree Fridays in which no one knew exactly would show up to play at 6 PM … but the programs were ready to rock with a three, four, or five-team array. Don’t ask how, but two local Jamborees are featuring six schools in 2026.
Scroll for a chart of teams, locations, video streams, and The Gridiron Geek’s notes on tonight’s Jamborees – including two big, fat, overstuffed ones at Windsor and FHS. All Jamboree information is subject to changes, right down to about 5:45 PM this evening.
Crystal City Hornets
Opponents: Affton, Riverview Gardens, Veritas Christian Academy
Location: Affton High School
Time: 5:30 PM
Crystal City visits a standard four-team Jamboree at Affton High School. Veritas Christian rapidly improved in 2025, and could join CCHS in giving two struggling Large Schools a piece of business. Affton’s status as Crystal City’s Week 2 foe may make the CCHS-AHS tilt into vanilla ice cream.
St. Pius Lancers
Opponents: Pattonville, Lutheran St. Charles
Location: Pattonville High School
Time: 6 PM
Not long ago, a Jamboree encounter of mighty Pattonville against little old St. Pius and Lutheran St. Charles would have been a romp for the Pirates. Not long before that, it would have been a clash of two state-title contenders against the Dirty Dozen’s overmatched Lancers! But this season, it’s the Lancers and the Pirates who may be destined for a thrilling “3-2” tussle, while Lutheran St. Charles attempts to refurbish what has gone from a state-playoff level team to a patsy in a few short years.
Windsor Owls, Herculaneum Blackcats, and Fox Warriors
Potential Mutual Opponents: Valle Catholic, Hazelwood Central, Webster Groves
Location: Windsor High School, Imperial MO
Start Time: 6 PM
The Albino Birds are pocketing their portion of the Dirty Dozen’s popularity! The Geek thinks it’s awesome that four conferences – Mississippi, Quad County, Suburban League and MAFC White – have combined forces for an epic Jamboree next to Rock Creek.
While the Windsor Owls tend to try to run their way into the end zone, junior quarterback Jett Black may be encouraged to try a couple of long bombs during what is forecasted to be a comfortable evening, one almost 100% devoid of any wind. Herculaneum and Fox’s strings of stout linemen will loom large in the outcomes, as the Warriors and Blackcats tend to look just as big on the second string. Windsor gets the shot to see its thinner second string flourish against (Checkmate!) Webster’s woodpushers.
Festus Tigers and Seckman Jaguars
Potential Mutual Opponents: Jackson, Farmington, Poplar Bluff, Capital City
Location: Festus High School
Start Time: It Had Better Be 5 PM
Streams: Live Stream STL, KWOC YouTube
R-6 is hosting a wild Jamboree of its own, with little regard for geography outside of one cross-town friendly. Festus and Seckman only shake hands in preseason, but as Imperial’s skipper Nick Baer points out, that’s still something. Farmington and Festus are so familiar with each other that they might as well join in the conference together that Baer has been dreaming about. But there are too many teams at FHS this Friday to play every potential matchup (15 in total). We’ll cross our fingers for a Tigers-Jaguars encounter.
Meanwhile, the “Out of Fantasy-Conference” set of three Large Schools at the 2026 Festus Jamboree makes the six-team tussle into a rather ambitious preseason setup. It’s super that the success of the Tigers and Jaguars, not to mention Farmington’s stronghold, has so many brands asking to play in our Jamborees.
Hillsboro Hawks and Northwest Lions
Mutual Opponents: Battle, Confluence Prep
Location: Hillsboro High School
Start Time: 6 PM
Stream: Live Stream STL
“One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn’t belong.” Not to go be saying Confluence “doesn’t belong,” of course. In fact, the Confluence Titans are a brave team which has endured through a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to keep the program going. But what is Confluence doing as the one utter lightweight in a Jamboree field of Hillsboro, Battle, and NHS?
Confluence head coach Dorvus Woods might want to pull a “St. Pius” and try to improve his team by scheduling unbeatable competition. You wouldn’t know it from the Varsity Titans’ pedestrian 2026 schedule, on which the two toughest opposing teams may be Windsor and Lutheran St. Charles. The Hillsboro Hawks and Northwest Lions will meet for a third game to cap off a prestigious Jamboree, according to Northwest’s handy digital poster. Let’s make ‘em into regular-season rivals again on of these days.
DeSoto Dragons and Grandview Eagles
Mutual Opponent: St. Charles High
Location: DeSoto High School
Start Time: 6 PM
DeSoto and Grandview have made the “practical” choice to play a neighborly Class 4 vs. Class 1 Jamboree, with St. Charles High of Class 3 as the happy medium in enrollment. With a three-team Jamboree, there’s a lot more rest to be had (and a lot less of the gridiron in use), but the good part about that is that fans at Joachim Junction can focus on one pair of opposing teams at a time.
Jefferson Blue Jays
Opponents: Sullivan, St. James, Lutheran South
Location: Sullivan High School, Sullivan MO
Start Time: 6 PM
The Jefferson Blue Jays are also ambitious this training camp, scheduling to play a Jamboree at Sullivan which will entail a longer bus journey than a glance at a geographical map would tell you. Lutheran South can be panned as a pedestrian team, but the Lancers always seem to show up in sizable numbers and worthy form for a Jamboree. St. James is a fun addition, plus a potential Jefferson-Sullivan scrum makes an important test for the Jays versus a Class 4 District winner.
Even if a stream of Windsor’s gala jamboree turns up on social media this evening, we’ll still have fewer than five live-video crews at the Dirty Dozen’s seven Jamborees. But here’s Gateway Sports’ awesome footage of Parkway North’s Jamboree on Thursday, featuring guest appearances from the Country Day Rams and the Ritenour Huskies:
Enjoy the best preseason in the sport of football, dear readers!