#1 – Hillsboro Hawks
The Blue & White is back. It took exactly 24 months for HC Bill Sucharski’s program to return to prominence following the letdown of former QB Preston Brown’s 2024 injury, precipitating a backslide in which Hillsboro won just two times in a span of seven tilts between September and November of last season. 2026’s Varsity Hawks have debuted with a deep, tremendous lineup of playmakers, scoring 183 points in 16 quarters, while Aidan Fleming seeks his coaches’ vote as a full-time starting QB.
The Hawks have a special underclass weapon in Cody Reese, however, the alternate QB whose breakout effort against Bonne Terre electrified Leon Hall with eight competitions on just 10 pass attempts, combined with a rushing stat-line that compared to Fleming’s effectiveness as a runner. TGG likes what Sucharski’s coaching staff is gleaning from service-academy programs, utilizing dual QBs without having to follow “rules” like bringing one quarterback in for 2:00 scenarios, or announcing the starter on Thursdays. Reese’s breakout against the Raiders gives Festus and DeSoto’s defenses something to think about, an across-the-bow warning shot from The Road’s westerly outpost that lets them know the Hawks will be much harder to beat than they were last autumn.
Hillsboro does not have a “Romaine and Patterson” set of skill players, or a “Brown Brothers” corps of weapons, this fall. Instead, what the Hawks have could be even better, a crew of half-a-dozen TD threats that can fill out just about every position in HHS’s “Annapolis with Aerials” attack, leaving the offense with no weak spots of note around Grant Sucharski’s veteran line. Preston Ross leads the Hawks with 366 combined yards and seven TDs, complementing Reese and Fleming’s excellent numbers.
Leon Hall could also own a psychological edge in Week 5’s Mississippi Conference championship clash, through no fault of the visiting Festus Tigers performing with less urgency. It’s a strange set of circumstances in which two of The Road’s three state contenders are District 1 rivals, league rivals, and the only two teams who could conceivably lift either of those trophies. At present, The Geek thinks that angle benefits Hillsboro, which has been hungry to win any title that it can, and it saddles Midmeadow Lane with a disadvantage. However, TGG is open to the idea that it won’t benefit either school on 9/25.
#2 (Tie) – St. Pius Lancers
St. Pius cannot contend for #1 in the Jefferson County Power Poll until the Lancers defeat more Large Schools, however things might go for the Lancers in Class 2 or Class 3. If that doesn’t completely compute, think about what happens if The Geek ranks a Class 3 brand as undisputed #1 with zero wins over Class 4-thru-6 opponents who were not Mehlville. People from other teams, perhaps rightfully, would wave the historical record in The Geek’s bugle like a Chinese Fan, protesting that our county’s Large Schools have recent wins over Lutheran North, Farmington, and Ladue on the books, not to mention the 2024 Festus Tigers somehow, some way playing three great quarters against the State Champions of all Missouri, Class 6’s DeSmet Spartans. Gracious, St. Pius could defeat Lamar, Valle, and MICDS in a row, and the Class 4-6 parents would still have a valid point.
The litmus test is coming in October. From here, it feels like the Lancers will be able to hold their own with the Farmington Black Knights for at least a half of play. You can worry – or get excited – that Vianney could be just as tough of an opponent on the week to follow, since Vianney has shown more improvement in Weeks 2-through-4 than any other Class 4 hopeful this summer, looking poor against the Suburban League before scoring a sensational four TDs in Week 4’s shootout loss to CBC. Should the Lancers be fortunate enough to flourish in Weeks 7-8, they can end the regular season ranked #1 no matter what happens versus Valle.
#2 (Tie) – Northwest Lions
As promised, Lions Nation, here is your scouting report on the McCluer North Stars, helmed by junior QB Ramond Brown instead of Mike Modano, from last Saturday morning’s Oakville at McCluer North contest on MSHSAA TV. Oakville built an early 14-0 lead with the help of a field-position advantage. The rest of the scrum was just about evenly-matched. Brown is a finely talented and dangerous signal-caller, but his 2026 wide receivers aren’t always up to his level in the passing game, which means Northwest might be able to play eight-man run defense and trust single coverage against the Stars. There’s effective linebackers on the 3-1 Stars’ defense, which held OHS out of the end zone on seven straight snaps from close range before the Tigers scored their third TD to go ahead 20-0. McCluer North struck back with a long TD pass at the end of the first half. Oakville eventually prevailed 39-16, but the score was 32-16 with minutes left, showing that MCHS can hack against upper-tier teams of the Suburban League.
One thing Northwest HC Scott Gerling hopefully notices from McCluer North’s footage is the Stars’ intent to slow things down. Week 5’s visitors are taking a lot of time off the Play Clock, snapping at a methodical pace even when Brown heats up in the aerial game. That could be Northwest’s cue to load up its defense with even more Iron Man studs, since the Varsity Stars are certainly not trying to wear anyone out. Gerling might play a combined 12 starters on offense-defense if he has his druthers.
Oh, and don’t worry about NHS dropping from #1 to T-2 so quickly, since it isn’t as big of a deal as it normally is! The JCPP’s top five-to-seven schools are on a plateau this season. They could each “rotate” onto the Power Poll’s podium and back down again, yet Northwest can rest assured the poll will solidify later on. Cohenn Stark’s excellent lineup has as good of a shot at #1 as any.
#4 – Festus Tigers
Would the Festus Tigers vault back into a #1 ranking, with their summer losing skid safely out of mind, if Festus defeats Hillsboro for a fourth consecutive time Friday? Maybe and maybe not, because the Festus-Hillsboro conference rivalry is starting to assume the characteristics of a rivalry trophy in NCAA football, like the Little Brown Jug, or the Old Oaken Bucket. Coaches may not care about 2026’s -conference- result quite as dearly as kids do in the moment, making the scrum’s potential tactics into a mystery.
Injury problems and weird depth-chart dilemmas are cramping the FHS passing game. With the smoke having cleared from Week 3’s tough quarterback news, it’s become apparent that QB Quinnten O’ Brien could be throwing to a completely different set of WRs in midseason than fair weather might’ve produced, despite the Tigers’ two most illustrious receivers standing healthy!
Lady Luck is in a bad mood. Antonio Pinkston’s hampered 2025 season could be turning into another one, based on the senior’s surprisingly limited six individual tackles and 0 QB sacks in the three or four games collated on STLToday’s season stat counter. Viewers wouldn’t guess that Pinkston’s adventure getting back to 100% impacts Midmeadow Lane’s dilemma on offense, but it might. Black & Gold needs to identify a comparable blue-chip athlete who it can substitute for Braydon Wilkes at tight end, in the role of a play-action “blocking” threat who doubles as a pass-protector. Any time Wilkes can leave his TE role and split out, it’s an advantage for the Tigers, shown by Wilkes lining up wide for a 15-yard TD catch to close Quarter 1 against DeSoto.
Meanwhile, senior Gus Drinen missed out on late-summer action. Drinen’s absent stat lines didn’t much worry The Gridiron Geek after St. Mary’s, against whom the boys’ fundamentals were so sketchy that the fast playmakers were finding a hard road to plow anyhow. The “training-camp malady” syndrome struck Kamden Yates last season, and that worked out fine. But R-6’s early-season Windsor and DeSoto games are the ones in which late-comer RBs and receivers get worked back into the lineup. That hasn’t happened with Drinen, making us start to think the lanky wideout could be in extended rehab-mode.
It stinks that multiple injured players are seniors, and we hope against hope that they’ll all be recovered when it’s time to make Homecoming and Senior Night appearances. But the club’s crew of couch-surfing superfans in rehab are hoping that the Tigers can solve their lineup dilemma as badly as they hope to return to the field soon. They know that Yates is yet another fine “WR1” alternative who can stretch an opposing defense like no one else at FHS, yet he won’t skat outside and play receiver, because Leuntae Williams has moved on, and no running back who is comparable to Yates in any way, shape, or form has emerged behind him as of Week 5. Black & Gold’s deadliest TD threat is hamstrung from helping out in the receiving corps, too.
The mounting casualty list is confusing in a way, because Coach Ofodile’s final remarks to the media after training camp were, “We can go far if we can stay healthy.” Stay healthy, not “get healthy.” We have to assume that some of the wounded players suffered their injuries after July camp and just before or during August’s tuneups. It couldn’t have happened on Dead Week.
O’Brien’s challenge is made sterner by the fact that he himself is another solid prospect to shine at WR this season. He can’t do it right now, because, well, “a QB can’t play receiver for himself,” says Captain Obvious. But, it adds to the starting-11 puzzles that Midmeadow Lane’s new starting QB isn’t focusing sideline passes on as many as *4* would-be candidates for a top WR role in ‘26, notwithstanding that JUST ONE of those kids may be injured, making the boys’ faces longer than the Tigers’ actual injury chart.
Ponder the position O’Brien had to step into, and the junior’s helming of one comeback bid and two lopsided league victories is even more impressive than meets the eye! Here’s a kid who has been laser-accurate through the air three weekends in a row, after being told, “Hey, you remember the players we used to throw to? You were one of them, haha! You’ll be tending to about six new rookie wide receivers in your first snaps at QB. Kamden and Braydon will be right there by your side … blocking, mostly.”
THAT’s about as ridiculously hard as any substitute’s assignment ever gets, even if you’re toiling for Atlanta United against the Archies of St. Louis CITY. O’Brien has handled the chore (The Geek trembles while he types this) every bit as well as Festus quarterbacks Cole Rickermann, Essien Smith, and Parker Perry could have, committing very few turnovers in a 2-0 debut run, and (we can tell he’s a smart one) tossing Yates and Wilkes all the easy touches that he can and letting them catch-and-sprint.
Midmeadow Lane’s chances of beating a hot Hillsboro corps on the road may rest on the shoulders of a QB who’s never heard 600 Blue & White fanatics stomping their feet on the bleachers at once before. The most promising storyline is that if FHS does manage to cobble together an available-WRs group of Wilkes, Yates, Drinen, Dylan Clinton, Max Foglesong, and-or Mister Quinnten O’ Brien for 2:00 scenarios when the playoffs are in swing, either of the team’s QBs could throw a hell of a party.
So long as the Mississippi’s two hopefuls think they’re driving at a Week 12 rematch, it takes pressure off of the outcome of Friday’s matchup. Will it still be crazy, intense, and fun for everyone? Absolutely! Maybe more so. With vanishing doubt that November 13th’s district finale can be a Hawks-Tigers battle, the losing team will know that its fate is in its own hands if it deserves and desires a rematch. Both lineups could play very hard in Week 5, trying to get a 2-0 “trophy sweep” started.
#5 – Seckman Jaguars
The Valley has thrown a curveball to make Mississippi Magazine whiff on its forecast of a starting QB, giving the veteran Jaxon Jablonski a loose leash as a “Taysom Hill”-style quarterback who can lead the rushing offense when needed. Jablonski has a decent enough passing arm to have found WR/DB Nick Weidler for a completion at Pattonville, though Weidler is having a subdued midseason and may be banged-up in his own right, grabbing just that one catch, plus one tackle, against PHS.
It’s not a bad idea to give Fox and Northwest something new to prepare for. This week’s Fox at Seckman clash may be the first such matchup of recent times in which the Jags are hoping for a low-scoring game, and Fox is hoping for a lively scoreboard.
#6 – Fox Warriors
Last year, a noble effort in Week 8 was the springboard for Fox’s belated success. With the Arnold squad standing at 2-2, an upset win over Seckman in The Valley could spark this midseason’s Warriors to an inspired run much earlier in the fall. It would make October’s “Burma Road” of dates versus Parkway West and Kirkwood feel less scary, and more importantly, less decisive in determining Arnold’s position in Class 5, District 1. Fox is running in second place behind Farmington … not too shabby.
#7 – DeSoto Dragons
DeSoto showed that the Jefferson County Power Poll remains deep last Friday, winning most of Quarter 2 against a home team that dominated 2025’s Power Poll at the untouched #1. More critically, the Festus Tigers still have hope to contend for a Final Four berth in 2026, which means Cannon Kisner and the Dragons just proved they do belong in the District 1 conversation.
Bummer that if DeSoto shows a hint of regressing to its low point at the end of Week 3 (or the entirety of Week 1), Kisner’s team will indeed fall off the edge of MSHSAA’s map, into “Here Be Dragons” territory. To rain fire on Tokyo instead of sleeping in the shadows, the Dragons must win a critical conference game against Windsor, to break out of last place in a six-team district.
#8 – Jefferson Blue Jays
Suppose the Fox Warriors threaten The Valley this weekend, and DeSoto holds serve against Windsor before going on to play another good game against Hillsboro. Could those schools combine with the Jefferson Blue Jays to give the Dirty Dozen at least eight pretty good teams in 2026, as opposed to the five-out-of-12 contenders that most fans anticipate? Yes, indeedy – if the JHS Blue Jays weren’t total flukes last Friday eve. Blue Jay Way could become the key eighth link in a Jeff County octagon of pigskin power, having turned heads thanks to a vintage defensive performance against Cuba’s revitalized lineup. Jefferson R-7’s shutout conquest reminds The Geek of St. Pius X’s midseason freezings of opponents two seasons ago, when the Lancers showed legit promise by turning the tap off on opposing offenses that had been racking up yardage and TDs, as the 2026 Varsity Cigars did previously until they had to visit Plattin Creek. Good news: If the 2026 Blue Jays face Hermann in the playoffs, they’ll kill ‘em.
#9 (Tie) – Herculaneum Blackcats
Herky has needed a good break in the Jefferson County Power Poll for a long time. The Varsity Blackcats deserve consideration as another team which could help to keep the Dirty Dozen’s overall strength on the rise, instead of proving to be a liability this October. But a number of rankings-breaks occurred for Herky while the Blackcats were losing to powerful St. Vincent, for instance Windsor’s surprise loss to Saxony Lutheran, and Jefferson’s nice win making Herky look better for having matched up athlete-wise with the Blue Jays in summer’s conference letdown. Herky will visit Bonners Ferry Field Cuba this Friday 9/25.
#9 (Tie) – Windsor Owls
From the Owls’ sparkling debut against Jefferson’s tough defense, to Week 4 and Big Trouble in Little Jackson. It should be noted that as much as The Geek likes Windsor’s starting lineup of 15-20 upperclassmen, nobody has said that Windsor is deep yet, and it’s easy to worry that the Albino Birds were hit by the injury bug at the Fall Solstice. We can’t listen to hear if Coach Freeman had to rattle off a list of absent players in the Saxony Lutheran postgame on J-98, since it aired on Saturday morning, while The Geek was busy scouting McCluer North for Lions Nation, and MyMyInfo has not published the coach’s interviews as of Mississippi Magazine press-time. Live Stream STL had many coaches live in Week 4’s postgame; Freeman wasn’t among them.
But if Herky’s gotten a fresh outlook in the rankings, Windsor can feel a new autumn’s refreshing breeze in the schedule’s gift of a Windsor-DeSoto game this weekend. NO, The Geek does not mean that DeSoto and Windsor are lucky to be meeting each other because both teams are weak. DeSoto showed that wasn’t the case at about 7:45 PM last Friday, giving the Owls an opportunity. Score the minor upset over DeSoto High, and you’ll have beaten a program that didn’t look half-bad against the reigning league and district champs one week before. The DeSoto matchup also allows the Windsor Owls to forget about the Saxony Lutheran game’s implications on their floor-of-performance. Everybody knows from experience that Windsor and DeSoto will field very comparable athletes, and that if both teams play well, Week 5’s scrum should be a close call. The Mississippi Conference provides great “Bronze Medal Match” games on occasion, like some of Windsor’s wars with North County in the 2010s.
#11 – Crystal City Hornets
Bradley’s Farm is out of the Power Poll’s cellar, but not just because of the Homecoming win last week. Grandview is in serious trouble, compelling The Geek to suggest that the Varsity Hornets sit their rivalry feelings aside and start cheering hard for the Birds of Prey – not to beat Crystal City, of course, and not even necessarily to win. Cheering for Grandview High to avoid more injuries, figure out the way to work through this fall’s conference schedule, and survive. Not only would the Hornets prefer to encounter an active Grandview on Senior Night, they don’t want to be JeffCo’s only Class 1 team again, for any length of time.
Two of Mississippi Magazine’s featured players of the 2026 preseason made big plays to help Crystal City snap its losing skid in Week 4. Elias Miller recovered an opposing fumble to wear a well-earned Turnover Chain, while the Hornets’ prodigal offensive lineman Tristyn Munton highlighted his two-way performance by pick-sixing (or six-picking?) a batted Titans’ lollipop for a TD.
The senior Miller is also the CCHS Hornets’ new “Refrigerator Perry,” scoring the maiden points of his career on a 2PT conversion against Confluence Prep. The surprise conversion run is such a fun, heartwarming turn for a student-athlete who was written off as slow and unaggressive early in his journey. Miller, thus far, is having an even greater impact than we had hoped for in summer.
As for Munton, can CCHS develop another Iron Man linebacking ace out of a blocker? It worked with Luke Holdinghausen. It’s been clicking for Gage McPherson. If they utilize the mobile Munton as another threat to blitz and snag turnovers, this fall’s Hornets may boast better than a Cinderella’s opportunity to climb back to .500, and host more district postseason action.
#12 – Grandview Eagles
In his “19 healthy players” clip on Live Stream STL, Grandview’s head coach Cory Hanger may have been under-exaggerating while pretending to exaggerate (or at least emphasize) an issue in the standard coach’s patter. It’s hard to think that GHS had a healthy week of practice with anything close to two strings-of-11 before losing to a virtual start-up program to fall to 0-4. Things have grown bleak enough for Big River’s battered battalion that not even Bayless’ lively aerial outing against Perryville makes Grandview’s next conference opponent look beatable. Then again, a series of tough league opponents would get GHS into the running-clock scenario earlier this midseason. The Geek will hold his nose and say that’s not altogether a bad thing. Anything which helps GHS endure its conference slate, and get back to Class 1 games with a viable roster, is a welcome development.
Photo Credit: Gateway Sports Hub