Mississippi Magazine’s recaps of Small Schools playoff action have gotten pretty far afield, so we want to keep the Large Schools semifinal recaps crisp and neat, and then try to really dive in when it’s time for Championship Weekend. Hillsboro and Sikeston played a brand of “crisp and neat” football this weekend, starting with an oddity that you don’t get from many prep games.
Sikeston kicked an early field goal to go up 3-0 in Friday’s unexpected defensive struggle on I-55. Later in the first half, the Bulldogs kicked another FG. Then the Hillsboro Hawks began the second half’s scoring with a field goal, to draw a 6-0 deficit to 6-3. Now, it’s cliche for sports writers to say, “Oh, haw haw, they must have borrowed two NFL field-goal teams for a day!” because High School teams can kick field goals very successfully. It’s Varsity head coaches that usually refuse to try it, even on 4th-and-goal from the boonies. Hillsboro was happy to be the brand that broke the TD drought at Sikeston High, when Auston Ross made it 10-6.
Sikeston gutted its way down the field with time running out, like a team that hates to pass even when it means trying to win 13-10. Luke Meyer’s 18-yard run was the dagger that smote Hillsboro’s comeback season of 2026, followed by a safety to produce the baseball score of 15-10 that gives Sikeston a district title game bid. Jim Nantz would say that “Jim May be” an effective HC.
Hillsboro bows out with a 7-4 record and fine prospects for next year, when RB Jadyn Rice is an upperclassman. HC Bill Sucharski not only ignored The Geek’s questioning at the end of 2025’s dull postseason, he stamped it 110% wrong with 2026’s super team.
Parker Perry returned to the Festus Tigers’ starting lineup on Friday, leading the way in a 34-6 win over DeSoto. Perry could have had a terrific duel with opposing QB Cannon Kisner that wound up closer to that “40-20” type of victory for Festus that would have entertained the folks on hand more. But MSHSAA referees, as overbearing as anyone has seen them this close to Thanksgiving, took potential points and momentum away from both lineups.
There was no one penalty call that you can point to as being the most ticky-tack. Suffice to say that at one point on Friday evening, crowds at Midmeadow Lane and at Hill Valley were shouting “HORRIBLE!” at the same time, while referees grabbed the football and moved it around in a fashion we’re not used to seeing from the playoff Zebras. (“Why did you only throw one flag in the first half?” TGG asked a Week 11 referee in the stands once. “Ahh, these kids all know the shot by now,” replied the coolest ref EVER.)
Each team found a way to impress in its own way, regardless. Cannon Kisner’s season swan-song included an opening drive that threatened to produce a 7-0 lead prior to a Red Zone fumble, and in the second half, a terrific drive that began pinned down in DeSoto paint before Kisner methodically worked the Dragons out to the 20-yard line, then unleashed a fabulous scramble.
Festus head coach A.J. Ofodile said that the FHS Tigers, who scored 19 points in the first half, had “tough sledding” in the running game early in the semifinal. The Gridiron Geek didn’t exactly think so. But the Tigers did rely on Perry’s arm as if he had never gone away, except that the senior QB has found out his classmate Braydon Wilkes is even more of a big-time receiving threat as of now.
Wilkes was electrifying against DeSoto, making such a nice move on a downfield TD toss from Mr. Perry that you would have believed Kamden Yates, Dylan Clinton, or another thinner athlete had in his hands. Wilkes is like a 225-pound Dave Meggett!
Then there was the rest of Ofodile’s postgame interview, which was worth investigating if you knew something about the skipper’s program at FHS. Ofodile appeared to grumble – good naturedly – about the fact that the team’s preparation was thrown off by playoff outcomes so far. That can only mean one thing – Coach O made a prediction that didn’t work out on the #4 versus #5 semifinal.
We know that the coach told the boys not to pay attention to The Geek’s “51-7” prediction for Week 6’s North County contest, rightly assuming that the series history alone would bring about a closer clash on Homecoming. “I told ’em that prediction, ahh, look at the past with these guys” was his exact quote on J-98. Coach O’s respect for Wyatt Compton’s program led him to go in the opposite direction on North County predictions. The reason why it’s funny is that the coach only makes such predictions when forced to.
Ofodile has told Live Stream STL that in a Bye Week, he predicts the game that will determine FHS’s next matchup, and the team prepares for that opponent. Festus picked North County to beat DeSoto, just like Will Compton did! When that didn’t happen, the scenario occurred where the Tigers were “thrown off in preparation” having to get ready for DeSoto. FHS’s head coach most certainly did prep the Tigers well for Week 11, under duress, because Antonio Pinkston’s defense played lights-out again.
Sikeston feels like a favorable matchup for the Varsity Tigers in Week 12. Like the Sullivan Eagles of 2025, the Bulldogs are bound and determined to run the rock. That’s great, but it could lead to Sikeston’s smacking right into Pinkston and the Tigers’ seven blocks of granite in the trenches, replete with a returning LB Aiden Schirmer. You’ve got to be able to pass the pelota, to prey on FHS’s only defensive weakness in 2026, its lack of a six-deep secondary that could suitably cover an Air-Raid powerhouse in the postseason.
But this is 2026, and that means just when you think you’ve got it figured out, a story is going to slap you sideways out of nowhere. Friday’s early weather forecast calls for a cold, windy evening in the St. Louis area, potentially making it hard on a host team that would love to complete 20 passes with Perry back at the helm, while the safe, sound Bulldogs’ offense is literally in its element.
Class 4’s championship games of the eastern districts are all potential corkers. There’s Vianney-Sullivan, a rematch of an overtime contest from last postseason. Hannibal meets Parkway North after knocking St. Charles West out of the tournament. University City versus Lift For Life got extremely interesting when the Lions Turbo-Clocked a rejuvenated Jennings squad 42-0 in the semifinals, while Lift For Life surprisingly did not finish its 38-8 win over Gateway STEM via the mercy rules. LFL is only 4-6, but U-City is untested as a Class 4 state-playoff hopeful. The best thing is that Vianney knocked out Union 56-39 in another shocker, miraculously avoiding a potential Festus-Union matchup that would’ve put Perry in peril of a fierce opposing rush.
Photo Credit: Festus Tiger Football Facebook