#1 – Seckman Jaguars
A few folks are rolling their eyes already, and we hope they haven’t scrolled down to #3 or #4 yet. MSHSAA spectators who never liked TV wrestling shouldn’t groan at tonight’s headline even if they only know of the late “Dusty Rhodes,” aka Virgil Runnels, since his son Cody began moonlighting in Reality TV. Never fear, it is not hard to explain a Dusty Rhodes reference to those who aren’t rasslin’ fans, and it has nothing to do with body-slams or elbow-smashes. Dusty was a kingpin of TV wrestling, but his matches always made more money when he was the challenger, not the champion. So therefore, Dusty, if another rasslin’ promoter hadn’t told their champion to pin him already, would often make sure that he did not win a title belt – even after whipping the slimy “heel” champion from pillar to post.
Pro wrestling pinfalls are booked, and football scores are decided in battle. Yet the Mississippi Magazine is afraid that we’ve accidentally “promoted” a champion for a spell, and Hillsboro can knee-drop a howling Ric Flair 100 straight times without lifting the belt.
The Geek didn’t consider Seckman’s schedule in the first 4 weeks of the season, which was set up like a steep climb to a cliff followed by serene hang-gliding. Week 1’s game vs Valle U. was the “cliff.” Once the Jaguars began with a surprise blow-out that hair-lipped Varsity boosters all the way down to the River aux Vases, there was no alternative Jeff County team who was going to be ranked #1. Perfectly fine, that – but then what about Weeks 2-4?
TGG has a responsibility to set up some kind of logical race for first place. Seckman deserves the #1 spot, but 2-0 Hillsboro probably deserves it too, and yet it’s hard to demote a team for winning a game 70-0 over anybody. What kind of curve can we grade the Jaguars on when it looks as though Northwest, a team which experienced nothing but defeat in 2022 and Weeks 1-2, is a “preordained” Turbo Clock loser to the Jaguars in Week 3?
But then, simply that Seckman can be penciled in at 3-0 (a “Baer” is about to wrestle The Geek if he keeps this up) is a clue that the Jags have done the rare and improbable in ’23, showing up with an elite contender even without 2022’s bell-cow superstar to lead the way. Readers know what we’ve told them before – the many surprises in High School football come as often as in NCAA and pro pigskin, except that they come in slow-motion. The hindsight of last year’s pessimistic ’23 season predictions for Seckman, compared to the program’s actual roaring start to the campaign, show that HC Nick Baer’s lineup is busy proving last year wasn’t a one-man party.
Mississippi Magazine’s “Coach of the Year potential” hype for names like Frank Ray, Blane Boss, and others will turn into a race for 2nd place if Seckman continues pushing teams around as the schedule upgrades from Class 2 to Class 6 in the coming weeks. Seckman’s coach is a big, bad “bear” of a long-term and short-term strategist, especially considering how SHS has already outshined its 2022 incarnation in Weeks 1 and 2. It doesn’t matter who comes or goes, or how excited SEMO gets about having snagged last fall’s senior quarterback. Jaguar football just keeps getting better and better.
Who’ll be the new TD tycoon of Imperial in Mr. Ruble’s absence? Statisticians are busy with the SHS frosh and sophomore numbers following last Friday’s mismatch, but some veterans of the offense are already looming large. Senior WR Kade Heinemeier, who does not need to buy a vowel, has caught 100+ yards in passes and scored twice. Quarterback Tommy Gibbar, who has accounted for 5 touchdowns in less than 7 quarters of play, may not possess the “MEEP, MEEP” gear of 2022’s ace rusher, but his immaculate passing stats are a sign that Seckman High’s playbook is still expanding. Gibbar’s rating is a superb 183.3 after 2 starts.
Finally, the Seckman pass rush is even more dangerous than TGG thought it might be. Senior Caden Lappe’s trio of take-downs are leading the charge by a front-7 that’s nearly racked up double-digit QB sacks in 2 contests. With irony, we wonder if 2023’s Jags would potentially be a better match for the wide-open offense of Jackson High School than the ’22 team, which spent training camp dreaming of the Class 5 bracket, only to be hosed by a malfeasant MSHSAA.
#2 – Hillsboro Hawks
There’s still a chance that Hillsboro will take its familiar #1 Power Poll spot before midseason. With the Varsity Hawks still toiling in Class 4 and Seckman way above in the MSHSAA bracket, it’s laughable how much easier of a path Imperial has to a 4-0 season debut. Seckman could be a sloppy 1st quarter and a “28-12” victory away from having to make room for a C4 powerhouse that has destroyed almost every public-school team it has played for more than 2 calendar years as of Monday. Hillsboro has already beaten a tough opponent on the road, and this weekend, tackles a Fort Zumwalt West lineup which would (ahem) not be ranked #12 out of 12 county teams like Cedar Hill.
What’s bad news for rankings-nerds is good news for HHS coach Bill Sucharski. Through 2 games, it is the Fort Zumwalt West Jaguars, not the so-called “massive talent drain” victim Hillsboro Hawks, who have taken a noticeable step backward in ’23. Eureka, as TGG fans might recall, had a memorable Week 1 bout with FZW last season, trailing the Jaguars before nodding to Hassan Haskins’ legacy by rolling up 250+ rush yards in the 2nd half of a comeback win. But 2023’s Week 1 was a different story, as Eureka went ahead and Turbo-Clocked the flat Jaguars after 3 quarters of a 35-0 rout.
Week 4 opponent North County fell to 0-2 with a loss to St. Clair last Friday. It can’t feel good for other Mississippi Conference hopefuls if the Hawks race to 3-0 with a second big romp in 3 games this week.
#3 – Festus Tigers
The Festus vs Valle U. series may have just ended for a while, with Black & Gold still in the confounding “we should’a had’em” stage of going 0-2 via a far closer scrum than last year’s laugher. That’s probably harder for the boys to swallow than simply being unprepared to block or tackle Valle U. back in 2022.
TGG can’t help but feel a sense of relief anyway. Not so much because of Valle’s recruitment parental support advantage, but due to the advantage any private school program with extra training-camp leeway holds over the motley hooligans known as public-school teams in summer. Black & Gold has a better chance to grow by facing the biggest, fastest available opponents who will also make about equal numbers of penalties and turnovers as the regular season’s kinks get worked out.
That may not apply to Week 9’s opposing Jackson Indians, but it will apply to several teams that the Tigers will face before then. We can only hope Windsor shows up to Midmeadow Lane with a somewhat livelier offense than the unit that’s bombed-out badly against the I-55 Conference for 96:00. That scenario would give an improving FHS defense the chance to signal its rejuvenation with a third straight powerful showing, instead of just waiting for the game to end.
#4 – Fox Warriors
After giving up 8 touchdowns to more numerous athletes in Week 2, Arnold’s tough lineup now finds itself in the common dilemma of option-football underdogs. You can cure many of the offense’s problems with good old Xs and Os, but a defense has to be successful by merit of winning its one-on-one battles.
Fox meets another powerhouse in Lindbergh this Friday, but maybe with a better opportunity to make some real noise in the Suburban League tilt, given the Flyers’ lack of a reliable offense so far.
#5 – St. Pius Lancers
The degree-of-difficulty in a football season can go up sharply around Week 3. SPX faced (and defeated) a less well-organized roster in Week 1, and then conquered a less-physical program in Week 2. As frustrating as it could be for the Lancers’ OL to slam into Grandview after pushing DuBourg around for a 60-point win, Week 3 is a bigger leap of difficulty for a new head coach in Frank Ray. Ray’s taken a hefty share of defenses to play against hulking opposing linemen, however a trip to Winchester Avenue as a head coach is a whole different animal. Ray’s only real edge in the matchup against HC Jason Kimminau is that GHS must prepare for 2 playbooks that Lancer QBs could run, while the Eagle game plan is no secret.
#6 – Jefferson Blue Jays
Like the Festus Tigers, the Jefferson Blue Jays thought that Week 3 might be a virtual practice week against an overmatched team. The Geek felt that FHS would have a tough Week 3 scrum, and that Jefferson would likely be right about having it easy vs HHS.
That was 3 weeks ago. Not only do the R-7 kids have a coaching staff that’s screamed at them not to take underdogs lightly for about 10 years, but a practical miracle of an upstart Herculaneum team will make the Varsity Blue Jays believe their coaches this time, if they don’t already. JHS-HHS is the Sleeper Game of Week 3.
#7 – Grandview Eagles
Grandview hasn’t developed a rivalry with Crystal City since the “Consolation Bowl” series of the late 2010s, so the Birds of Prey may not be thrilled to vault over last year’s 8-2 Crystal City Hornets by means of the latter club losing, while GHS chomped a cupcake.
Then again, some teams held on to the rock in Week 2, and others didn’t. GLUE seems to be a necessary Friday bring-along for local teams hoping to rise into the top half of The Geek’s Power Poll.
T-8 – Crystal City Hornets
We aren’t quite ready to rank CCHS below Herculaneum, in a season that promised at least a #5 or #6 ranking for Class 1’s speedsters, and a probable “Premier League Relegation” fight to avoid the Jefferson County Power Poll’s bottom-3 for the Blackcats.
Bbbbbbuuuuuuuuuut….
T-8 – Herculaneum Blackcats
It does seem noteworthy at the moment that TGG wrote down (in pencil, in a notebook, even!) some things to say if Herculaneum vs Crystal City turns into a total mismatch in Week 9, one year after The Geek had promised a new/old Hornets-Blackcats rivalry would take the Tri-Cities by storm and secure another cross-town tradition.
If Herculaneum keeps playing like it has in the first 2 weeks, we’ll offer a Week 9 vote to Mississippi Magazine readers…on whether that page of notebook paper should be made into a Lotus Flower, a Crane, or a Paper Airplane before it goes sailing into the trash.
T-8 – Windsor Owls
Get it together, Albino Birds. You’ve got all the tools, the size, the speed, and even the depth in place this season. But thanks to a couple of flat, bummer outings for an offense, the only thing that’s stopping Herky from passing-up Windsor completely in the Power Poll, despite Week 1’s sloppy win for WHS, is that there’s only a couple of games on record. It’s hard to imagine Herky falling to the Perryville Pirates so meekly as the Owls fooled around and did.
#11 – DeSoto Dragons
The new Joachim Junction head coach Russ Schmidt has gone up against Brian Jones’ coaching staff from North County many, many times, and not without a nice record of success. With the Raiders laboring on offense so far, don’t be surprised if that success doesn’t come to a halt on Friday, though “success” in DeSoto’s conference battles is measured by the number of competitive games ATM.
#12 – Northwest Lions
Quarterback Nick “Don’t Call Me Glenn” Younkins was Northwest’s best weapon against Parkway South, following a very tough debut against championship-level Sullivan. Younkins’ progress, or lack thereof, in Week 3 will be key to Cedar Hill having any chance against the most surprising #1 team we’ve ranked in forever.