Hillsboro Hawks at Cardinal Ritter Lions
Is Hillsboro’s new unbeaten streak about to come to a crashing halt against the worst of MSHSAA’s division killers? Or will Hillsboro and Cardinal Ritter produce another tight, tumultuous tilt such as the scrum played last October?
The Gridiron Geek is of 2 minds about it. On one hand, 2023’s season of Cardinal Ritter All-Star exhibitions prep football has been scary good to date, with Ritter rolling right over every opponent but one. The Varsity Lions seem to be put together just to frustrate teams like Hillsboro High this season, with a backfield-by-committee that’s proving just as dangerous as last year’s star-studded RB corps (sound familiar?) and QB Carson Boyd enjoying another godly passer rating of 168.52. Cardinal Ritter has played just one close game to date despite failing to Turbo Clock the Lift For Life Academy Hawks last weekend, which happened to be against another private-school dynamo in Class 5’s Helias Catholic. Helias lost to Cardinal Ritter 30-29; otherwise the Capital school has beaten rival Jefferson City HS and run roughshod through a cast of C5 powerhouses.
Hillsboro won’t be able to rush the pocket like it did last season, putting more of a burden on Payton Brown’s defensive backfield against Cardinal Ritter’s 6-deep corps of wide receivers. But on the flip side, Ritter’s 2023 defense has only manufactured 8 quarterback sacks of its own in 7 games. This year’s scrum may simply involve more time for both quarterbacks to survey the field, though Boyd’s hesitancy to run makes Preston Brown the more dynamic player.
Bill Sucharski’s best asset in Week 8 may be the utter lack of pressure Hillsboro’s players are under compared to Friday’s host Lions. Cardinal Ritter could find itself in 3-way tiebreaker territory with a surprise loss or 2 to conclude the regular season, for the Lions are drawn into a Class 5 District with powerful Country Day and would prefer to earn home-field advantage in a potential District Championship Game against the Rams. Meanwhile, the Hillsboro Hawks will be hosting a Class 4 District Championship Game no matter what they do in the final 2 weeks of the season – even should Festus somehow upset the Jackson Indians while Hillsboro goes 0-2 (not likely), HHS would simply jump over the Tigers for home-field postseason advantage thanks to having blasted the Black & Gold 42-21 in midseason. Leon Hall can play Week 8 loose and easy.
There’s also no disadvantage in traveling to Cardinal Ritter this time. In fact, there may be a slight advantage to it. Spectators at schools like Cardinal Ritter and Valle University tend to be so spoiled that they socialize more than they cheer, content to make “clever” remarks while the team coasts to another easy win. Not too many local folks actually know Cardinal Ritter’s athletes on the gridiron, for reasons that Mississippi Magazine readers are smart enough to figure out for themselves. If Hillsboro throws a major crimp in Cardinal Ritter’s formula against public school teams, we can expect the host crowd to respond “indignant” instead of going into an all-for-one desperation mode (STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!) like Leon Hall.
Sucharski’s chief goal – other than keeping the Hawks healthy – is to avoid a hollow blow-out defeat at Ritter. If Hillsboro loses 55-7 on Friday, it could mark the 2022 Hillsboro team as a “special” roster capable of running with the Cardinal Ritter-s of the world, and that would be a dangerous mindset for the Blue & White to get into. Missing the long runs of Jaxin Patterson isn’t really relevant to the outcome against Cardinal Ritter in ’23, because the Hawks want to shorten the game – “old school” Hillsboro style – and try to beat the Varsity Lions the same way favored Festus was conquered in the 2014 playoffs.
With the pass rush of ’22 being the one thing Hillsboro can’t replicate, we have to think Boyd’s offense is going to get its yards, and a healthy number of TDs. What the visiting Hawks can do is use long, clock winding drives of their own to help cool the momentum of the Class 5 contenders, then utilize a sound, conservative, hard-tackling defense to make Cardinal Ritter’s offense play ball control against itself. Sucharski’s coaches will want to pass-blitz on 3rd downs, and attempt to recreate the turnovers of last year’s battle. The skipper should urge caution and try to tamp down those vibes. The easiest way for the Hillsboro Hawks to lose is to give up 50+ points to the Cardinal Ritter Lions on long TDs. The best way for Hillsboro to manufacture an upset is for long, successful Hawks drives to be followed by long, unsuccessful Cardinal Ritter drives. Numerous turns for both offenses could be lousy for Hillsboro. PREDICTION: CARDINAL RITTER 35, HAWKS 20
Farmington Black Knights at Festus Tigers
Farmington had played 5 seriously good games in a row to begin 2023 when the wheels came off against Cape Girardeau Central. The FHS Black Knights had what’s possibly the brand’s worst performance on offense in 10 years, gaining a putrid 2 yards-per-carry against CHS. Farmington’s coaches were so upset at their top string that they began pulling starters off the field against the Varsity Tigers (the other Varsity Tigers) in the 3rd quarter of Cape Central’s 35-0 win. The Black Knights did rehabilitate their offense to some extent in Week 7, though most of Farmington’s rushing yards against Poplar Bluff were courtesy of a handful of long carries. Poplar Bluff was limited by the Knights’ nasty defense, but only had to punt twice, prevailing with points to spare in Farmington’s defeat last weekend. Starting QB Brent Drye is ailing with an injury.
But when Festus loses to Farmington in the 2020s, it’s not because of Farmington’s great offense in the game. It’s because of a physical, pesky, prepared Black Knight defense that causes all kinds of problems for the high-tempo offense of the Tigers. Cole Rickermann’s 7-0 debut as a junior starting QB was spoiled by Farmington in an ugly 7-6 outcome in 2020, as an “impersonator” in the opposing LB corps spent the whole night barking in Rickermann’s voice and putting Festus High School in unmanageable scenarios with false-start flags. 2021’s contest was much of the same, as Farmington’s aggression caused Black & Gold to break down early and dig a hole they couldn’t climb out of. R-6’s win in 2022 came against a Knights team which was having a poor season by Farmington standards, that not being the case at all in the Year Of Our Lord 2023.
How can the Tigers avoid another self-destructive night vs Farmington? It would help R-6 to carry the same mental keys into the Week 8 kickoff that Crystal City took into its crucial win over Gateway STEM in Week 5. No matter what Festus does or doesn’t do with the football, Farmington’s wounded offense is not going anywhere fast against Midmeadow Lane’s improving defense – UNLESS the Tigers have an early Christmas and give out gifts to a needy visiting quarterback.
Concentrating on ball security and getting at least 5-15 yards and a punt out of each turn, without turnovers, or lost field position, would put the onus on Farmington’s offense against the best defensive unit the Knights have faced in 3 years of the FHS-vs-FHS series. Working from what should be a meager scoreboard for both teams at halftime, Black & Gold can make finer adjustments and come out more aggressively against a thinner side in the 2nd half, and hopefully get Hayden Bates rolling as a rusher or a run-after-catch threat. PREDICTION: TIGERS 27, FARMINGTON 14
Seckman Jaguars at Oakville Tigers
The Geek came *this close* to putting QB Tommy Gibbar on our 2023 Jefferson County All-Star Team, which means that Gibbar probably came EVEN CLOSER to driving to the Tri-Cities and wringing The Geek’s neck like a chicken’s. He’ll probably go out and score 20 touchdowns just to drive the point home, against an Oakville team that was finally exposed as blue-collar by opponents such as Eureka and Fenton over the last few weeks. PREDICTION: JAGUARS 45, OAKVILLE 13
Perryville Pirates at Herculaneum Blackcats
TGG expects Herky to make some hay in the opening half with Perryville. The expected rain on Friday afternoon is the sort of specter that could make the leaf-speckled field by the smokestack a soggier run, something that would hurt the Crystal City Hornets in Week 9 but could hurt the pass-happy Perryville Pirates even worse in Week 8. A damp field would be a perfect opportunity for Herculaneum’s scrappy linemen to push a Class 4 line off the ball, and get back on the scoreboard versus opposition that HHS head coach Blane Boss would actually seem to care that Herky scored some touchdowns against.
Problem is that Perryville’s roster numbers have always been the Pirates’ best trait, and Class 4 numbers are a dangerous foe for such a banged-up Class 3 unit as the Herculaneum Blackcats. Any halftime lead for Herky will be bound to be erased by fresh legs as the Pirates suit-up about twice as many healthy upperclassmen as Boss can bandage together at this point. Herculaneum won’t be so doomed vs a similar-sized CCHS lineup. PREDICTION: PERRYVILLE 34, BLACKCATS 12
St. Vincent Indians at Grandview Eagles
St. Vincent is the one potential road trip that the Crystal City Hornets do NOT want to take before Week 13, as the Indians are playing like a Class 1 Show-Me Bowl contender this fall. But at the same time, it was Grandview that put a halt to St. Vinny’s momentum in 2021 with a Senior Night win of Westminster Avenue legend, and so Senior Night at GHS is something that surely gives the sophomores-turned-seniors in St. Vincent’s current lineup the heebie-jeebies.
We won’t bother trying to weigh those 2 angles against each other. The Geek officially gave up trying to predict St. Vincent’s scores a week ago. PREDICTION: THE GEEK BETS ON WHICHEVER TEAM WINS THE GAME
Fox Warriors at Parkway South Patriots
Fox gets another relatively easy mark against which to build momentum toward the playoffs, though 2-5 Parkway South does deserve credit for fielding a scrappy defense. PREDICTION: WARRIORS 28, PARKWAY SOUTH 0
Jefferson Blue Jays at Ste. Genevieve Dragons
Another 7-0 county record is threatened by a scrum that the Jefferson Blue Jays will lose if they make mistakes. Week 8 will tell us a lot about where Jefferson’s offense stands without Nate Breeze catching long passes, but Ste. Genevieve’s power could also be receding a bit after the Dragons’ historic triumph versus Park Hills Central. The Dragons played noble defense against the Olympic Athletes of Valle Catholic last weekend, but couldn’t score enough TDs to stave off a typical midseason swoon, and must solve QB Kole Williams to win this Friday night. PREDICTION: STE GENEVIEVE 32, BLUE JAYS 21
Crystal City Hornets (FORFEIT W) – TDW Academy Practical Jokers
Crystal City moves to 6-2 (still in 3rd place in District 2, but that could change with another victory) with a Forfeit win over TDW Academy. It’s kind of a funny story too. Head coach Dan Fox tried to ensure that CCHS would play more games in 2023 by cancelling the team’s series with Missouri Military Academy, which forfeited its kickoff against Crystal City last year, and scheduling TDW Academy in its place. TDW Academy then proceeded to put on a “football season” that’s been more like a mysterious practical joke, failing to provide even the minimum of information to MSHSAA before finally giving-up on all of its anticipated games. TDW Academy never so much as put a schedule on the internet, so The Geek couldn’t cross-check opponents to see if the school was forfeiting! Fox’s team is bored, having played whack-a-mole with boarding schools.
Will Herky’s padawans be upset that Crystal City keeps getting off-days in Week 8, just prior to the Tri-Cities’ biggest forever rivalry game? Maybe. But the notion that CCHS plays an “easy” schedule against nothing but schools 2, 4, and 8 times bigger than Bradley’s Farm is ridiculous, and with Chaffee and Confluence Prep turning into .500 football teams before our eyes, Bayless has been the only “cupcake” on Crystal City’s schedule – a team that the Blackcats also got to make a meal out of. Playing the High School version of a thrash-for-cash game against the likes of TDW Academy, Missouri Military Academy, or Agape Boarding School – a luxury that programs like North County and Poplar Bluff have allowed themselves in the 2020s – would have prepared (and rested) CCHS’s star attractions just as much as a week of practice and a Forfeit will. Herky’s probably got to be glad that Crystal City High is a tiny campus that struggles to find a fair, yet exciting schedule to play. Otherwise, the Blackcats would be staring at a Week 9 rival with lineup numbers HHS can’t match this time around.
Bayless Bronchos at St. Pius Lancers
My oh my, do the ailing St. Pius Lancers ever need the blow-out win that they’re about to get. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant was the definition of a Pay-Off Match. St. Pius vs Bayless is a patient-zero Get Well Game, and Bayless is regretfully in the role of Barry Horowitz instead of a main-event rassler. PREDICTION: LANCERS 62, BAYLESS 7
Windsor Owls at St. Clair Bulldogs
There’s probably a little too much Bulldog to bite for the Varsity Owls in Week 8. St. Clair lost to little Hermann High last week, but Hermann has become a sensation of MSHSAA Class 2. PREDICTION: ST CLAIR 42, ALBINO BIRDS 19
Cape Girardeau Central Tigers at DeSoto Dragons
Gosh, this really feels like a Russ Schmidt schedule, and CRS hasn’t even had a chance to put the DeSoto Dragons through an out-of-conference ringer by his own pen yet. PREDICTION: CAPE CENTRAL 49, DRAGONS 0
Northwest Lions vs Webster Groves Statesmen (at Kirkwood)
Webster’s shoot-out loss to Ritenour in Week 2 made the Statesmen look like another STL-area killer on Northwest’s schedule, but since then, WGHS has gotten to be vulnerable at 2-4. PREDICTION: WEBSTER GROVES 21, LIONS 13