North County 14, DeSoto 13
The Geek is not planning to post a Jefferson County Power Poll in Week 4. There were so many heartbreaking defeats for the Dirty Dozen this weekend that ranking everybody now would lead to bad expectations for next Friday. Inevitably, some of the schools who lost by paper-thin margins will respond better than others do. Week 5’s risers in the JCPP won’t be teams who started badly and turned it around. They’ll be the survivors of sad postgames.
DeSoto’s postgame might be the saddest, since the Varsity Dragons came so close to a 2-1 record and a winning start in the Mississippi. No lead of less than 28 points is safe in 2025’s Mississippi Conference, something that QB Cannon Kisner’s team found out firsthand against North County. Kisner made a tremendous cut up field in the 3rd quarter, finding a seam in Bonne Terre’s defense to tie the game with a 55-yard touchdown carry. Minutes later, a packed Senior Night crowd at Joachim Junction was electrified as Kisner made an even better play, somehow breaking four tackles on a scramble, rumbling down to the goal-line and stretching the ball in for a TD. The Dragons – and their boosters – had to think the watershed was finally here.
It came unraveled in a matter of moments. Head coach Russ Schmidt called for an unneeded 2-point conversion try after the TD, a bad habit that the skipper has had since Festus had Cape Central on the ropes in the first game at CHS’s Tiger Stadium (don’t School Boards know there’s 10K stadiums named that?) back in 2011. Bonne Terre came flying through the door DeSoto had left open, running the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown and (wait for it) kicking an XP to go ahead 14-13. Both offenses flubbed, foibled, and fell frustrated in the 4th quarter to produce the final score of 14-13, almost as if Friday’s contest had been played in Week 1. But the Raiders are happy to win any game by any score as of early September. NCHS’s wonderful head coach Brian Jones would be a candidate for replacement by this New Year’s if 1-2 North County had gone out and bombed in its conference schedule.
DeSoto has come so far from 2023’s doldrums that the Dragons’ moral victories still count. The issue with treating Week 3’s second straight close game against North County as a positive is that the loss comes at an inconvenient time. DHS next has to travel to Midmeadow Lane to play a Festus team that surprisingly looks just as potent as the Tigers’ last two title contenders. Joachim Junction’s schedule eases up after that, but in order to catch up in the standings and earn a top four District seed, the Dragons will still have to do some broken-field running later on. Luckily, Kisner is really good at that.
Ritenour 24, Fox 23
A couple of county teams appeared to just run out of gas at the halfway point on Friday – and the Fox Warriors are one of them. Fox had the scrum’s first three scoring drives and took a 23-6 lead over the Ritenour Huskies in the 3rd quarter. Then the Warriors fell prey to a bonkers Ritenour comeback that included two TD passes in the late going. There isn’t much more info to report at press time, since The Geek has decided to post recaps on Saturday, MSHSAA TV blanked out on the Fox-Ritenour game, and the Betty Ford Clinical Postgame Bening Ford Postgame Show continues to skip over the Meremac to cover central Illinois on 93.1 Perryville. What we know is that Fox is one of a list of unlucky Jeff County schools to lose by tiny margins.
Bayless 43, Crystal City 20
Speaking of blown leads. Crystal City had Bayless behind 20-6 in the second quarter before it all came unstuck for the Hornets again. The second half Box Score of “Bayless 29, Crystal City 0” makes us frightful with dread that Bradley’s Farm sustained a round of injuries in the 3rd and/or 4th frames. Bayless is one of the South STL schools that has been doing the absolute bare minimum (*cough* Gateway STEM *cough*) to make their football contests public, so we don’t have MSHSAA footage, and we don’t want to shoot texts at what has to be a despondent staff of CCHS coaches.
Varsity coaches can get as bummed out as their players do. It’s the mark of a great coaching staff when they’re still enthusiastic (if not upbeat) when a team is losing 28-0. But in this case, the hopeful message that Craig Collins’ staff can preach to the 0-3 Hornets is not a matter of great motivational speaking, just common sense. This year, of all years, is the time that Crystal City can afford to have a summer slump and work all the kinks out.
Seriously, who cares who Crystal City plays in Week 11’s semifinals? The team’s win-loss record, a source of community misery for decades before the 2020s, has been turned into a footnote by the Hornets’ draw in District 2. Crystal City will face Grandview, Louisiana, or Van-Far, three teams that would probably tie at 1-1 if they had to play a round-robin against each other. CCHS could go 6-3 and seed #1 and face a tough matchup at home in Week 11. Or the Hornets could finish 3-6 and draw an easier opponent in the semis, because the race will be so tight that one or two upsets can scramble it.
Bradley’s Farm wants to play better, put wins on the board, and keep its momentum going in the regular season, not just because it helps the program but for the sheer thrill of it. The good thing is that Crystal City should be able to beat the Confluence Titans in Week 4 and start a long, steady climb back into Class 1 contention. But sadly, Confluence wound up forfeiting and cancelling Week 3’s road trip to Portageville, even though Confluence has had a reasonably solid start compared to some of the brand’s sad-sack seasons. Stay tuned for updates on a potential “bye week” at the Sunken Place.
Jefferson 34, Herculaneum 30
The Geek is not happy about Herculaneum falling short in a terrific upset bid at Jefferson High. We were cheering for Dunklin to make something out of a 2:00 drill opportunity that could’ve given the Blackcats an epic walk-off win with a successful drive. Clark Struckhoff rushed for 9 of his leading 88 yards to give Herky a 2nd-and-1 at midfield, but one very, very costly Canadian Football League flag (“two players moving at the snap”) set the ‘Cats behind the sticks, forcing QB Keaton Reeves into a series of heave-ho pass attempts that fell incomplete, not unlike Bobby Thompson versus Berkeley in 1990.
In context of our Herculaneum coverage this summer, though, you can’t say Jefferson’s defensive stand and 34-30 victory aren’t convenient. Herky was so impressive at Jefferson R-7 that it’s time to reconsider 2025’s Blackcats as a much better team than anything we had anticipated, AND consider HC Blane Boss to have a far better formula for winning this fall than we gave him credit for. If Herky had beaten Jefferson, nobody would take The Geek seriously on any of that. People would say the local media and other Boss critics were “backpedaling” in a panic, and they’d be just about right!
Week 3’s final score means free reign to praise Boss and his Herky Blackcats without a scandal. Herky was the “WOW!” team of Jeff County’s weekend, provoking a barnburner at Jefferson High School that no one saw coming. It’s official – the Herky Blackcats are for real in 2025, at the very least as a dangerous spoiler in the Quad County Conference, and maybe a lot more if the Blackcats keep it up.
Herky ran a nice Wing-T offense at Jefferson that bamboozled the Blue Jays for nearly 350 yards. When the game’s host powerhouse supposedly “woke up” and took a two-TD lead in midgame, Herculaneum came right back with balanced drives that included 10 complete passes and a TD toss from Deets. The Geek knows that coaches think he’s silly for seeing so much “Army-Navy Game” in the Wing-T playbook simply because the formations are alike. However, it remains that such offenses need a big fullback who’s chewing up yards on the Belly Play. Struckhoff has become a one-man offensive “nucleus” who can always threaten a 15-yard run, like Hawaii’s very best Run-and-Shoot rushers, finally giving Dunklin a better passing game.
Boss was – wait for it – exemplary in postgame. Exemplary! R-5’s skipper who nearly ended the 2023 season (in more ways than one) by saying things like “I guess we just have to find better kids” bragged on 2025’s Blackcats for 99% of an interview on the Betting My Ford Bening Ford Postgame Show. “This is a great group of kids, and we have a special team this season,” Boss gushed. His use of the trendy slogan “we have to clean it up” was a wise one, given Herky’s specific circumstances, because the Blackcats know they could have upset the 2-1 Jefferson Blue Jays with a sharper effort.
Mississippi Magazine begs the pardon of Jefferson’s fine folks for putting Herky in this week’s headline, not because sportsmanship and grace to all opponents aren’t still king at the rural campus, but because we’ve made it sound like Herculaneum’s “heartbreaker” did harm to the Dirty Dozen. TGG does not favor his original hometown team (at least not 1/10th as much as he gets accused of!) over Cooper Frisk and the marvelous Blue Jays. We wanted to alert everyone that Herky had a GREAT night in defeat at R-7, but Friday’s squeaker was also a contest that can help both teams out.
Jefferson needed a wake-up call in conference play. The talented ‘Jays had fun showcasing their offense versus Priory and going toe-to-toe with a Show Me-Bowl brand in the next game. It’s still known as JHS’ out-of-conference schedule, not its league schedule or its District race, and it happened during pigskin’s “silly season” of summer. It’s time to knuckle down and do battle with your rivals now. Jefferson student-athletes, coming off such a seminal performance against CHS, might have looked at a Quad County Conference schedule that includes Cuba, Bayless, and Herky and thought that establishing a standings-lead would be a piece of cake. They think differently now – and they’re headed to Bonners Ferry Cuba in six days.
Knob Noster 21, St. Pius 20
Little kids know enough math to tell that three games = 1/3rd of a MSHSAA season. But the St. Pius Lancers’ 0-3 record is deceiving anyway. SPX outplayed its prediction by 20 points at Knob Noster, an unbeaten western MO club that looks sharper than it did at this time in 2024. The Lancers missed an XP to stay one point behind in the road game’s closing moments, threatening to take the lead on a pair of drives that fizzled in plus-territory.
There is no need for Hill Valley to despair. Knobby Nostrils only netting 21 points against St. Pius marks a big step up for SPX after losing to Fort Zumwalt East 39-22. The Lancers are turning into a stingy, stubborn, smart team again just as four winnable games in a row lie in front of them.
Seckman 49, Northwest 14
The Northwest Lions and The Gridiron Geek had a ton in common last night. We showed up to the Seckman Jaguars’ field in the Rock Creek valley and made a mess out of everything. Whose tale of woe would you like to hear first, TGG’s or Northwest’s? Maybe the former would bring some comic relief.
It was the second time The Geek has nearly been arrested at a football stadium. Your author’s T-Mobile phone coverage has turned so spotty on road trips that quite a few trips to Imperial-Barnhart result in no reception. The phone couldn’t make out that it was on Seckman’s campus, or any campus, and TGG was relying on his phone to either connect with Herky’s Show-Me Bowl alum Michael Cook or call for a Lyft ride back home. In a panic, The Geek paced around the Jaguars’ parking lots trying for :05 seconds of reception to get a text message out. Understanding the policy on not letting spectators leave for next door and then reappear (they didn’t know I couldn’t do that) TGG told a gate worker “I’m a reporter looking for a coach.”
(Note to Self: Keep an offline version of Mississippi Magazine ready to show authority figures at any time.)
She frowned and replied in a harsh tone. She said “okay,” but it wasn’t okay with her. Soon another gate worker came up and told The Gridiron Geek to come with her. The second gate worker vibed like she wanted TGG locked up and the key thrown away. She got on a Walkie-Talkie and made a fancy “code” call to a security guard or policeman. Whatever the code was, it meant, “Big Boss Man – please come kick someone out – be really mean too!”
This reporter has been to a World’s Fair, a picnic, and a rodeo, like Slim Pickens used to say.
“Are you detaining me?” The Geek asked.
“Stay here with me,” she said.
“Okay, but are you detaining me?” The Geek asked.
“No, I’m not … but you have to stay here with me,” she said.
(^ That’s what’s known as “kidnapping” for anyone who’s paying attention, but TGG didn’t really mind. It was making for a good story.)
In the nick of time, Coach Cook rescued The Geek from a bruising, or at least an embarrassment. The gate worker looked very tempted to say “Both of you stay here with me! HURRY UP OFFICER!” but Michael has a very persuasive manner about him. “Yes, he is who he says he is. We appreciate you. Here’s a tip, walking this way now thank you bye bye” and so on. The spirit of Hulk Hogan had watched out for us, keeping us safe from Big Boss Man.
Northwest was a “jobber” against a different Big Boss Man on the field at Seckman. The Jaguars were the sharper, cleaner, more nuanced team from the beginning of what turned into a lopsided bout after halftime. Cohenn Stark’s fabulous 75-yard run from scrimmage to get Cedar Hill on the scoreboard felt worse than a token-TD for the Lions would have – it showed what kind of noise NHS could be making in the matchup if it wasn’t leaving WRs out in the open on defense, taking penalties that called back at least one long score in the first half and failing to cover even a squib-kick right on special teams.
Seckman showcased an amazing new balance as five different Jaguars scored TDs, and QB Brody Kube set a program record for passing accuracy according to HC Nick Baer’s postgame presser. We’ve said that a potent Jags passing game would be even more valuable to Baer’s playoff ambitions than another dominant rusher like Cole Ruble. Kube was inconsistent through the air last season, but the Jaguars’ pass plays hummed this weekend.
Northwest’s fans in attendance were left to slap the fence (where they let more than the Superintendent’s pals stand at Seckman) and gnash their teeth over yet another game in which the Lions’ starting lineup was not beaten physically, but in which too many sloppy mistakes and coaching foibles left a favored team with a 21-point edge and a big numbers advantage to carry the rest of a warm night’s victory. However, against all odds, it’s the NHS coaching staff that comes out of Week 3 looking better than Seckman’s, due to a rare turn of petty conduct from the aforementioned Coach Baer.
Baer violated the Golden Rule with a subtle-but-surefire campaign against Northwest’s front office in Week 3, slamming the Lions administration as ducking an ongoing rivalry with the Jaguars, and implying that Friday’s blowout win was some kind of revenge for Northwest not doing the right thing. “We’ve asked Northwest to keep playing out-of-conference every year, now that they’re changing conferences, but they were not interested,” Baer told Perryville’s radio beat and Live Stream STL in separate calls, making sure to repeat a vicious line at the end: “We gave ’em something to remember.”
Hold on just a minute Coach. Your team is in the Suburban League, right? You know what a royal pain in the neck the schedule can be, right? You make it sound like Northwest is scared to play Seckman, but if the Lions were scared to play teams like Seckman they would have begged to leave the SL a looooooooong time ago. If Northwest is changing leagues in 2026 that’s news to The Geek, but if so, they’re probably so glad to have actual out-of-conference dates to schedule that they’re considering 200 offers from everywhere. If Northwest’s new conference looks difficult enough, the Lions are responsible not to schedule every top-flight contender they can in those precious new out-of-conference dates, even if they’re located close by.
It’s rude to not consider another team’s problems when they’re so much the same as yours. Mississippi Magazine thinks all teams should threaten to quit the Suburban League so long as there’s 500 teams in it, and virtually every single game the Lions or Jaguars play is against a team from one of the SL’s 57.3 “conferences.” It’s not healthy and it happened by accident anyway. Northwest going up against nine new opponents would be crazy-cool in 2026.
Finally, the bitter remark “we gave them something to remember” is Baer’s worst moment in several years because he’s not picking on somebody his own size. You don’t hear Ohio State’s coaches saying things like, “We wanted to play the Ohio Bobcats every year, but they won’t do it, so I hope they like us winning in another blowout, ha-ha! The MAC is scared of the Big Ten! Hooray!” Seckman needs to focus on making rivalries with teams who aren’t five touchdowns below (Northwest) or five touchdowns better (Jackson). Otherwise, the Jaguars will come across like a paper champion beating its chest.
Festus 56, Windsor 14
“Because the Windsor Owls and Festus Tigers are each 2-0, expect Windsor to win a close one today.” – Live Stream STL in September 2026
Hillsboro 27, Washington 16
“Hillsboro has rushed for 1000 yards. If it wasn’t for losing 2447 yards with Preston Brown’s departure, it would be 3447.” – STLToday this midseason
Grandview 56, Cuba 21
Grandview’s passing game has come a long way too, and the Eagles’ wonderful new balance was on display again in a Turbo Clock victory over pesky Cuba. Cuba looked more like the “John F. Kennedy Circa 1996” team that we imagined GHS would greet on its visit to Bonners Ferry Cuba High School last season, with a different (and shorter) QB and Mississippi Magazine’s old friend “Pocko Taco” Laos now serving tortillas on the offensive line. The Birds of Prey scored four times on the ground and four times through the air, QB Brendan Martin scoring two of each kind. BALANCE, Daniel-San!
TGG didn’t catch Grandview’s head coach Cory Hangar on the Betty’s Fjord Bening Ford Postgame Show. But we suspect that he’s a happy camper. Grandview appears poised to play with a rest-advantage against Principia, a Week 4 opponent that is busy rebuilding with the former Mizzou quarterback Maty Mouk now helming the Panthers. It’s like Missouri’s version of one of those reality shows where Sean Peyton or Brett Favre coached a prep school team for one season. The Grandview Eagles’ job is to make Week 4 part of Principia’s sad “September’s growing pains montage” set to violin strings.