St. Pius 28, Caruthersville 14
The Geek was ready to dice himself up with a dull deer antler. Folks had undoubtedly been sending the St. Pius X coaching staff text messages with advice all day Friday – as it happens before a championship game – and it’s awkward to find yourself doing the same kibitzing and adding to the “pile of telegrams” like the Green Bay Packers were knee-deep in prior to Super Bowl I. But it was hard to resist floating this particular idea. “Elect to kick off if you guys win the toss,” texted The Geek. “Make Caruthersville handle the ball first. The Lancers can hit somebody, and work all of their nerves out.” Caruthersville did receive to start Friday’s title tilt in the Bootheel. St. Pius swarmed CHS’s tailback on the first play. WOO-HOO! It was working!
Then the Tigers threw a little flair pass to WR D.J. Foster. And the Lancers didn’t swarm and hit everybody. They didn’t hit somebody. Heck, they barely hit anybody, and they certainly couldn’t catch Foster. The speedy sophomore split two SPX defensive backs and eluded a third one before racing up the middle of the field, spinning to avoid Danny DeGeare’s tackle attempt at the Lancer 30-yard line and scampered in for a stunning 70-yard touchdown. Yeaaaahhh, remember that text message about letting Caruthersville have it first? Didn’t mean that! Just kidding around! Ha, Ha! Ahh ha ha…ugh.
St. Pius X answered with a touchdown drive of its own, capped off by a two-yard TD run for Cody Shaver. But the scrappy CHS Tigers weren’t finished manufacturing a lead that would stand at halftime against a Lancers squad that was too keyed up and not disciplined enough in the opening frames. It wasn’t long before the Tigers pierced the Red Zone again, this time with a long sideline pass to receiver Kieston Clowers. The hosts soon scored to claim a 14-7 lead that could have grown fatter, considering that St. Pius drew so many first-half penalty flags from an unfavoring pack of Zebras.
The Lancers drew another flag at the start of the second half, a holding penalty that paused a promising drive and moved St. Pius back almost to where it had started after the third-quarter kickoff. Hill Valley ran a clever play in response, a quick lateral to Shaver, who raced for 20 yards and a first down on the visitors’ near boundary. Were the St. Pius Lancers finally turning it on? On the next play, QB Evan Eckrich found his tight end Dawson Litterall on a lovely throw across the opposite hash, for a first down at the CHS 12. Eckrich then scrambled for eight yards Yep. The Lancers were turning it on.
When Shaver ran for a short TD to tie the District Championship Game 14-14, Caruthersville folks might have decided the Lancers were an annoying sort of one-man band – especially if they happen to have seen Mississippi Magazine’s raving coverage of Shaver’s near-record setting performance against St. Vincent. But the 2025 St. Pius Lancers were about to show the Tigers, and MSHSAA, that they’re about more than just a running back.
Hill Valley was set to play its best and most important 24:00 of pigskin since Frank Ray took over the brand in 2023. Ray’s special teams staff followed Shaver’s second touchdown by having PK Nathan Heredia crack a knuckling squib-kick to the Caruthersville 30-yard line; Clowers mishandled the bean and the Lancers went wild trying to recover it. Four referees from somewhere close to the Bootheel (if not in it) huddled for a long time and (kicking and screaming) decided St. Pius had gained possession of the pelota. The Lancers offense didn’t show the Tigers any mercy, going on a short-field drive that ended with a TD on the same pitch-out play that had pulled SPX out of a jam to begin the half. Yes, Shaver scored the third TD. (But just wait.)
The inspired St. Pius defense responded with an epic stand, finally getting a grip on Caruthersville’s slippery Sammy Bryant with tackles-for-loss that pushed the Tigers behind the sticks. Caruthersville was forced three-and-out again to begin the fourth quarter, giving St. Pius the right-of-way to mount another drive from midfield. Brody Ervin made a spectacular “Manning-to-Tyree” catch over two CHS defenders to put Hill Valley in plus-territory. That drive didn’t mint points, and the score remained an anxious 21-14. However, the real story line was that Ervin was having his best night as a Lancer.
It was Ervin who made the best run of the rumble for either team moments later, taking a Wishbone handoff at the opposing 40-yard line and breaking through the Caruthersville defensive front. The 6’1″ Ervin kicked his knees high in the air to gallop through two more tackles, then simply dismissed an open-field hit from CHS safety Jermonte Alexander, setting sail for the end zone. Caruthersville had been vanquished, and the Game Clock ran out peacefully. In the circumstance of St. Pius X’s championship victory, it’s probably the most peace-and-quiet the kids got in 24 hours.
What a joyful bus ride up the river and back home! History was made by St. Pius football on Friday night – big time history. There’s already a spot in the Lancers’ trophy case for the football program’s top achievement since the Festus private school was founded in 1959. More about that shortly!
The Gridiron Geek wants to recap the history-making aspect of Friday’s win, one that we took care not to pressure the St. Pius kids with the potential of before Week 12’s title tilt took place. But as a Friday Night Lights analyst, it’s hard not to focus on how St. Pius won Class 2, District 1 so handily. The Wishbone isn’t something that most teams of today even consider when they’re mapping out a playbook. The teams that choose to utilize a Wishbone or “Flexbone” offense usually begin by committing to it 110% all the time and forgetting all other tactics to use. The 2025 St. Pius Lancers are dynamic, pushing for clock-grinding drives out of old-school formations, then opening up to let their emerging sophomore QB throw to a cast of playmakers.
History? The Lancers’ first ever District Championship is the tip of the iceberg. St. Pius X has also reached an “Elite Eight” quarterfinal berth in a State bracket for the first time in the school’s existence, having only played in Round-of-16 contests during the “Mini-District” era of QB Mickey Karoly. Before the Mini-District era, Missouri didn’t have “district” playoffs, but it did have a Round-of-16 drawn out of teams’ points earned in the various classifications, almost as if MSHSAA picked who they thought should be in the regional title contest and let the two teams play once for the honor, another postseason scenario in which St. Pius only ever came up short. Before that, Missouri football was the Wild West, and St. Pius wasn’t around. This year’s Varsity Lancers are, without a doubt, the finest team that Hill Valley has ever put on the gridiron.
It doesn’t stop there. St. Pius will now play host to Montgomery County in the Class 2 State Q-Final round on Saturday. It might manufacture the most gigantic fan turnout that we’ve ever seen next to Plattin Creek. A contingent of Festus Tigers fans will boost the ticket sales even more – preoccupied on their phones the whole time, of course – because the Tigers are visiting the Sullivan Eagles in a simultaneous Class 4 quarterfinal next weekend. Is the St. Pius community ready for the circus that the Show-Me Bowl bracket brings? Talk about pressure! It’ll be a local sports-celebrity reunion on 11/22.
Congratulations to the Lancers on an historic watershed win. St. Pius X of Fes … erm, okay, we’d better congratulate the team from next door too.
Festus 42, North County 24
Festus schools have won dual district championships for the first time in Friday Night Lights. Next weekend is when it turns into “Saturday afternoon glare” as the Tigers and Lancers face the Sullivan Eagles and Montgomery County Wildcats respectively. But it wasn’t easy in either case, and the FHS Tigers’ final score is one of the most deceptive of any of Missouri’s playoff bouts this weekend. It wasn’t a blowout, it was another clutch comeback!
Mississippi Magazine called the Festus – North County score within a single point while missing the point of the game’s psychology. We wanted Festus to take an eraser to opposing head coach Brian Jones’ game plan and get the Bonne Terre Buccaneers out of their comfort zone. Instead, it was the Raiders who took the Tigers out of their comfort zone, for a long time and into the fourth quarter. North County roared to life after Festus R-6 took a 14-0 advantage and started vibing overconfidence against the Raiders, only the syndrome that Coach O has been warning about since the last postseason game with North County more than a year ago. RB Noah Lashley produced a 12-yard TD to make the score 14-7. The Raiders overcame a goal-line stand by the Tigers on their next drive to score on a two-yard Braydee McClure plunge and tie the contest. Up jumped the devil when NoCo tricked Festus on one of its patented backspin-kickoffs and recovered on the Festus 35-yard line. Bonne Terre took a stunning 21-14 lead moments later.
Even after the Tigers found their legs and tied the score 21-21 by Quarter 3, the Raiders kept playing to win instead of just playing to hang around. FHS senior David Russell had a North County punt take a sharp bounce right to him, and muffed the ball to give North County another easy recovery on Black & Gold’s side of the field. Cole Mullins nailed a 40-yard field goal to give the Raiders a scary 24-21 lead that lasted into the fourth frame.
How did Parker Perry and the Festus Tigers respond? Like champions. On a 2nd-and-7 from the Festus 37-yard line, Perry dropped back and launched a 30-yard zipper of a pass in the direction of WR Jackson Frank, who was single-covered on the Tigers’ near sideline. Frank snagged the pigskin, spun away from his only defender, and jaunted for a 63-yard score that gave Midmeadow Lane a heartening 28-24 lead. The Raiders tried for another ball-control drive with Lashley as its linchpin, but once the Tigers forced another punt, it was the FHS running back Kamden Yates who rose to a brave occasion with the Tigers’ next home run, a brilliant 71-yard TD carry in which Yates squeezed through a tiny hole and then broke for daylight.
The Tigers were sailing on clear water. Now it was time for Antonio Pinkston’s pass rush to terrorize McClure, and make the North County quarterback abandon ship, i.e. take off running in the waning moments. Pinkston was joined for more than one “combined sack” by his sophomore apprentice Beau Canaday, a tackler who has emerged on the hash marks like Owen Gardner stepped up on the rush in 2024 … and Canaday’s got two more years to go. Festus put on a show for the coup-de-grace touchdown and 42 points, giving Russell a chance for redemption on an end-around from the North County 27. Russell ran like a maniac to get the muffed-punt fiasco out of his head. When he scored, the headline read “Festus repeats as District 1 champs.”
Meanwhile, a remarkable win for the Sullivan Eagles over the Vianney Golden Griffins puts Black & Gold in a very different Class 4 quarterfinal than we had the boys poised for in this space. Sullivan beat Vianney 29-28 in double OT to cap a Cinderella district run in which the Eagles – who were outscored 88-6 in their first two games this season – also vanquished rival Union High in a tight 21-14 semifinal last weekend. Festus will be traveling to Sullivan OF COURSE, due to MSHSAA’s determining to give FHS as many road games in a row in the state playoffs as possible since the 2000s and counting. However, the exciting part is that if Sullivan doesn’t upset Festus, and District 8’s undefeated winner Kearney isn’t upset by Warrensburg, Midmeadow Lane could be slated to h-h-host the Kearney B-B-Bulldogs at T-T-Tiger Stadium! In the state semis … on Thanksgiving weekend.Â
Talk about circuses! Heck, if that bad boy of a matchup happens at FHS on 11/29, it should feature a running back combo named Barnum & Bailey.
Jackson 70, Northwest 7
The Jackson Indians offense of 2025 is a phenomenon. Jackson scored so many points so quickly on Friday that even The Geek’s lopsided prediction for the Class 6, District 1 Championship Game turned into a dud, despite calling for Jackson to score 56 points in the contest by tossing the bean around. Jackson scored 56 points in the first half, largely by handing the football to their FBS prospect at running back, Jaylon Hampton. Northwest had a catastrophe of coughing the ball up in response, turning it over five times on fumbles and interceptions to set up another Varsity Indians romp.
It’s like Mohammad Ali whispered in George Foreman’s ear: “Brother, you picked the wrong place to get tired.” The Pit at Jackson High School is a terribly unlucky place for a team like the 2025 Northwest Lions to run out of gas. Northwest appeared hung over for its great triumph over Seckman last week, not to mention the Lions’ midseason watershed in which Cedar Hill took its revenge on Parkway South before whipping Fox 48-20 to ascend in the rankings. There wasn’t much left in the tank worthy of a fight with Jackson, which is looking as though it might clobber CBC and go on to the C6 Final Four as a championship favorite in December. CBC has given up nearly 100 points to DeSmet and Lafayette in its two playoff victories. Now that the already intimidating Indians have added a world-class running game to the mix, there’s not much CBC’s defense can do but throw caution to the wind.
It’s hard to climb up a mountain and then win a fight at the top. Jackson’s advantage, other than the dynamic touch of a hot tailback in the backfield, was that The Pit is already a championship venue, and the Indians are playing to maintain MSHSAA Top 10 success. There’s only so far that a program can ascend in one season. Northwest, by going from a journeyman’s 5-5 in 2024 to a marvelous 8-3 season in 2025, is just now ready to start gearing up.
Drew Spratt and Omarion Frazier will make the Varsity Lions’ most painful pair of graduations in a while, there’s no doubt. Throw in the departure of 315-pound Hunter Williams, the Lions’ rock between the hash marks in 2024-25, and it may sound like a full-blown crisis. But the size and numbers of the sophomore class were the quiet driver of Northwest’s superior team this fall. They’ll be juniors in Cohenn Stark’s senior year, and that’s good Juju.
Van-Far 22, Grandview 18
The Geek likes our new system of saving the most heartbreaking recaps for last. It’s a good system … until you have to write the sad part.
What a tantalizing and gut-wrenching loss the Grandview Eagles endured on Friday. It feels impossible to find words to make anyone at GHS feel better about it, so we won’t try to do that. The wound is too fresh. Grandview wasn’t outplayed by the Class 1, District 2 champions from Van-Far. In fact, each team scored exactly three times. It was only the points-after-conversion plays on which the Indians beat the Eagles. It’s easy to cry if you think about it.
We shouldn’t hash over the details too closely. The tone was set when Brock Poole’s early touchdown was matched by Van-Far rusher Gaven Gaston, and the Birds of Prey missed their two-point conversion try before the Indians converted theirs for an 8-6 lead. Grandview drove deep into Van-Far’s real estate in Quarter 2, but fumbled in the Red Zone. Tantalizing? Van-Far fumbled the ball back to Grandview a total of three times by the fourth quarter, but a series of big plays (and 2-PT conversions) kept Van-Far in business while not one, but two long TD passes from QB Brendan Martin to WR Cameron Brooks weren’t satisfactory for GHS to catch up, leaving the score 22-18 Vandalia. That’s how it wound up, despite an onside kick recovery full of last-moment hopes for the home team. Those conversions. Grandview’s brave, wonderful team is so unlucky that Class 1 can be a conversion-derby.
Grandview faces an uncertain rebuild in 2026. Martin’s graduation is only the start of what seniors GHS is about to lose next spring. Tucker Rhinehart and the OL-DL nucleus, rushers like Isaac Walker and Wyatt Keim, and critical receivers like Lucas Hannah will join Martin in departing the program. But what Grandview’s got going for it in 2026 is having found such a good’un in the Eagles’ new head coach Cory Hanger. Hanger kept the Eagles healthier and more in-shape than former HC Jason Kimminau, steering the Birds of Prey through successive games against Class 4 teams with shining reviews. Grandview’s last-minute triumph over Principia, plus its 2-0 sweep of rivals Jefferson and (not your Mama’s) Herculaneum were legit COTY-worthy.
GHS may have found its “head coach of the 2020s” this year. Remember, the Eagles nearly won an all-comers conference title before falling short of a District 2 crown by two missed 2-PT conversions and an XP. That’s coaching, considering that the same kids went 4-6 and lost five of their last six games in 2024. Other than the sensational Poole, we don’t know where Grandview pigskin goes now. But wherever that is, it’s got a great captain at the wheel.