The Jefferson County Leader’s sports page is the “St. Pius Lancers” of our local media scene, rising from the ranks of the average to excel in almost every category. The Geek thinks, or wants to believe, that this year’s snub of the Highway A Game was caused by the JCL’s sports editor Russell Korando thinking that he knew who would win and didn’t guess the Mississippi Conference would bother the Festus Tigers this season. Korando didn’t reveal much bias against St. Pius the Tenth this fall, spying tailback Cody Shaver’s record-setting pace earlier in the season than Mississippi Magazine, though the overconfident Korando nearly had to backpedal on Festus High when North County had the Tigers down 21-14 in Week 12.
Where the Leader is really standing out is with its gameday live blogs, written in an old-fashioned running Box Score style that becomes captivating as hundreds of commenters weigh in on a tense playoff battle. Check out what they spontaneously posted in the midst of describing the fourth quarter at Hill Valley in Week 14, wedged into the dry stats as the Leader’s reporter was overcome with emotion. Magic stuff!
Ladies and gents, we’ve just seen the birth of a new gridiron powerhouse on the mighty Mississippi, and it all happened in six weeks’ time. It’s no secret that St. Pius X was just another scrappy upstart as of Week 8 and the St. Pius Bowl, a lopsided bout that left no doubt about why St. Pius – KC was promoted to Class 5. The Gridiron Geek argued that St. Pius and Grandview were evenly-matched as of midseason, and he meant it. SPX had fewer quality Ws than Grandview at that moment. But we kept ranking the Lancers in the top half of the Power Poll, hoping that the team’s big-time potential would reveal itself a year early.
It’s always what you couldn’t have predicted, isn’t it? The ’25 St. Pius Lancers exploded from Week 9 onward, surpassing every wish, hope, and dream Hill Valley’s faithful could cross their fingers for in any year, let alone in a year of rookies! Led by a sophomore QB in Evan Eckrich, the Lancers of late October shook up a Valle Catholic squad that nearly took down Lift for Life in the Class 3 District Finals. Then St. Pius X unexpectedly romped through its own district bracket, developing fresh weapons to accompany Shaver as the Lancers stunned Caruthersville before winning the first two state-playoff games in the school’s lore. Finally, there’s the semifinal tilt with Monroe City that left everyone plum speechless.
Cody Shaver Milestone Update: Shaver’s already the undisputed rush-yardage king of a whole metropolis, and a cinch to go over 3000 yards for the season on the biggest stage in MSHSAA. If that sounds like trivia, consider that Shaver is probably also poised to be called Missouri’s top rusher of the season when all is official. It is tricky to determine how a state-wide stat race is shaking out because there is no public stats ledger (or free-of-paywall statistics reported) for so many teams. The Geek believes he saw a Kansas City-area stat leaders’ chart with multiple 2000+ yard rushers following Week 10, but they would need to play 15 weeks to rival Shaver’s total attempts, let alone his yardage. Shaver’s 3000+ yardage mark will land in the top-20 of Missouri single-season performances since the 1990s. It was 2023 the last time a Missouri player raced for 3000 yards, so any rural school that’s reporting a fantastical stat line now would need a record-setting type of athlete to threaten Cody’s numbers.
For All In Tents and Porpoises, Shaver could chew sunflower seeds on Saturday and still hope to become known as Missouri’s leading overall rusher in only his junior year. Should the 2025 Show-Me Bowl announcers have access to collated top-line statistics for 300+ teams, we might hear someone confirm Shaver’s status as MO rushing king by halftime of the Class 2 state finals. Folks can count it official at that point unless Jennifer Rukstad fires the guy on the air, which is known to take place.
Class 2 Show-Me Bowl: St. Pius Tries Doing the Impossible … Again
For “porpoises” of teeing up the Class 2 Show-Me Bowl between Blair Oaks and St. Pius, set to kick off at Missouri Western at 3 PM CST this Saturday, that Monroe City win isn’t 100% peaches and cream for Hill Valley. Eckrich just had the day of his life, and in order to win the Class 2 Show-Me Bowl, the sophomore will have to do it again, just months after beginning Driver’s School. The Lancers are more fatigued than the opposing Falcons of Blair Oaks, given that the reigning Class 3 champions rested in the last 12:00 of Saturday’s unexpectedly easy 42-0 semifinal win over Liberty-Mountain View. But as some of St. Pius X’s linemen may be subject to wear-and-tear from Nov. 29, the Lancers’ young corps of skill players is on a feeding frenzy. Don’t overlook the SPX defense, either, but they’ve got their work cut out for them.
The Blair Oaks Falcons could be set to make a case as MSHSAA’s next great dynasty. Blair Oaks’ state playoff success was fantastic-yet-intermittent to begin the 2020s, with the Falcons winning the Class 3 title during Covid-19 and the Class 2 state championship in 2022 despite getting dismissed from the playoffs relatively early in 2021 and 2023. The incredible Varsity Falcons of last season scored four times on Lutheran North’s Class 4 champs, won the rest of their games by an average of 40+ points, and conquered Seneca 38-28 in a memorable Class 3 Show-Me Bowl.
Blair Oaks’ 25-2 record in regular-season games of the last three years surpasses those of the Jackson Indians and the Kearney Bulldogs. All that the Falcons need is a fourth state title in six years to become the ascending kings of public-school pigskin in Missouri. When the Falcons had a difficult time versus Centralia in the 2025 district finals, it seemed as though this year’s C2 favorites could fall back into the on/off syndrome in even versus odd-numbered years, and make likely prey for the Lamar Tigers. As it turned out, Blair Oaks didn’t have to face Lamar, but the Falcons still made a statement in the semis.
In last week’s semifinals, the ’25 Falcons took on the team that knocked out Lamar 12-7 … and won with a Turbo Clock in the third quarter of a six-TD romping. The Blair Oaks defense, led by swift, bruising linebackers like seniors Wyatt Libbert and Hayden Lackman, stopped the Liberty Eagles colder than the freezing hour, allowing less than 100 yards of offense. QB Tyler Bax came-Bax from an injury to throw four TD passes.
Week 14’s 42-0 statement – or SHOUT – of a Blair Oaks semifinal win makes the Falcons’ tighter district final with Centralia look like an anomaly, or at least it makes the 10-2 Centralia Panthers look like a team that played 50 points over its head in Week 12. It’s one thing for St. Pius to have to take on a dominant reigning state champion. It is another for the Lancers to face a lineup that could be wiping out Class 3 this season, one that’s simply toyed with most of its Class 2 opponents before thrashing a real contender last week.
The last thing that The Geek ought to do is predict another 50-point win for Blair Oaks over St. Pius X, and not just because Mississippi Magazine cheers for the Lancers. (Yes we are biased in favor of St. Pius. We are biased in favor of 11 other teams too.) That’s because this year’s state playoffs have been insanely difficult to predict in the first place, and the best games haven’t been the ones forecasted to become barnburners. Since the St. Pius Lancers turned a corner in that first half at Valle, they’ve been a transformed team, not unlike other schools who’ve been shaking up 2025’s state brackets.
To wit, the 9-4 Lee’s Summit Tigers trailed the Jackson Indians 28-14 (of course, right?) at halftime last Saturday, while the 7-6 Hayti Indians continued their St. Pius-like surge to the finish line by rallying in the first half against 13-0 Putnam County, with the unbeaten Class 1 favorites only leading 25-22 after two frames. Would the day’s biggest shock be on behalf of the Bootheel? Nope! Putnam County whitewashed the second half and defeated Hayti 54-22. Lee’s Summit put on the defensive performance of the year in MSHSAA in its second half against Jackson, improbably shutting out the Jackson Indians the rest of the way to enable 21 unanswered points and a 35-28 comeback victory to reach the Class 6 Show-Me Bowl. The Gridiron Geek always stops trusting himself that some team from somewhere will be able to do that to Jackson. Then, it happens. The Indians’ no-huddle attack has scored 100,000 points in five years without a championship in Class 6, or even a Show-Me Bowl berth to show for it since Jackson was in Class 5.
Blair Oaks’ season of 2025 has gone a lot like a Jackson season does – a 60-point scoring average versus a bunch of overwhelmed schools from nearby, plus irrepressible wins over tougher lineups like Liberty’s, Osage’s, and Lutheran North’s, who did not throw enough gas on the fire to keep up in a drag-race. Blair Oaks shouldn’t be confused with a team that relies on a star QB – when Bax was injured and couldn’t play against Summit Christian Academy in the state Q-Finals, Blair Oaks sophomore signal-caller Beau Buhr (mistaken as a “freshman” by giddy reporters) completed his first eight passes against Summit. But the Falcons remain a fast-paced aerial offense of the sort that St. Pius had to contend with at Valle. It’s merely executing at an even higher level than Valle’s fine team, and would likely beat Lift for Life.
If it can go wrong for Jackson, it can go wrong for Blair Oaks a week later. St. Pius only allowed 14 points to the Olympic Athletes of Valle Catholic, and that came after Hill Valley shut out Valle for the first 24:00. Shaver’s big first-half rushing effort that helped control the ball against Valle wasn’t that different from how Centralia hogged the bean in its tight loss to Blair Oaks, a possible blueprint for St. Pius going against the Falcons this Saturday.
St. Pius vs Blair Oaks Prediction: Don’t Get Your Dobbers Down, You Diaper Dandies
St. Pius Lancers skipper Frank Ray has a decision to make. Is this Show-Me Bowl about coaching to try to improve a 10% chance to win to a 20% chance with win-any-way-you-can style tactics, or is it time to play for the experience, let Eckrich throw to Harrison Ray like he did against Monroe City, and let the chips fall?
If Centralia’s performance really points the way to how St. Pius can upset Blair Oaks to win a Cinderella’s championship, Ray owes it to the Lancers to try to get the title, with a brutish game plan or otherwise. If BOHS proves to just be on another level at this time, SPX could focus on trying to keep things entertaining. A growing powerhouse’s momentum into 2026 and beyond might be held back by a dull 0-35 defeat suffered before Missouri’s widest audience – although they’re not watching it on KPLR-11 like they should be.
The danger behind Door #1 is that emotional letdowns are the Lancers’ biggest weakness. You would expect that of a squad that’s still so young in key places on the depth chart. When the SPX Warriors of Kansas City stayed ahead 10-0 because of an overturned TD for the host Lancers in Week 8, Ray told The Geek that the Lancers had “hung their heads” on the gridiron, giving the Warriors their chance to indignify the St. Pius Bowl via a five-touchdown rally. Should St. Pius choose to employ its Wishbone strategy in the Show-Me Bowl, attempting to win 14-13, and any little thing goes wrong, then no amount of keep-away could keep the hungry Falcons from running up a 28-7 lead anyway. In a wide-open slugfest in which St. Pius X’s alternative WR/TE targets such as Dawson Litterall are grabbing catches, the Lancers would be more likely to stay completely focused and keep firing away at Blair Oaks, even if Bax tosses four more TD passes.
The Geek hopes that the Varsity Lancers don’t decide he’s too negative, or a doubter of Hill Valley’s kids when they read our Class 2 Show-Me Bowl prediction. Like many Cinderella teams, the ’25 Lancers have fueled their playoff run thinking about what all the ‘haters’ expect them to do – lose, namely – and proving those customers wrong. Following last Friday’s last-second triumph, Ray told the Jefferson County Leader “we have heard the negative talk about our program … now they have to watch us.” (The Gridiron Geek predicted the St. Pius Lancers to win in Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, and nearly Round 5 of the playoffs, were it not for a reschedule which moved Week 14’s clash out of what he thought might be a helpful dose of bad weather.) For the Lancers to advance to Round 6 and the Class 2 championship game is epic, unreal, unfathomable! It’s frankly the most amazing thing that’s happened in JeffCo since Herculaneum and Festus went from laughingstocks to regional title-tycoons in the early 1990s and 2000s respectively, and the simple fact that St. Pius is such a firm underdog against Blair Oaks – in WEEK F-F-FIFTEEN!!! – underlines what a surreal postseason run Eckrich and the Lancers have had.
The St. Pius Lancers are in the clouds, waaaaaaay up in the STRATOSPHERE compared to what such a fledgling football power should be able to do. They’re in a David vs Goliath scenario because they’ve slung so many stones and vanquished so many monsters that we never thought Hill Valley would square off with this postseason. The Lancers each looked about 13 years old during a pale first half of a state playoff debut against Montgomery County, then they grew up a collective 100 years (100 years, Morty! 100 years!) to win six quarters of unprecedented playoff action and arrive to play in St. Joseph. It’s unachievable, really, but the 2025 Lancers have achieved it. Whatever happens at Missouri Western this weekend is just gravy.
Saturday’s winner, and even Saturday’s final score, probably won’t surprise us very much. But at some point during the Show-Me Bowl, watch for St. Pius’ brash greenhorns to grow up another 100 years very quickly, and do something to surprise a whole state’s worth of pigskin fans watching them battle with Blair Oaks. PREDICTION: BLAIR OAKS 44, LANCERS 21
Give our scroll an extra “2:00 Drill” for Quick Picks on the rest of the Show-Me Bowl:
Class 3: Seneca Indians vs Lift for Life Hawks (Friday, 11 AM)
It’s weird to say this about the Lamar Tigers, but Seneca’s 29-28 loss to Lamar is a big, fat wart on Seneca’s otherwise sparkling record this year, since Lamar lost to a Liberty team that couldn’t avoid a Turbo Clock deficit at the 30:00 mark of its Class 2 semifinal. But the Indians haven’t been touched in the postseason. Meanwhile, Lift for Life has scratched and clawed its way to the dance, but it shouldn’t have had to. If you give up 41 points to St. Genevieve, you might give up 82 to Seneca. PREDICTION: SENECA 52, LFL 28
Class 1: Putnam County Midgets vs Tipton Cardinals (Friday, 3 PM)
The Geek overlooked the fact that we have “Midgets” in Missouri pigskin too. Are the 13-0 Putnam County Midgets as big and burly as the Freeburg Midgets of Illinois? Oh, and then some! Putnam County has a simply massive team – of Midgets – that features seniors like 6’3″ and 250-pound DE Bentley McCormack and 6’4″ stud Daxton Smith. We think they can shut down the Tipton Cardinals’ favorite two plays – Student Body Left and Student Body Right – on the road to a perfect season and a state championship. Meanwhile, the Tipton Cardinals have deleted their HUDL page and scrubbed the internet of all gameday videos that aren’t awkward field-level shots from teenage camera operators, presumably from paranoia that an opponent will learn about them. BOO! That kind of Stone Age move on Tipton’s part is a cause to cheer for PCHS. PREDICTION: PCHS 28, TIPTON 6
Class 5: Platte County Pirates vs Carthage Tigers (Friday, 7 PM)
This could be the best contest out of the six 11-Man Championships at Missouri Western this week. Platte County looked like a probable 2026 champion with its gang of juniors last season, then went on to win the Class 5 title a year early. Platte County’s speedy QB Rocco “Lights Out” Marriott outpaced almost all of the Pirates’ regular-season opponents by Turbo Clock scores, then ran into fiercer resistance from Kansas City Rockhurst and Grain Valley this postseason. But by the time they got to Class 5’s semifinals against Kirkwood, Marriott paid the check and delivered a 65-34 victory. Carthage might be one of just four or five teams with the speed and depth to hang with Platte County, having stonewalled Cardinal Ritter 20-8 in the prior round. Look for Platte’s star QB to spend the day scramblin’ and flingin’ against a great ‘D. PREDICTION: PCHS #2 35, CARTHAGE 28 (OT)
Class 4: Kearney Bulldogs vs Hannibal Pirates (Saturday, 11 AM)
Last postseason, after the Lutheran North Crusaders knocked out the Kearney Bulldogs in Class 4, Kearney’s fans got so mad that podcasters called for Lutheran North to “beat Festus by fifty!” to somehow salve the wound. A poor first half from the runner-up FHS Tigers nearly gave them the satisfaction. This year, however, Tanglefoot’s troops should turn the other cheek and root for the Kearney Bulldogs to vanquish RB Darrion Washington and the 11-2 Hannibal Pirates. Why? Because, a second Kearney title in three years would mean that the Tigers pierced the state champions for three leads in two quarters – the highest height R-6 football has ever reached. PREDICTION: KEARNEY 38, HANNIBAL 20
Class 6: Lee’s Summit Tigers vs Nixa Eagles (Saturday, 7 PM)
The Gridiron Geek rubbed his eyes and checked his pulse after seeing that “running back Jayden McCaster” has been starring for Nixa in the 2025 playoffs. We … covered … Jayden … in … the … 2024 … championships … playing for DeSmet against Nixa and not for Nixa against DeSmet, right?! Turns out that DeSmet’s former star running back took a detour before heading on to the NCAA, becoming one of Missouri’s longest in-state transfer moves by going to the Ozarks to perform for his 2024 nemesis in the NHS Eagles. The addition of a D1-level running back has made Nixa’s 13-0 team all-but-unbeatable this season. Mississippi Magazine loved how Lee’s Summit’s coach stuck up for power football (“THIS WORKS”) after the Jackson upset, but the Tigers remain a Cinderella bid that had to win its first playoff contest 35-33. PREDICTION: NIXA 45, LEE’S SUMMIT 27
Enjoy the 2025 Show-Me Bowl, folks, and Go Lancers!
Photo Credits: St. Pius X Football Facebook, Blair Oaks Falcons Facebook