#1 – Festus Tigers

The skill corps of the 2026 Varsity Tigers appears to be well-stocked with speed, numbers, and discipline in the open field. That’s a massive relief. The Tigers’ upgraded schedule does not allow for many Grade 10 kids to put stats on the ledger until they’ve waited for their turn the next season. We know that this year’s squad is ferocious at the line-of-scrimmage. An excellent skill corps will ignite the dynamite.

As for putting that skill to use on special teams? Ugh! The Geek will state that the Tigers have a terrific two-way contingent at this time. The third phase of special teams needs work again, after clearly costing R-6 a rare triumph over a northwesterly “Godzilla” last Friday. Special teams was the first element that the Midmeadow Lane boys improved prior to the title trek of 2020. Black & Gold can’t win a district with lousy special-teams performances in 2026. R-6 also needs to get a MSHSAA referee on campus for a lecture.

The Tigers lost hundreds of yards in field position by holding, hacking, and hog-tying Rockwood Summit’s kick-coverage teams, drawing a flag and a forced-march back inside their own 20-yard line on one kickoff return attempt after another. At one point, it appeared that Festus had taken penalties on four or five consecutive kick-returns, setbacks that moved the ball 30+ yards from midfield to the coffins. Summit running a kickoff back for a TD during the fourth frame’s wild circus was bitter icing on the cake.

Summit’s discipline edge was matched by its advantage kicking the bean. Falcons junior kicker Blake Boschert opened the year’s scoring at Midmeadow Lane with a 26-yard field goal in the first quarter. He didn’t boom his kickoffs into the end zone, but the Tigers’ grab-tastic blocking made up for any chance Boschert’s opponents had to run a kickoff out to midfield. The Geek also thought it was a mistake for the coaches to call off XP attempts after freshman PK Bradley Hodges pulled his first try wide. Not for any practical point-scoring reasons, but because Hodges’ solid kicking form made the miss feel fluky.

This week’s contest at St. Mary’s may be extremely hot – and the Dragons’ MSHSAA page has the kickoff scheduled for 6 PM on Friday, not 7 PM. (We hope the admins are open-minded enough to change it to *8* PM.) In hot weather, you have to keep your offense wide-open enough to spread touches around, preferably with a revolving cast of offensive linemen. St. Mary’s is also a question mark this season, a team that could have a great game or an average effort against Festus in Week 2. Those factors could place special teams under a microscope, since you can’t avoid occasional 4th-downs with a rotation roster on the field, and since St. Mary’s might either be kicking off to R-6 more often, or receiving more kickoffs than anticipated. Will the FHS special teams get better? It could be the difference between 1-1 and 0-2.

#2 (Tie) – Northwest Lions

The Northwest Lions will feel like local celebrities this coming weekend, as they should. Cedar Hill hosts a grudge match with its forever-rival Arnold, taking the place of last year’s Fox-Seckman clash of early September that told us so much about what 2025’s Warriors and Jaguars were capable of. The time-honored rivalry game between Fox and Northwest will draw a large (if sweaty) crowd.

But there’s irony in the race for #1 in the Jefferson County Power Poll this year, and Northwest’s relative lack of “celebrity” is at the heart of it. Cedar Hill has a Class 6 campus, vying against the “lightweights” from Class 4 and Class 3 in Festus and St. Pius respectively. Yet the team’s Cinderella status – following Northwest High’s best season in about 40 years – helps to stamp the Lions as the blue-collar spoilers in this year’s Power Poll, a tough, scrappy, defense-minded side with a swashbuckling quarterback, who could hang on to a top-two position in the JCPP on guts, guile, and grit.

It’s so upside down from what a casual fan would expect! Oh, that giant Class 6 school has all the stars, it’s the poor middle-sized teams that have to play scrappy football to outrank Northwest! But in 2026’s particular (and peculiar) case, it’s Cohenn Stark and the Lions who’ll play the role of lunchpail kings.

#2 (Tie) – St. Pius Lancers

We’ll try not to let MSHSAA’s weekend alignment reveal make Mississippi Magazine look too far forward, which would rightfully anger JeffCo coaches who want their players focused on Week 2. But you’ve got to be willing to look back, also, following a state runner-up season, to compare what the upstart St. Pius X Lancers are accomplishing now with what a younger version of the team did in 2025. Heck, in this weekend’s Week 1 recap, The Geek made casuals ask if he forgot SPX in the Show-Me Bowl.

Class 2’s defending champion Blair Oaks had been “dropped in” to this year’s C2 alignment, The Geek said, only to contradict that by writing “Blair Oaks remains in Class 2 again” in Grandview’s recap. Huh? Blair Oaks, indubitably the school that defeated Hill Valley for 2025’s Class 2 title, is technically staying in Class 2 for a second-straight year. But from a MSHSAA fan’s practical point of view, BOHS was widely projected to play in a “Superclass 3” postseason bracket in 2026, even boasting a neat flying falcon in the Lancers’ preseason hype poster for the Class 3 field they’re competing in. BOHS had gone the majority of the prior several seasons playing in (and often winning) Class 3; its “Class 2.5” size produces a Class 3-Class 2 elevator ride for the state champs. The team spent the summer on FanDuel’s “Class 3 Fantasy Draft” board, so to speak, but the Falcons flew south “.5 classifications” into Class 2 District 5. It’s one more development which changes Class 3 into a contest of mere mortals, although the 0-1 Falcons have been hit hard by graduations, and might be playoff underdogs this year anyway. Not to confuse anybody, The Geek’s gone back and edited both BOHS blurbs to match.

In fairness, last Saturday the Varsity Lancers made everyone forget one thing about 2025’s Class 2 state title tilt – the fact that they lost it so decisively. It’s hard to imagine Frank Ray’s team getting blown out by any opponent in a future C2 Show-Me Bowl, should the Lancers happen to be relegated and then wind up in such a game. St. Pius looked the part of a Class-3 state championship contender in Fort Branch, whether you’re talking about Missouri’s Class 3, or Indiana’s 3A Semi-State-Championship thing.

Gibson Southern isn’t just a brand that would nip Blair Oaks in any year the Falcons weren’t peaking, it would be a fierce rival for any local Large Schools stronghold. It wasn’t so different watching Rockwood Summit play Festus and watching Gibson Southern against St. Pius, except that Festus doesn’t use the Wishbone, and Tiger Stadium’s referees did not stack the deck on Summit. (Quite the contrary!) The St. Pius defense flashed every bit as much potential in Week 1 as The Geek had hoped it would, sacking opposing QB Caden Rochleau on just his second turn to force the first of many Titans punts. SPX’s play-calling in Fort Branch revealed both a roster and a coaching staff that have evolved, as Shaver’s talents were not overused in a backfield that featured five rushers. The Lancers showed their mental toughness against Gibson Southern’s fast, fabulous lineup in a hostile setting, retaking the momentum late in the first half before stubbornly hanging on in the second. You don’t throw rocks and hit MSHSAA Class 3 teams who could answer the Titans’ TDs while getting fewer calls than Egypt at a World Cup. Mohamed Salah Shaver ran for 143 yards and two scores versus Argentina Gibson Southern. St. Pius’ HUDL has a highlight reel of Harry Ray’s big catch and more.

 

St. Pius benefits from its experience coming out of Week 1’s defeat. By now, the Lancers have played enough football to know that four turnovers plus 200 yards in penalties meant Hill Valley was “spotting” more than two touchdowns to Gibson Southern, just the way that SPX’s clumsy special-teams effort spotted Caruthersville points in the first of two Lancers-Tigers matchups last year. Saddled by the mistakes, the Lancers still managed to fight back, showing great stamina as an Iron Man club.

Head coach Ray’s interstate scheduling has finally paid off. The Lancers have learned how to mount the national Friday Night Lights stage in stages – the shell-shocker at Senatobia, followed by Brody Ervin and Dawson Litterall’s nice performances catching the ball at Baylor School, followed by last Saturday’s confident touchdowns in Indiana. Where will St. Pius travel in 2027? Who knows, but … Evan Eckrich’s arm is strong enough to throw in a Windy City.

The Lancers are the first Class 1-2-3 team to ever rise as high as T-#2 in the Jefferson County Power Poll. While a few readers may protest that St. Pius is 0-1, while Northwest and Seckman stand 1-0, none of our Suburban League teams squared off with Godzilla in Tokyo Bay last week. We’re cutting the Lancers some slack. Meanwhile, a glorious stadium-debut is less than two weeks away.

#4 – Seckman Jaguars

If Seckman’s all-star quarterback Brody Kube proves to be knocked out by an injury, one thing The Geek won’t do is start looking to rank the Jaguars down at every opportunity. Mississippi Magazine’s Power Poll democracy-of-one has struggled to explain this before, but it’s horrendous how football rankings and polls involve voters squinting at lineups, hype, and speculation. Final scores and statistics should be foremost rankings tools, not somebody’s prediction of how an injury could impact a school’s chances. Like PGA golfers have said, no one in the press should ever ask you “how?” – they should ask you “how many.”

So, why are the 1-0 Jaguars ranking below 0-1 Festus and St. Pius X? The Geek does abide going by last season’s outcome, and that season’s stock of returning players, when ranking a program at the start of a campaign – otherwise, you’ve got a one-game sample size for everybody, and you wouldn’t even know that it was pretty good to beat Oakville by 19 points. The last time Seckman High endured an opponent as powerful as Summit or Gibson Southern was when Pattonville visited last October 3. The Pirates led that contest 34-6 at the end of the third quarter. Finer lines than ever are drawn at the top of the prestigious Jefferson County ranks, though! Seckman could jump to #1 if NHS, Festus, and SPX lose this Friday.

Seckman’s aggressive, incisive running game, not to mention the Jaguars’ handy multiple playbook, gives Imperial a safety net against its form falling apart versus North Point in Week 2, if the Jags have to turn to the backup quarterback. The guest Grizzlies are 0-1 versus the Suburban League since starting in 2021.

#5 – Fox Warriors

Fox had a nice debut against Mehlville – literally – that reminded The Geek of something that former R-6 head coach Bob Hollmann did for Crystal City in the late 1980s. Crystal City was 0-6, performing against far larger teams in the Jefferson County Conference, prior to a home-field contest with Hollmann’s Tigers. When FHS seniors arrived to suit up, they were told to keep their street clothes on, and that the bus ride was optional. Festus played its “start-up school” team, sans seniors, and defeated Crystal City just 38-14. It led to the first time Crystal City had scored any points in a while, just like Brent Tinker’s substitutions gave Mehlville a chance to get on the scoreboard for the first time since before last fall’s leaves fell.

Arnold had spent the first three quarters showing that Fox’s ‘26 offense is dynamic. The Warriors told The Geek, “No, you’re wrong, Jude Pribish is gonna throw!” and then executed four fancy completions and a touchdown toss on five attempts from Pribish, before Fox’s backup signal-caller, the sophomore Jace “Dime Drop” Nichols, stepped in to toss another TD pass to classmate Cam Cox in the third frame.

 

Is Tinker’s defense just as legit this season? We’ll find out when the Fox Warriors get their rematch against the Northwest Lions this week. Pribish vs Stark feels like a fascinating matchup of QBs.

#6 – Hillsboro Hawks

Week 2’s Hillsboro Hawks appear to be catching a break, but it’s another story that’s potentially so sad, they might just want to quietly win the game and move on, like CBC against DeSmet last season.

Hazelwood East, after vibing like a world-beater late last regular season, has begun 2026’s campaign by losing 21-13 to Hazelwood West. That’s another one that could confuse casuals – what’s the big deal if two cross-town rivals met in Hazelwood, and one lost? Does the loser not get to go to Cabela’s, or something?

For perspective, East defeated West 45-0 at the start of last season. The then-1-0 Spartans went on to score impressive wins over the likes of Ladue and Parkway West, while the weak Wildcats of Hazelwood West went on to allow (gulp) 55 opposing touchdowns, finishing 1-10. If the Hazelwood West club is getting better, that’s happening slowly. Hazelwood East may be falling off the map!

We think it’s a case of the Spartans letting graduations and new faces scrabble the works, unlike Hannibal, which graduated so many seniors in May before gluing a pretty good lineup together in training camp. The Geek will make a forensic analysis of HEHS’s hellish 60-point plunge in effectiveness by this Thursday. For now, it looks like Hillsboro’s got a super shot to run to 3-0 before league play begins.

#7 (Tie) – Windsor Owls

Some of Mississippi Magazine’s teams that were eliminated in the 2025 District Q-Finals appear to have inherited even more characteristics than usual from last year’s lineup. That isn’t necessarily bad. It wasn’t a new Windsor Owls playing Jefferson R-7 in Week 1, but the ol’ Albino Birds do seem to be upgraded. It may be easy for skeptics to say that Windsor was only up against Class 2, and that a Class 4 conference rival’s faster defensive backfield would be able to track Jett Black down before he can score on another home-run carry. The Geek says, so what? If Windsor’s offense continues to be explosive as it has been, opponents can’t hold would-be-touchdowns to 20-yard gains and expect to flourish. Black’s supporting cast up front is seasoned enough to block for several 20-yard gains as the Owls string plays together.

Windsor’s not as lucky as Hillsboro in the schedule department, though. Week 2’s opponent Lutheran South has a 1-0 record and a hot-shot new quarterback. It could be a solid matchup of C3 and C4.

#7 (Tie) – Herculaneum Blackcats

Haha, would you just look at this! Windsor and Herky had just about forged a new tradition of close, calamitous contests to begin each regular season, but those “good” games were followed by so many letdown performances on the Fridays that followed, it was easy to take such scores as evidence that neither team was going anywhere fast. In light of Herky and Windsor ascending to tie #7 this week, practically nipping at the top half’s heels, maybe there was more quality in those Windsor versus Herculaneum scrums than we gave credit for, and perhaps the teams learned from each other.

If you put the Blackcats and the Owls on the field together now? Whoa! It would be a clash of two likely contenders. Chase Luebbert and the Blackcats could finish 2-0 against Class 4 if they can win 2026’s JCTV Bowl on October 23, also known as Senior Night for the DeSoto Dragons at Joachim Junction.

#9 – DeSoto Dragons

DeSoto wants to forge a new, rowdier rivalry with Hillsboro High School, in which the vinegar from tight, tumultuous games could potentially impact the kids’ crosstown social lives. But today, the Dragons can call up the Hawks and share news that ought to make both schools happy. DeSoto, like Hillsboro, had looked like an underdog to win in Week 2. But nope – the Mississippi is favored!

DeSoto couldn’t be too confident with Perryville on Friday’s schedule, even though the Pirates can be less of a Quad County pest when away from home. However, MyMoInfo’s coverage of the Pirates last weekend revealed that HC Brent Roth’s team has had to clear the Whiteboard and start over again in this year’s offseason.

Roth reached to find positives for Perryville’s underclass starting QB and offensive line: “He kept his composure … they came in to start like we asked them to.” The Pirates won their opener 16-0 over the Fredericktown Blackcats, who no longer possess the thrilling aerial arsenal that they had showcased at times throughout the previous two seasons. Despite PHS’s shut-out final score, Kisner and the Dragons may indeed be meeting a weaker version of the Perryville Pirates, which amounts to a great chance to get to 1-1, and forget that this season’s first Friday night ever happened. It’s one more shot at a breakout win that is badly needed.

#10 – Jefferson Blue Jays

MSHSAA’s new brackets cast the 0-1 Jefferson Blue Jays into a District 2 race with Valle Catholic in it, which is scary based on the Warriors’ 2026 schedule alone. Valle, after having blasted Hayti 55-14 in Week 1’s debut, is headed to – gulp – Rockwood Summit this Friday night. It’s a binary deal – if Valle Catholic somehow wins that game, Class 2’s Warriors will be installed as favorites to win a championship (or maybe two). Or, if Summit romps to a win, we’ll know that Valle doesn’t have the indomitable kind of lineup that it had during the COVID-era, when the Warriors tripped Class 6’s Seckman Jaguars. But if Valle’s HC Judd Naeger scheduled the Falcons, he must think his veterans can play with them. That’s why he scheduled Class 6 for his early-2020s team previously.

Sam Kerley and the Blue Jays have a mighty challenging road swing coming up, involving trips to Park Hills and Herculaneum. After that, the schedule softens a bit into Cuba-Bayless-Perryville-Grandview.

#11 – Grandview Eagles

Grandview head coach Cory Hanger didn’t seem to think that the Eagles were physically outmatched by Louisiana’s burly battalion last Friday. “Our inexperience showed,” Hanger told MyMoInfo’s Week 1 End-Zone Show. “Tiny little mistakes added up to big ones.” The HC added that QB Christian Volner’s nagging injury in the game’s late stages took the mojo out of GHS’s traditional option attack. The upcoming clash with Bayless, a familiar foil, might help get the Birds of Prey back on course.

#12 – Crystal City Hornets

If Grandview and Jefferson improve on their current form, will Crystal City be bound to spend more long weeks in the #12 slot? Perhaps, but #12 ain’t the sad-sack’s cellar that it used to be.

There’s a trade-off to any humble ranking in the JCPP these days. It can be harder to rise in the Power Poll, but even a ranking like #10 means a lot more good than it used to. You’re looking at a Power Poll on which the #11 team played for two titles in 2025, and the #10 team was known as a JeffCo powerhouse until last season. CCHS still has a chance to break into the top-10 soon if the Hornets’ sophomore talent is buoyed by enough senior-class blocking and tackling in weeks to come.

Week 2 opponent Affton’s defense is the Cougars’ only halfway-solid unit. That still presents a challenge for Crystal City, which can perform as a substantial favorite to defeat Affton if the Hornets’ offense avoids blunders.

Photo Credit: St. Pius X Football Facebook