St. Pius X and Festus High School don’t play each other in the 21st century, and the Varsity Lancers don’t square-off with the Seckman Jaguars either. Nonetheless, QB Collin Smith and the boys from Hill Valley took a championship crown off the Tigers and Jags’ sweaty brows on that Friday night.
Move over, Festus vs North County. Seckman vs Park Hills Central from 2020 can take a back seat too. Fox Warriors vs DeSmet Crusaders? Small “potaders.” St. Pius X was playing in – and winning – one of the most exciting, suspenseful, and spellbinding football games in the County.
Sure, FHS won a whole conference title with a Hail Mary last season. But that was amateur hour. Leave it to a proud Catholic school to pull it off like professionals.
Footage of Friday’s walk-off winner has been relegated to PPV. But thanks to an excellent KJFF crew that featured long time HHS skipper Lee Freeman on color commentary, the radio call of Dabrian Moss’ catch and gallop to the goal line was captured in a clip that will be heard for generations.
“Pressure. Richardson. Smith lets it go. It’s caught! HERE THEY COME! 10! 5! TOUCHDOWN! On the very last play! The Lancers are storming the field! WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED!!??”
Collin Smith came of age as a starting Varsity quarterback. That’s what happened. St. Pius took command of a newfangled I-55 race with a single stunning blow. That happened too.
The Geek will be surprised if “Here They Come!” isn’t Hill Valley’s new pep-squad chant whenever the Lancers get the ball with seconds left and any passing chance at a miracle.
The dozens of twists and turns in Friday’s battle are as well-documented as the winning TD by now. But the story is best told in emotions. When the heroes took a 17-10 lead before pinning Jefferson on its own 1-yard line late in the 2nd half, announcers could sense that JHS was about to punt and meekly try to stay behind by 7 or 10 points. You could hear it in their voices, kind of like that old NFL Films footage of Dallas vs San Francisco prior to the iconic Montana-to-Taylor pass for a decisive TD. Pat Summerall gave due deference to the 49ers’ chances to prevail before the final San Francisco drive vanquished Big D. His tone-of-voice told a different tale. “We’ll see if the Cowboys can take control here, heh heh.” It was almost the same on KJFF this Friday night – not that the broadcast was biased against the Blue Jays in any way, shape, or form. Circumstances appeared to have grounded the guests worse than St. Pius’ stubborn ‘D did.
Pinned down 99 yards from pay dirt? In a brutal defensive struggle? Perhaps the ‘Jays would suffer another safety and go down 19-10 while giving-up possession. That might have ended all suspense midway through the 4th quarter.
But there’s this thing a really, really good Flexbone team does. It’s why the Georgia Bulldogs once went an *hour and a half* of actual time without taking a snap in a loss to Paul Johnson and Georgia Tech. Regretfully, punting an Alex Rouggly team down to the 1-yard line is like pushing Mike Tyson against the ropes and sticking your chin out.
Option-football fans call it a Death March. The Blue Jays set the doldrums of the 1st half aside and began slowly, methodically clawing their way to a comeback. 99 yards later, and Dylan Travica scored to allow a tying XP from Will Breeze. Breeze’s brother Drew made the most of a sluggish ground game while burning the Lancers for 171 yards through the air, and Drew’s most-important pass of the night was a back-breaker on 4th down to keep the Death March going.
Ironically, an option pigskin “Death March” can rouse a defense alive. Smarting from giving up their first meaningful TDs of the season, JHS defenders stuffed Nate Ruble on 4th down and punished the Lancers for a risky gamble. Far from just another small program with poor special teams and clock management, the Blue Jays worked the game timer like an FBS team and set up Breeze – Will this time – to connect from 28 yards and seal a remarkable come-from-behind win.
Or so it seemed. Rouggly and St. Pius head coach Dan Oliver were in a cat-and-mouse game similar to Bill Belichick’s “Jedi Mind Trick” moment vs Seattle in the Super Bowl. Jefferson High was in fine field-goal position, teeing-up the egg around the 20 yard line…right from where Breeze had gotten JHS on the board earlier in the night. But the visitors were also out of time-outs. The last thing any pigskin coach wants is to have the field-goal team run onto the field for a game-winning attempt with the play clock winding down. Pre-snap anxiety and rushing around is a bad idea when on offense and defense. On special teams, with the outcome of a cross-town rivalry game riding in the balance, it’s a catastrophe.
But if the GAME clock ticked away, St. Pius X wouldn’t have any time left to answer a potential game-winning Breeze field goal. Like Jack Lemmon in “The China Syndrome,” Oliver sweated over a life-changing decision that had to be made in seconds as the clock ticked under 1:00. There’s no shortage of vinegar in the Jefferson-SPX rivalry, and though The Geek has no video proof, one can imagine the coach glaring at his counterpart across the field as the skippers played Chicken. Rouggly was willing to drive his hot rod right off a hurry-up-and-kick-the-damn-ball cliff. The St. Pius head coach slammed on his brakes just shy of falling in Pete Carroll’s Canyon, and called time-out at :53.
What freedom did Oliver give his QB on the final play? The coach had no way of knowing that he’d come :09 from sinking the Lancers’ chance to win. 61 yards is too far away for a proper Hail Mary. Smith and Moss invented their own brand of last second alley-oop, which Jefferson High might have stopped easily were only Smith’s winning bomb thrown from CLOSER to Blue Jay territory.
Due respect to Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins, but the “jump ball” Hail Mary just isn’t the thing anymore when only a long touchdown can save a team. Neither are trick plays and laterals near the line. Coach Oliver’s modern offense and others like it are helping quarterbacks and WR corps become dangerous in any walk-off scenario, perhaps more-so when not in range to throw a traditional jump-ball.
Moss’ historic catch proved a theory The Geek has held for years – when a QB’s back is against the wall his best bet is to throw a long leading pass at a SINGLE receiver who is running toward the opposing goal-line, using the “Prevent” defense’s 5-across-the-end-zone formation against itself with the aid of downfield blocking. Cries from the visiting bleachers rang out “Get back! Get back!” with :08 seconds left, and the Blue Jay defense did just that, falling back so far that Smith’s throw – a faster and more aggressive bullet than JHS expected – allowed the rest of the St. Pius receiving corps to escort a streaking Moss to glory.
You don’t have to win with a rainbow pass, and you don’t have to win with a Hook-and-Ladder. Oliver’s genius was to give Smith and Moss a 3rd alternative prior to his QB and WR scoring the touchdown of their lifetimes. Jefferson did not make any blunder to set up Smith’s Hill Valley Howitzer. If the Blue Jay secondary had backed up any farther, it might have been steamrolled at the 5-yard line.
In fact, The Geek disagreed with Coach Rouggly’s postgame remarks, since they were all based on the premise that JHS lost the football game on Friday. Both teams won the game. St. Pius receives the honors, the accolades, and maybe even an I-55 title if things work out down the road…all richly deserved. And yet the Blue Jays’ brave comeback and go-ahead FG were as much a part of Friday’s timeless tussle as the Lancers’ thrilling TD at the buzzer. Postgame glory at Hill Valley rests on having conquered a team that seemed as though it just couldn’t be beaten, making a loaded C1D2 playoff bracket look a little less daunting after all.
Both teams won because of the seasons they’re having too. Either side might have won by 20 points against a less-stout rival. JHS was expected to need 2 or 3 months to learn how to win without Colby Ott on the field. Instead, the defending District 1 champs are out of the gate with an even better defense than R-7 had last year at this time.
As for the St. Pius Lancers, alumni were proud to see the 2021 squad begin to rebound from a 3-7 season. But no one could have dreamed of how much Smith and the Lancers have grown in a short few weeks. St. Pius has spawned an explosive, clutch offense to go with an iron-willed defense, bad news for an I-55 field still missing its Class 4 representative in the Perryville Pirates, and without Valle U. to turn it all into a B-flight.
Valle University, by the way, moved to 97-0 last weekend with a 500-0 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Meanwhile, back in the real world, a rejuvenated High School league is hosting unforgettable football games on vintage gridirons. That includes 2021’s likely Game of the Year, brought to you by our pals from the St. Pius Lancers and Jefferson Blue Jays. Stay tuned for these messages.