North County Raiders at Festus Tigers
Setting TGG’s Hollywood-themed humor about the ’22 Festus defense aside, North County’s timid passing game this season gives R-6 a chance to load-up the tackle box and catch a few fish Buccaneers for losses in the backfield. But even if the Tigers play their best game of the campaign, QB Jeremiah Cunningham’s unit hasn’t yet shown that it can take over a scrum and score the winning TD in the 4th quarter. That’s not exactly the offense’s fault – the poor defense-and-special-teams effort so far has scarcely given them a chance to develop. PREDICTION: NORTH COUNTY 31, TIGERS 24
Hillsboro Hawks at Windsor Owls
Windsor’s offense has been quietly progressing by leaps and bounds. But we still can’t imagine WHS holding-off Hillsboro’s big-play potential in either half, making this game into the first potential “Valle vs St. Genevieve”-type final score of the Mississippi league’s season. PREDICTION: HAWKS 61, ALBINO BIRDS 18
Fox Warriors at Poplar Bluff Mules
Poplar Bluff’s weird lapses-to-date on offense give Fox High’s defense a chance to go 3-and-out and potentially tee-up the Flex attack for a much-needed road victory. PREDICTION: WARRIORS 24, POPLAR BLUFF 14
Crystal City Hornets at Russellville Indians
Russellville hosted Grandview in 2021 and lost 12-8. The next year, Grandview hosted Russellville and won something like 99-2. GHS was healthier and deeper the 2nd-time around, while the Indians stayed about the same, so you can chalk some of the games’ disparate margins-of-victory up to the Eagles’ improvement from year-to-year. But it’s impossible to chalk them up entirely to the Birds of Prey having playing better, just like Jefferson’s 42-7 to Lamar High School in the 2020 postseason cannot be viewed out-of-context of the Blue Jays’ punishing road trip all the way across the state, considering that Jefferson had beaten a pair of powerhouse opponents badly in each of 2 prior weeks. Exceptionally-long bus rides take a toll…and it happens in prep sports worst of all.
RHS’s 5-0 record is nothing to be intimidated by. The Indians defeated weak Van-Far 19-6 in an ugly Week 2 outcome, and have beaten 4 other teams which are similar in strength to the Paris Coyotes, Bayless Bronchos, and other regular victims of I-55 schools. Russellville hasn’t faced anything like Louisiana’s edge-blocking or Gateway Tech’s size and speed while romping to a rare undefeated record thus far.
However, that “rare” W/L record is likely have the Injuns’ supporters lighting fires and dancing in circles all night long. Crystal City faces a very, very long bus ride and a very, very hostile crowd, and to make matter worse, the young Hornets haven’t really been in this kind of dangerous scenario before against a mysterious, confident host team.
Turnovers are Russellville’s path to victory, and yet the stiff-legged Hornets would be in danger of faring even worse than they otherwise might on the Week 6 road trip if coaches emphasize nothing but ball-security and playing a cautious game. Look for Dan Fox to order a few more simple “double-option” plays than normal at Russellville, and maybe – oh, the humanity! – call for a handful of rushes that aren’t option plays at all. That would allow the Crystal City offense to focus on hitting hard and playing with abandon, while keeping costly T/Os to a minimum throughout what could metamorphose into a long slog instead of a mismatch. PREDICTION: HORNETS 26, RUSSELLVILLE 8
Grandview Eagles at Herculaneum Blackcats
Yes, The Geek is embarrassed that an early version of this week’s Jefferson County Power Poll referred to HHS’s District rival Cardinal Ritter as “Lutheran North” just moments after apologizing to readers for the VERY same snafu in Week 5.
Much like POTUS 46’s “I see dead people” moment earlier this week, TGG can only protest to have had the Lutheran North Crusaders at “top of mind” when penning the Power Poll article, except unlike White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, your reporter will not repeat “top of mind” 26 straight times while glaring hatefully at everyone.
Herky wasn’t winning the line-of-scrimmage on most of its possessions at Hill Valley last week, making us think it could be another sluggish go-around for the Felines on offense. But if Grandview tuckers-out in the latter half as it did against Perryville, there won’t be much to hold Herculaneum back from snapping GHS’s short win streak in the conference rivalry. PREDICTION: BLACKCATS 28, EAGLES 16
St. Pius Lancers at Cuba Wildcats
Will the Lancers execute a “whitewash” in Week 6, or just another methodical victory such as we’ve gotten accustomed to seeing against the Baylesses and Bishop DuBourgs on Hill Valley’s schedule? With the freedom to call any plays and still whip the cold Cigars on Friday night, it will mostly come down to whether Dabrein Moss has already signed a college scholarship offer. PREDICTION: LANCERS 44, CIGARS 7
Perryville Pirates at Jefferson Blue Jays
Jefferson is still the favorite to win in Week 6 even if Grandview and JHS are destined to have a tight defensive battle in 2022. Perryville’s main weapon over the last 2 weeks has been its Varsity numbers, while JHS – if nothing else – has about 45 well-coached and enthusiastic kids representing Blue Jay Nation. PREDICTION: BLUE JAYS 19, PERRYVILLE 14
Parkway South Patriots at Seckman Jaguars
TGG apologizes to Park Place Parkway schools for whiffing on the Patriots’ marked improvement. Still, the Jaguars just clobbered an improving Class 5 side 49-14, and outplayed Mississippi Magazine’s pick in doing so. PREDICTION: JAGUARS 38, PARKWAY SOUTH 14
Northwest Lions at Oakville Tigers
Oakville’s revival in 2022 is about 40% talent and 60% coaching and attitude, which means Cedar Hill won’t be as out-manned in Week 6 as recent scoreboards may make it appear. PREDICTION: OAKVILLE 35, LIONS 17
DeSoto Dragons at Fredericktown Blackcats
The 1-4 Fredericktown Blackcats have been laboring against a very tough schedule, arguably harder than what DeSoto has had to face thus far. PREDICTION: FREDERICKTOWN 27, DRAGONS 13