One of the perks of covering prep sports is the access I have to the games, athletes and coaches.
It’s not the same as writing about a major college or professional sport, where you face a barricade of team and school officials and you need a slew of credentials to ask a few questions. It’s a big reason why I never entertained the idea of writing for a national audience. I wanted to be the sports editor of my hometown paper and cover the high schools where I lived. I was lucky enough to do that for a long time.
Not much has changed since my arrival in Jefferson County in 2016. The ADs and coaches are mostly happy to see the Leader at their games. I’ve grown comfortable with knowing what is just conversation and what’s being said on the record. You don’t last in this business otherwise.
On Friday night, the Festus football team beat visiting North County 35-10 in a Class 4 District 1 semifinal. For almost three quarters, the Tigers used an opportunistic defense and big plays on offense to build a 35-3 lead. But then they got sloppy, committing a series of personal fouls. The Raiders scored a late touchdown, but the outcome was never in doubt.
That didn’t matter to Festus head coach AJ Ofodile. Instead of patting his players on the back for a 25-point victory, Ofodile turned the postgame huddle into a conditioning drill. Players were lined up in the end zone and made to run and drop into a pushup position every five yards. He made them do it twice.
Afterward, Ofodile, a former NFL and University of Missouri player and coach, then gave his players an old-school lecture that reminded me of hard-boiled coaches from my playing days, and being dressed down by drill sergeants in the Army. Coaches in my day pulled you around by the facemask to make a point.
Since what Ofodile did was in front of R-6 administrators and parents, I can write about that. But I’m not going to repeat what I heard him say or other actions he took because that would violate the trust we’ve established. I would have told him during our postgame interview if I was going to cross that line.
I’m also not going to question Ofodile’s motives other than to say they will either work when a hard-nosed Perryville team comes to town for the district championship Friday, or his players will be crushed by what they were told. I’m betting you’ll see the Tigers at their best. More than one person has told me that if Festus wins its district, it’s going to ride all the way to Faurot Field and the Class 4 final next month, like Hillsboro did last season.
“There’s a certain class you have to carry yourself with at all times,” Ofodile said after he’d released his players. “And at the end, that’s what matters the most. It’s going to be a learning experience.”
The District 1 winner plays the winner of Gateway (10-0) vs. Pacific (6-5), in District 2, in the state quarterfinals.
Crystal City (5-5) and Seckman (10-0) are the other county football teams still alive. Adam Sims took over for Dan Fox as head coach of the Hornets this fall and has them one game from a district final for the second straight season. Crystal hosts Charleston (7-3) on Friday.
Nick Baer has worked wonders for the Jaguars. Seckman gets another chance to get the Jackson monkey off their backs in the Class 6 District 1 final in Imperial Friday. The Indians (8-3) put away the Jaguars with cool efficiency in this game last year. If Seckman can weather what is sure to be an early Jackson onslaught, they can win the first district football title in school history.
“It’s $6 for that kind of entertainment,” Baer said. “Come to the valley, grab some popcorn and a hot dog and watch some great football.”
One of Baer’s former players was in St. Charles Nov. 9 playing for Southeast Missouri State University. In fact, two former county stars were suited up for the 8-1 Redhawks, who were considerable favorites against the 4-5 Lindenwood Lions.
Cole Ruble, who set a boatload of offensive records as an all-state quarterback for Seckman, is a sophomore at SEMO and returned one kick for 13 yards as LU upset SEMO 24-12. Hillsboro 2024 grad Payton Brown had a breakout game on ESPN at running back for the Redhawks to open the season, but injuries have slowed him down since. Brown carried three times for six yards at Lindenwood and lost a fumble.
After cracking the starting lineup at linebacker as a freshman at Kansas State University last season, Hillsboro’s Austin Romaine (Class of 2023) has started all nine games this fall for the Wildcats (7-2) and leads them with 69 tackles to go with two sacks and two forced fumbles.
If Romaine – the prototype linebacker at 6-2, 242 – keeps trending in this direction, I don’t see how he isn’t drafted into the NFL in a couple of years.