Crystal City, Festus and Seckman all host district football playoff games Friday, and for the Tigers and Jaguars the championship is on the line.
Festus, the No. 1 seed in Class 4 District 1, improved to 8-2 in beating No. 4 North County (7-4) 35-10 Nov. 8 and hosts second-seed Perryville (10-1). Seeded first in Class 6 District 1, Seckman (10-0) handled No. 5 Oakville (5-6) 34-7, outscoring its Suburban Conference Orange pool rival 64-7 in two meetings this fall. The Jaguars host No. 2 Jackson (8-2) in a rematch of last year’s district final.
Crystal City is seeded second in Class 1 District 1 and climbed to 5-5, bashing No. 7 Malden (1-9) 36-8 at JJ Commerford Stadium. The Hornets host No. 3 Charleston (7-3) Friday in the district semifinals. Unbeaten and top-seeded St. Vincent (10-0) takes on fourth-seed Van-Far (8-2) in the other semifinal.
Led by senior quarterback Nolan Eisenbeis, the Hornets have scored 76 points in their last two games. Against Malden, Eisenbeis threw two touchdown passes, ran for another two scores and returned an interception 67 yards for a TD. For the season, he’s thrown 14 touchdown passes and only two interceptions.
Crystal seized control of the game from the outset. Junior Landyn DeRousse intercepted a pass on the Green Wave’s first play from scrimmage, and Eisenbeis tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to freshman Skyler Fowler, then ran the ball in for two points to give the Hornets a quick 8-0 lead.
“We run typical pass concepts and any team that watches film on us, they’re going to double-team Evan Wolfe,” Eisenbeis said. “I saw Skyler over the middle and he made a great catch in the back of the end zone.”
Malden went for it on fourth down to start the second quarter and Eisenbeis made his pickoff.
“Coach said (to) sink back and watch for a slant (pass), and sure enough, they threw it,” Eisenbeis said. “I had to weave in and out of traffic (to score).” The Hornet standout had another interception later and finished with 10 tackles, seven solo.
Malden cut its deficit to 14-8 in the second quarter but could get no closer. Eisenbeis connected with junior London Patton for a 20-yard TD, and after DeRousse ran in the conversion, Crystal led 22-8.
“It was second-and-short, and I told coach we should take a shot and he said, ‘Let’s throw a fade to London,’” the QB said. “It was a bad throw and great catch.”
Eisenbeis salted the game away with scoring runs of 39 and 30 yards in the fourth quarter. He made sure offensive linemen David Parham, Trent Eisenbeis (his brother), Gage McPherson, Garrett Withers and Hayden Westbrook received their share of the credit.
“Those guys are awesome,” he said. “Everyone did their job. That’s what we talked about all week – do your job and trust your teammates. (Malden) ran a wildcat (formation) and counter plays, and trusting your teammates is a big part of stopping that.”
Tigers send Raiders packing
Sophomore Kamden Yates was explosive on both sides of the ball for Festus in the Tigers’ big victory over North County.
At running back, Yates led Festus with 144 yards on 13 carries and scored a touchdown. At cornerback, Yates returned an interception for a TD to give his team a 35-3 lead in the third quarter.
“He’s a great football player,” Festus head coach AJ Ofodile said. “He’s got such a big load on defense since we play so much (man to man coverage). So he gets a little fatigued and that cuts into his time running the ball. Tonight, we utilized him as much as we wanted and he showed why he’s special.”
The Tigers forced the Raiders to turn over the ball on downs on their first series. Then the hosts marched the other way for six points when Leauntae Williams scored from a yard out. Luke Wacker’s extra point made it 7-0.
In the second quarter, TDs by Yates and Nemo Ford made it 21-0. The Tigers increased their lead to 28-0 when senior quarterback Essien Smith hit senior Trey Lacey with a 34-yard scoring pass on the final play of the half. Smith finished with 59 yards rushing on 10 carries and completed five of eight pass attempts for 73 yards.
“Our kids adjusted early and we were able to move the ball,” Ofodile said. “We weren’t shaken at all by what we hadn’t seen in practice. We spent two weeks preparing for some specific things, but they had a different plan the second time.”
Despite their lead never being threatened, Ofodile let his team know he wasn’t happy with how they finished. Festus committed multiple personal fouls late in the contest.
“Once it was 35-3, we decided the game was over,” the coach said. “We play North County sometimes multiple times (in a season), and there’s never been one time they quit or weren’t physically tough and prepared with wrinkles that challenge us. And we decided with more than a quarter left, we were going to start being silly and undisciplined. It tainted what should have been a really good night for us.
“If we’re going to do something special as a team, there’s a certain character that has to go with that. I was quite embarrassed. We’ve got good kids and we’re better than that.”
Jags brace for rematch with Indians
In the 10 games Seckman played in 2023 before the district final, they allowed 66 points.
Then Jackson came to Imperial and hung 55 points on the Jaguars to cart off the district title.
That was then. The 2024 Jaguars again wait for the Indians at 10-0 with a defense that’s allowed 21 points in the last four games.
Despite the back-to-back 10-0 records to this point, and four straight conference titles, Seckman head coach Nick Baer said his squad has had one goal since the clock hit zero last year.
“The district championship is our state championship,” he said. “(Being) 10-0 and hosting a district championship doesn’t guarantee anything. (But) I’m proud of our coaching staff and players to get back to this point.”
They got there with another methodical win over Oakville. Senior running back Brady Ambrose led the way with 202 yards on 21 carries. He had touchdown runs of 13 and three yards in the first quarter. Ben Bajric’s successful extra-point kicks made it 14-0 and that’s where it stayed until Ambrose ripped off a 73-yard TD run in the third quarter.
“(It was) another football game that was hard to win,” Baer said. “On our first drive we had the ball for eight minutes and got inside the 20 and couldn’t execute. Then we were stuck on fourth and 16 and (QB Brody Kube) and Kylar (Huckfeldt) connected for a first down for probably the biggest play of the game.”
Kube completed seven passes to six different receivers, for 93 yards.
“He took what the defense gave him and delivered the football,” Baer said. “That takes pressure off the run game.
“We’ve done a lot of mental preparation since the clock ticked zero last year. Everything we’ve done has led us to this game. The most important thing is (that) we walk off the field proud of the effort we gave.”
Junior defensive back Seth Maxwell led Seckman with nine tackles and senior linebacker Dominic Lograsso returned an interception 30 yards.
“The defense played fast and physical, like all year,” Baer said. “We limited the big plays and forced them to drive for first downs.”