Hillsboro piled up more than 500 yards of offense and intercepted five passes to rout visiting Sikeston 55-22 in the first round of the Class 4 District 1 playoffs Nov. 1.
The Hawks’ Auston Ross and Jackson Raye each had two picks and Aidan Roland added another as the Bulldogs (3-7), the No. 6 seed, played from behind the whole game. Hillsboro (No. 3) evened its record at 5-5 and visits No. 2 Perryville (9-1) Friday in the district semifinals.
Hillsboro head coach Bill Sucharski said his team has responded well after losing star quarterback Preston Brown for the season with an injury, with junior Braxton Chazelle filling in capably for Brown.
“We ran for 350 yards and anytime you can do both things (running the ball and creating turnovers), it’s definitely a team effort,” said Sucharski, who guided the Hawks to second place in the state in 2023. “Sikeston came out throwing 40 or 50 times. They made a couple big pass plays, one on the second play of the game that led to (a touchdown). Anytime a team throws as much as they do, they’re going to get stats. Our secondary has been tested the last two weeks.”
Injuries to Brown and the offensive line have hampered Hillsboro all year, although Sucharski said Micah Bacher and Mason Boyer could return to the OL.
“As many injuries as we’ve had, guys have had to play both ways,” he said. “We can’t look past any (opponent) because we have guys in new roles.”
In Perryville, the Hawks will face a team considerably different from Sikeston. The Pirates’ only loss was to unbeaten St. Vincent (9-0) in a game they led 19-0. Perryville’s only victory against a winning team this year was over Jefferson (6-4), but Sucharski said that’s misleading.
“They’ve beaten teams that might not have a winning record, but they’ve won by comfortable margins, so that means they’re a good team,” Sucharski said. “They’re very big. It’s a different environment because we haven’t played them in a while.”
The Pirates’ home field is natural grass. Sucharski said that won’t matter much because the Hawks practice on a grass field.
“In a sense, (if) we play on a grass field, it helps. I’m not sure what condition their field will be in because they’ve played some games with rain this year.”
In the other District 1 semifinal, top-seeded Festus (7-2) comes off its bye week to host No. 4 North County (7-3) in a rematch from their Mississippi Area Football Conference game. The Tigers blanked the Raiders 31-0 at home and won the MAFC. In that game, Parker Perry and Essien Smith split time at quarterback for Festus and each threw a touchdown pass. Trey Lacey caught three passes for 146 yards.
North County held on to beat four-seed De Soto (5-5) 31-21 in its first-round game. It’s the first time the Dragons avoided a losing record since 2018.
Blue Jays get big night from QB, who scores on first play
Cooper Frisk ran 73 yards for a touchdown on Jefferson’s first play from scrimmage, scored again in the second quarter, fired a touchdown pass to Noah Buehler and rushed for 252 yards in a 35-13 win over visiting Priory in the Class 2 District 2 tournament Nov. 1.
“We ran a QB sweep to the left (on the opening play),” Jefferson head coach Matt Atley said. “It was a formation we hadn’t run in six weeks and we modified it to get extra numbers. We knew it would be a good play.” Frisk’s second TD covered 28 yards and a third was from 38 in the third.
Running back Tyler Crader capped the scoring with a 51-yard scamper in the fourth. Crader rushed 17 times for 103 yards and had 11 tackles on defense. Landon Weiss had six tackles, including one for loss, and two interceptions.
“We’ve played inspired the last couple weeks,” Atley said. “We had been lethargic a couple weeks before. It’s a good time to have that (energy). You win (now) or you play basketball.”
Jefferson travels about two hours northwest to play No. 2 Bowling Green (9-1) in the district semifinals Friday. Atley said the Bobcats run the triple option.
“Their skill kids are bigger than their linemen,” he said. “They have a tight end who’s 6-6, 245 pounds. They’re a run-heavy team. They run the ball 90-95 percent of the time because they’re good at it. They get up to the line really fast, so if we’re not coached up well it could be a long night. (But) I think we can score points on them.”
Lancers pummel Eagles in Class 2 district
In a game between former I-55 Conference rivals, St. Pius X (5-5), the No. 4 seed, beat fifth-seeded Grandview (4-6) 42-7 at Father Dalton Stadium Nov. 1 in the first round of Class 2 District 2. The Lancers travel to top-seeded Hermann (7-2) on Friday. Wins by the lower seeds would mean an all-county district final of St. Pius vs. Jefferson.
Pius senior running back Justin Lehn took the game over in the second half and finished with 207 yards and three TDs.
“He was breaking long ones as the game went on,” Lancer head coach Frank Ray said. “Kids don’t want to tackle him after a while.
“Our kids offensively and defensively set the tone early. There were moments in the middle of the game we had to keep it under control. From mid-second to mid-third, Grandview was fighting hard. We didn’t let the game turn into something different.”
Ray said Hermann features 6-6 defensive end/wide receiver Daeden Hopkins, a four-star college recruit committed to Mizzou. Ray said road trips to Mississippi and Tennessee this fall have prepared his team for this game.
“We’re much younger than them, but that’s the case in most games for us,” Ray said. “Those road trips have helped us grow up and there’s no reason we can’t compete for a district title as well as anyone else.”
Although the Eagles’ season ended, head coach Jason Kimminau said he saw lots of growth.
“We went from being an inexperienced team, with guys playing out of position, (to) where we had some young guys who played a lot of varsity football,” Kimminau said. “It makes it hard when you play teams with our numbers and experience. We were down some guys. We were close to playing 11 both ways. That takes its toll. It was 21-7 until five minutes (left) in the third and we ran out of juice. They busted some big plays when we had short (possessions).”
Senior Jacob Hassos played on the varsity for Grandview for four years.
“I’m extremely proud of him leading the way for (our) talented junior class,” the coach said.
That includes Wyatt Keim, Tucker Rhinehart and Isaac Walker, all of whom should earn all-Quad County Conference honors.