Kickoff 2026 ended up in the Fox end zone after Mehlville returned the season-opening kick for a touchdown at Gerald O’Connor Field in Arnold.
But behind new quarterback Jude Pribish, the Warriors quickly responded to the special teams gaffe with an offensive outburst Aug. 28 that concluded with a 49-23 win over the Panthers.
“We did miss our location on the kick and our cover team didn’t locate the football,” Fox head coach Brent Tinker said. “We’re tweaking our kickoff. I thought we had a good week one. Mehlville’s fighting their own battles, and we were able to play a lot of kids.”
A senior, Pribish had been playing running back the previous three years, but in high school football, the best athlete usually ends up under center. Pribish rushed for 75 of Fox’s 300-plus yards on the ground. He completed four of five passes for 79 yards, including a 42-yard touchdown strike to Robbie Twitchel.
“I thought Jude did a great job of managing Friday night,” Tinker said. “The Friday lights aren’t new to him. We talked about making good decisions and not trying to save the world. I thought he looked really comfortable. He was a calming presence.
“We think Robbie’s a good player. It goes back to staying as multi-faceted as we can. Jude’s mechanics in the backfield were nice, and we got over the top on them. One of the things we wanted to do was take advantage of opportunities like that.”
Ryan Joggerst and Jacob Edwards each had 70 yards rushing for the Warriors. Joggerst had first-half TD runs of 4 and 45 yards, and on defense where he plays linebacker, he had five tackles. Cole Theobald led Fox with eight tackles, four for a loss, and scored a rushing TD in the first half.
“He’s been on the field a long time,” Tinker said of Theobald. “Strong. Talented. Successful wrestler. We think he can be a disruptive force. He played banged up last year. He had a ton of energy when it was time. We need a big season from him.”
Backup QB Jace Nichols threw a 23-yard TD pass to Cam Cox in the third quarter, and then Nichols called his own number for a 19-yard scoring run in the fourth.
“We went into the game, trying to figure out how to rotate a lot of kids,” Tinker said. “We leaned fairly heavily into our sub plan at the half.”
Fox travels to Cedar Hill on Friday night to play Northwest, which is 1-0 after beating Francis Howell Central 26-13 in its opener. The Warriors (Green) and Lions (Orange) are both in the Suburban Conference, but in different pools.
Physically, Pribish and Lion senior QB Cohenn Stark are almost mirror images of each other. In the win over the Spartans, Stark had a 16-yard TD pass, 90-yard interception return for a TD and two fourth-quarter TD runs that put the game away. Stark rushed for 160 yards and scored four TDs in a 48-20 win over the Warriors in 2025.
“The biggest thing is we’re really excited,” Tinker said of the matchup. “We like our group. It’s awesome time. You get to play an old rival. Northwest has a bunch of kids who believe in themselves, and that’s a credit to their coaching staff. We’re doing the same thing over here.”
Jags topple Tigers for 10th time in a row
There’s just something about Oakville that brings out the best in the Seckman football team.
The Jaguars led the Tigers 13-0 after the first quarter, lost their starting quarterback to an injury in the second half, and turned to the coach’s son to take over under center for perhaps the rest of the season. The result was a 33-14 win – the 10th in a row over Oakville, which is in the Suburban Conference Orange pool, the one Seckman vacated this season in its move up two rungs to the Red pool.
“We got the ball first and had a decent drive, and Oakville got the ball and ran a fake punt, and we stopped them a yard short, and we took the momentum from there,” said Jaguar head coach Nick Baer, whose son, Cohner, replaced Brody Kube at QB after Kube broke his collarbone during a play.
With Seckman holding on to a 21-14 lead in the third quarter, Kube completed a swing pass to receiver Nick Weidler, who took it 75 yards to paydirt. The Jags shut out the Tigers in the second half, and RB Jaxon Jablonski scored his second TD of the game with three minutes. Jackson Rutledge had two interceptions, and the Seckman defense posted three sacks.
“We drew the play up at halftime. It was a great all-around performance by our defense,” Baer said.
Before Kube’s injury, Cohner scored on a 69-yard TD run in the first half. It was his first varsity carry.
“It was a fun moment,” Nick said. “He spent a lot of years chasing down Cole Ruble and Tommy Gibbar down the sidelines on a play like that. The sideline and stadium went wild.”
Kube’s loss can’t be understated. He was poised to add to the incredible numbers he put up as a junior. If Seckman stays alive in November, it’s possible he could return from the injury.
The Jaguars host North Point from Wentzville on Friday night. The Grizzlies fell 31-28 to St. Dominic in the opener for both teams.
The Missouri State High School Activities Association released class and district assignments on Aug, 28, and Oakville, Seckman and Northwest are all in Class 6 District 1. The Lions beat the Jags 14-7 in the 2025 districts.
“If we take care of business against teams in our district, we could find ourselves in a 2-3 (seeding) matchup against Northwest again,” Baer said.
Lancers lose opener in Indiana
A private school without a conference intent on scheduling the best teams available, no matter how far away, St. Pius X traveled to Ft. Branch, Ind., on Aug. 29 to play Gibson Southern.
The Titans had started their season a week earlier, and after they beat the Lancers 37-20, St. Pius head coach Frank Ray said it was apparent which team had the extra time to minimize mistakes and game plan. The Lancers were 0-3 last year before their playoff journey took them all the way to St. Joseph.
“They only had four penalties and no turnovers, so they cleaned up week one and that’s what good teams do,” said Ray, who guided the Lancers to the Class 2 Show-Me Bowl last year. “Now we have to prove we’re a good team.”
And they’ll have to prove it in Class 3 once districts begin. Because of the Championship Factor points St. Pius accumulated by reaching the state final, they moved up a class. The Lancers are in District 2 with Park Hills Central, Herculaneum, Lutheran South, Potosi and St. Clair.
“It was the perfect situation, not outcome,” Ray said about playing Gibson Southern, which won the Class 3 state title in 2021. “We don’t worry about those right now. We played a state contender, a larger school. We battled them for four quarters.”
St. Pius amassed 416 yards of offense; 248 rush, 168 pass. Senior RB Cody Shaver carried the ball 22 times for 143, scored two TDs and had a two-point conversion. Senior RB Brody Ervin had 10 rushes for 63 yards.
Junior QB Evan Eckrich completed 6-of-15 passes for 168 yards. Junior receiver Harrison Ray caught three passes for 137 yards (45.7 yards per catch), including an 82-yard TD. On defense, Lynnden McCoin led the Lancers with 10 tackles, and Shaver flipped sides of the ball and had seven tackles and a sack.
“In the second half, our pass protection faltered a little,” Ray said. “They knew we were going to throw. This was a unique game because there was a game before us. The travel itself is not bad. The (players) are used to that. But it was a different setting.”
St. Pius travels to Mehlville on Friday night. Then the Lancers have their home opener on the school’s new football field on Sept. 11 against Priory.
“That new field is a blessing, but we’ve only practiced for a week on it without stripes,” Ray said. “There’s some logistical challenges to that, like in the kickoff and passing game, where you can’t get the spacing right.”
Hawks thump Indians in their first meeting
Kennett traveled to Hillsboro on Aug. 28 to play the Hawks in the first meeting between the schools.
Already playing as a smaller Class 3 school, the Indians ran into a Hillsboro (Class 4) squad that functioned equally well on offense, defense and special teams, got measurable contributions by just about everybody who got on the field, and ran away with a 48-6 win.
The two teams will start the 2027 campaign in Kennett.
“Overall, there are things to work on, but we played a complete game,” Hillsboro head coach Bill Sucharski said. “We had an interception returned to the (Kennett 1-yard line), so that’s like a TD.”
RB Jadyn Rice scored after the INT return and led the Hawks with 71 yards on the ground. Rice also had a two-point conversion.
Aiden Fleming and Cody Reese alternated series as Hillsboro’s QB, and Sucharski doesn’t see that changing until one of the two clearly grabs the reins. Fleming threw two TD passes, Reese completed 5-of-8 passes for 69 yards and a TD.
Auston Ross caught one of the TD passes, and he returned a punt for a TD. Auston and his brother, Preston, combined for five receptions for 85 yards.
“We put Auston and Preston back in punt return, and they (Indians) kicked it to our defensive left. Austin caught it around midfield, we set up a return, the kids got good blocks, and he was able to get to the edge and take it the house,” Sucharski said.
On the QB jockeying, Sucharski said, “We haven’t done it much here, but both deserve to play. If one begins to separate, they’ll have a chance to get more snaps.”
D-lineman Kyryn Miller put pressure on the Kennett QB the whole game and batted down a pass.
“Their QB was moving around the pocket and couldn’t settle in all night,” Sucharski said.
RB Trey Zimmerly had two short TD runs.
Hillsboro travels to Hazelwood East (0-1) on Thursday for a 6 p.m. kickoff. Since the Spartans’ game against Hazelwood West was on Aug. 29, Sucharski was able to watch it live.
“Both teams were out of sorts,” he said. “West got on the board early. It was a 10 a.m. early start, so I don’t know if that affected things. West led 14-13 late in the half, and then got a big play. I like to think if we take care of the football and play physical and the kids execute the game plan, I like our chances to win.”