It was over by halftime. And thanks to the mercy rule set by the state, the clock kept running throughout the second half as St. Pius X kept building on what was a 70-0 shutout over visiting Cuba High School on Oct. 3.
The 0-6 Wildcats allow 56 points per game, and couldn’t stop the Lancers (3-3) on the ground or through the air. Junior RB Cody Shaver led St. Pius with 209 yards on 15 carries in one half of play. The Lancers substituted backups in the second half. Freshman Javier Pulido rushed for 91 yards in the second half.
“I won’t sit and pretend that Cuba isn’t having a down year,” St. Pius head coach Frank Ray said. “But what it is, games like this it’s easy for your kids to get sloppy and we had an issue earlier in the year where we played like that and it cost us games. It was an opportunity to take things for granted and we didn’t. Good teams beat bad teams badly.”
Shaver scored a TD from around 40 yards on the first play from scrimmage. It’s the second time this season he’s gone over 200 yards on the ground and his 1,134 yards leads the STL.
“The plan was to give him two quarters to do his damage and give other kids some Friday night looks and he rose to the occasion,” Ray said.
Sophomore QB Evan Eckrich completed 7-of-8 passes for 171 yards and TD passes to senior Jack Michaud and junior Dawson Litteral.
“He threw when we needed it,” Ray said. “If we ever got into a situation where our backs were against the wall, Evan threw us right out of it.”
The Lancers are at Miller Career Academy/with Vashon High School on Friday night. The game is being played at Gateway STEM High School in St. Louis. Miller is the first of two Class 5 schools St. Pius (Class 2) plays. The Lancers host St. Pius X (KC) (2-4) on Oct. 17. Wins against larger schools are rewarded with bonus points in the district standings. Currently, St. Pius is the third seed in District 1 behind Caruthersville High School (5-1, No. 1) and Jefferson High School (4-2, No. 2).
“Miller has great size, they’re fast on both sides of the ball,” Ray said. “They seem like a good mix of run and throw. They’re a solid team and they’ve beaten the teams they’re supposed to.”
Festus repeats as MAFC champ
The undefeated Tigers are 6-0 and wrapped up their title defense of the Mississippi Area Football Conference with a 46-21 win over North County High School in Bonne Terre on Oct. 3.
Festus is firmly entrenched as the No. 1 seed in Class 4 District 1. The Tigers are 4-0 against the teams they’ve played in the district, all of which are in the MAFC: Hillsboro High School (4-2, No. 2), De Soto High School (3-3, 4), Windsor High School (3-3, 5) and the Raiders (1-5, 7). Perryville High School (4-2, 3) and Sikeston High School (1-5, 6) are the other teams in the district.
Despite a comfy district standing, they face a meatgrinder in their final three games, starting with a trip to De Smet (3-3), the defending Class 6 state champions. Festus closes the regular season at home against Farmington High School (5-1), the No. 1 seed in Class 5 District 1, and undefeated Jackson High School (6-0), the top seed in Class 6 District 1.
QCC title still up for grabs
There’s a logjam atop the Quad County Conference with Grandview High School, Perryville High School and Jefferson all clocking in at 4-2 overall and 3-1 in league play.
The picture will start to come into focus after the Eagles visit the Blue Jays on Friday night. Perryville hosts Saxony Lutheran of Jackson in a nonconference game Friday before ending with games at Herculaneum High School (3-3, 2-2) and Cuba (0-3 in the QCC).
St. Vincent High School (3-3, 2-1) of Perryville is also in the mix, having beaten their crosstown rivals, and all three of the Indians’ remaining games are against Cuba, Grandview and Jefferson. The Blue Jays were shut out 35-0 against Perryville on Oct. 3.
Eagles top Blackcats in QCC game
Isaac Walker’s running style is as subtle as a sledgehammer. One look at Walker in his black-and-gold Grandview High School uniform, wearing No. 44, and it’s no mystery what kind of football player is underneath.
An injury kept Walker from getting his full share of carries at running back in recent weeks, although it didn’t stop him from making his rounds at linebacker.
But Walker was back to full speed when Herculaneum High School visited Oct. 3 for a Quad County Conference game. He contributed on offense, defense and special teams as the Eagles held off a Blackcat comeback attempt with a 36-26 victory that positioned Grandview at 4-2 overall and 3-1 in the QCC.
The Eagles are tied for first place in the conference with Jefferson High School (4-2, 3-1) and Perryville High School (4-2, 3-1). The Pirates would win any tiebreaker after they shut out the Blue Jays 35-0 Oct. 3 and having beaten the Eagles. Grandview is at Jefferson on Friday night.
The Blue Jays and Eagles used to be in the I-55 Conference together and have played every year since 2012. Jefferson is 13-0 all-time against Grandview.
After beating the Blackcats, Eagles head coach Cory Hanger discounted any notion that the Blue Jays being shut out in Perryville means they’re ripe for the picking. Grandview is currently seeded first in Class 1 District 2.
“We know what Jefferson’s capable of,” said Hanger, who is in his first year as head coach. “They’re a good football team and we’re going to have a great week of practice and trust each other.”
Walker said the Eagles need to take the momentum gained against Herky (3-3, 2-2) to Jefferson.
“This is a good confidence booster for us and hopefully we can carry that into next week,” he said.
Early in the first quarter, the Blackcats botched a punt attempt when Tanner Duncan couldn’t corral a high snap and was immediately rushed by Walker and junior Aaron Smith. Walker grabbed the loose ball near the goal line and scored a touchdown at 8:07. Smith booted the extra point and the Eagles led 7-0.
“Nothing special,” Walker said. “Me and Aaron Smith went up the A gaps, somebody smoked (the punter). The ball went over his head and he tried shoving it out of the end zone and I grabbed it and walked into the end zone.”
It was Grandview’s first fumble recovery of the season.
“We knew on punt we could get after them,” Hanger said. “As soon as their punter bobbled the snap, we had guys all over him. That touchdown gave us a great momentum boost. We did a great job of taking away what they like to do.”
The Eagles scored a TD in the final minute of the first three quarters. Senior quarterback Brendan Martin capped a drive with a 1-yard TD run on the final play of the first quarter. Smith’s PAT made it 14-0.
Martin intercepted Herculaneum senior QB Keaton Reeves in the second quarter, but then Blackcat defender Dallas Fritschle intercepted Martin. The Blackcats turned the turnover into eight points when RB Chase Luebbert scored on an 8-yard run and Duncan converted the two-point conversion on a pass from Reeves to make it 14-8 with 3:22 left in the half.
Fans who thought that was the end of the first half’s scoring and left their seats to go to the concession stand or rest -room missed two TDs in the final minute. Both teams showed they can throw the deep ball accurately. WR Cameron Brooks caught a 53-yard scoring strike from Martin and RB Wyatt Keim ran in the conversion, and the Eagles led 22-8 with 44 seconds remaining.
“We base a lot of our big plays from the back-side slant with all the flow we get going from motion,” Brooks said. “This week, especially with their corners playing seven yards off the ball, it’s one step, get inside and try and find that little green space. Brendan threw one heck of a ball. I saw it go through a tight window of their D-end’s arms and I was thankful I could grab it, break that one tackle and take it all the way.”
Reeves and Duncan answered with a 67-yard TD connection with 27 seconds to go, but the two-point conversion failed and it was 22-14 at halftime.
“We knew we were going to get that double move (from Duncan) and we still bit down on it,” Hanger said. “We cleaned that up at halftime. This is a great win and we’re very proud of them, but we have a bigger picture down the road and if we’re more disciplined we’re going to do great things this year.”
Herky took the opening kickoff of the second half and marched into the red zone. The Blackcats converted on a fourth-down pass to junior Chase Luebbert, but they picked up two penalties and were moved outside the 10-yard line. Gavin Feltmann caught a 15-yard TD pass from Reeves with 5:22 left in the third, the conversion pass failed and the Eagles held on to a 22-20 lead. The drive chewed 6:48 off the clock.
Walker’s 24-yard TD run and Smith’s PAT giving the Eagles a two-possession lead at 29-20 with under a minute left in the third quarter might just seem like any other TD in the boxscore. But for those who witnessed Walker fighting off Blackcats almost every step of the way won’t remember it that way. Walker led his team with 94 yards.
“I had to think to myself, ‘Don’t stop moving your feet.’ All my linemen blocked so well on that play and I lowered my shoulder and kept leaning forward until I got to the end zone.”
“That’s his style of football,” Hanger said. “He was doing that in the first two and a half games, but he’s hardly played offense at all the past two games because he was hurt trying to kick the ball. We felt like he was healthy enough to run the ball this week and we know teams do not like tackling him. We feel so confident in our offense when he’s healthy. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a running back who can turn 3- or 4-yard gains into 15 yards.”
Grandview recovered a Blackcat fumble at the end of the third, and Keim scored on a 4-yard run with 8:48 to play to make it 36-20. Herky missed a chance to pull within one score when Reeves’ 2-yard TD run with 2:14 to play was followed by an incomplete pass on the conversion.
The Blackcats are at Bayless High School (1-5, 0-4) in a conference game Friday.
“We knew Herky was going to be tough,” Hanger said. “They’re playing such a physical game right now. We hit on our guys all week, they had to be prepared for it. We did a great job of matching their physicality.”