It’s the ninth and final week of the football season before district tournaments begin, and there’s plenty at stake for Northwest and Seckman High Schools.
The Lions and Jaguars are both in Class 6 District 1. Undefeated Jackson High (8-0) is in position to claim the No. 1 seed; the Indians can clinch the top seed with a win at Festus High (7-1) on Friday night. Despite losing 49-14 to Seckman (6-2) in week 3, Northwest (7-1) is seeded second and the Jaguars are fourth. Oakville High (6-2) is the third seed and is at the Lions in Cedar Hill on Friday. Lindbergh High (2-6) is seeded fifth.
Any combination of wins or losses by the top four teams could scramble the current seeds. Jackson has beaten Seckman in the district final the last two years.
Northwest and the Oakville Tigers met on consecutive weeks last year. The Lions won 31-27 at Oakville in week 9 and the Tigers ousted Northwest in districts, 28-7.
“There is playoff positioning, but like the other games it’s 0-0 until the game starts,” Northwest head coach Scott Gerling said. “Besides seedings and bye weeks, we know this will be one of the toughest, if not the toughest, game we’ve had so far. The past few years (Oakville head coach Mike Genge) has made them a tough team and his guys are good at misdirection, RPO, with a decent passing game. They’re hitting receivers at critical times. His defense plays extremely hard. We’ve run the ball pretty well this year and they’re going to overload that and try to take that away from us.”
With the exception of Seckman, none of the Lions’ other opponents have been able to take away their passing or running games. Gerling favors an equal approach to the offense and in a 62-9 win at Parkway Central (1-7) on Oct. 17, they were almost dead equal with 240 passing yards and 250 rushing yards. It’s the second time this season Northwest has scored 62 points in a game and the Lions are averaging 47.5 points per game. They’ve scored more points than they’ve run plays.
“It was probably our best collective effort,” Gerling said. “We had eight different kids score (touchdowns). We got a defensive TD and some nice returns on special teams.”
Junior QB Cohenn Stark started the scoring onslaught against the Colts with a 22-yard TD run with 9:11 left in the first quarter. The PAT by sophomore kicker Cayden Richard was no good and the Lions led 6-0.
Central’s Colin Applebaum scored on a 3-yard run with 3:55 left in the first and also missed the PAT.
Tied 6-6, Stark threw two short passes to senior wide receiver Omarion Frazier, who turned both into long TDs. Frazier took a pass from Stark at the line of scrimmage on a bubble screen 83 yards for the first TD with 3:23 left in the first quarter. Then, Stark zipped a short pass over the middle on a slant that Frazier carried 53 yards for a score. Richard nailed both extra points and the Lions were up for good at 20-6.
Frazier had 3 catches for 147 yards and Stark completed 7-of-9 passes for 239 yards and three TDs.
Stark opened the second quarter with a 56-yard TD pass to Adam Banks.
Frazier was a freshman at Northwest and transferred to Hazelwood West for his sophomore year. He came back to Northwest as a junior. He said he’s getting open because the offense has so many weapons. Frazier and Stark practice the same plays and routes all the time, including the bubble screen.
“We called it a fake fumble play because Cohenn dropped the ball, picked it up and threw it,” Frazier said about his 83-yard TD. “I saw a guy coming at me full speed, made him miss and I had Brendan Murphy blocking for me. (On the 53-yard TD), it was an RPO slant, right up middle. I thought I was going to have to stiff-arm one guy, but pretty much was untouched to the end zone.
“We have got so many weapons right now. Cohenn does Cohenn things. I’m comfortable and know we can move the (first down) sticks. We don’t have any special signals. We go through the exact plays in practice.”
In last year’s win over Oakville, Frazier led the Lions with seven receptions, one for a TD.
“It’s going to be a great game,” Frazier said of Friday’s matchup. “We’re happy to play them because it’s going to be a dogfight. Seckman punched us in the mouth and we weren’t ready for it. Yes, now we are.”
Will Murphy and Drew Spratt each had TD runs of 19 yards in the second quarter as the Lions increased their lead to 41-6. Parker Russell kicked a 37-yard field goal for the Colts as time expired in the first half.
Northwest’s 35-point lead led to a running clock under the mercy rule in the second half, and even with most of the starters out of the game, the Lions scored the last 21 points, all in the third quarter. Kayden Newbold had a 14-yard run and on the Colts’ next drive, Kaleb Belcher (the defensive starters were still in the game) returned an interception 69 yards for a TD. Backup QB Braydon Jones capped the scoring with a 22-yard run. Richard was 8-of-9 on his PATs and has made 45 this season.
“(Belcher) got into a good position, went up and high-pointed the ball and took off down the other sideline and it was fun watching his teammates get out in front as he hit another gear. He was pretty much untouched,” Gerling said of the pick-six. “We had a slow start on the defensive side. We didn’t handle their opening drive and gave up a couple of plays. We were good for the rest of the game.”
Seckman routs Hazelwood W.
Seckman can also score points in bunches and after a 54-12 win over visiting Hazelwood West High (0-8) on Oct. 17, the Jaguars are in position to clinch their fifth consecutive Suburban Conference (Orange pool) title. With a win at Webster Groves High (3-4, 3-2) on Friday night, Seckman will finish 6-0 in the pool. Oakville and Northwest are 4-1 in pool play, so that winner and a Jaguars loss would create a tie.
“They’ve always played us tough and they’ll make us work and hammer on the details,” Seckman head coach Nick Baer said of the Statesmen.
The Jaguars jumped on the winless Wildcats for a 23-0 lead after one quarter. Mason Fowler scored on 4- and 30-yard runs; Nick Weidler scored on a 34-yard pass from QB Brody Kube; a defensive safety scored 2 points and three Ben
Bajric PATs added another 3.
The Wildcats showed signs of life with TD runs in the second quarter, but Seckman matched them and then some with a Quinn Mattingly 15-yard run, Mason Fowler 3-yard run, an 11-yard pass from Kube to Cameron Benson and a 21-yard field goal by Bajric as time expired in the half.
It was Seckman’s first FG in seven years.
“That gave us the running clock in the second half,” Baer said.
With 107 yards passing, Kube became just the third Jaguar QB to go over 1,000 in a season. Sam Trammel set the record of 1,610 in 2009. Kube is one TD shy of Trammel’s single-season record of 15.
Fowler had 104 of his team’s 218 yards on the ground.
“Breakout game of his senior season. He did a great job of following his lead blockers,” Baer said.
Fox and Windsor lose
After beating Mehlville High in the season opener, Fox High School has dropped its last seven games after losing 35-12 to visiting Parkway North High (7-1) on Oct. 17. Antonio Jarillo and Chandler Price each had 1-yard TD runs for Fox’s points.
Despite their record, the Warriors are seeded fourth out of seven teams in Class 5 District 1. However, they have a tough week 9 matchup at Ladue (6-2) on Friday night.
Windsor began the season 3-1, but has dropped four in a row after falling 39-22 to Fredericktown, which was 0-7 entering the Oct. 17 game.
The Owls have one of the most effective ground games in the county. They rolled up 398 yards against the Blackcats and Logan Wilson had 205 yards on 22 carries. It’s the second time this year Wilson has gone over 200 yards and he leads Windsor with 1,127 for the season.
The Owls host Bayless (1-7) on Friday night and are currently seeded seventh in Class 4 District 1.