With about three minutes to play in the first half of the Quad County Conference football game Sept. 4 between Bayless and the hosts from Grandview, R-2 officials made the decision to stop the contest.
The Bronchos were leading 16-0, and that became the final score when the Eagles forfeited the rest of the game. Grandview head coach Cory Hanger said stopping the game was the safest option on a night when game time temperatures were still around 100 degrees.
“We already had two kids getting EMT treatment and multiple others were about to have heat exhaustion,” Hanger said. “We had multiple kids say they were dizzy. We had punted, got a quick water break, and I could tell on our kids’ faces if we kept playing it was going to turn into a dangerous situation for us. I talked to the refs, coaches and administrators, and made the decision to stop it.”
A Class 1 school with a reported enrollment of 173 students, Grandview’s football team teeters on a fine line of being able to field enough players for the grind of a 10-game season. And when it does, it always means there’s little room for injuries because backups are either underclassmen, have to play out of position, or both.
In a 2016 I-55 Conference game against Jefferson, the Eagles were forced to quit the field because of attrition to its small roster. The rest of that season was scrapped, and Grandview rebuilt by playing a JV schedule in 2017.
Last season, the Eagles had their deepest, most experienced, talented team in decades, but injuries even caught up to that team oddly enough in the pregame warmups of the district championship.
It wasn’t just the heat casualties that have put Grandview’s season in jeopardy of a repeat of 2016. Senior running back Brock Poole was injured in the opening-season defeat to Louisiana. Hanger said Poole should return to the lineup this season. A senior starter on both sides of the line, Johnny Schmidt is one of those players a small high school greatly depends on, but Schmidt suffered a shoulder injury in the first quarter against Bayless and couldn’t return.
“We had freshmen and sophomores playing both ways and in that weather they’re not ready yet to handle what we were asking of them,” Hanger said.
Despite the strain to their manpower, the Eagles (0-2) head to Cuba (1-1) on Friday for a 7 p.m. kickoff in a QCC matchup. The Wildcats are a Class 3 school that received an influx of players this season when they began a co-op with Steelville. Hanger expects Grandview will dress 24 or 25 players for the game.
“We’re not having any talks about canceling any varsity games,” Hanger said. “We’re talking about practices that limit hits on kids, less padded practices, and more ways for them to recover with injury-prevention programs.”
Grandview activities director Tom Anderson was part of the decision-making process to stop the Bayless game.
“We’re going to have quite a few conversations about what our steps are moving forward and what we’re going to have on our checklist,” Anderson said the day after the game. “We will reach out to people who were around (Grandview) the last time this happened and give the coaches time to breathe before we start running through scenarios and consider our options before making a decision.”
Ground shakes under Lancer rush attack
St. Pius X rumbled for 536 yards on the ground and trampled host Mehlville 61-8 on Sept. 4. The Lancers improved to 1-1 this season.
The Brody and Cody Show will play weekly all fall at St. Pius. The two senior running backs feed off each other, and both take advantage of their unnatural athletic abilities. Both are big and physical and make opposing defenders think twice before lowering their shoulders. Shaver (5-11, 205) rushed 13 times for 247 yards (19 yards per carry) and scored 40 points when combining his six touchdowns and two 2-point conversions. Ervin (6-3, 215) averaged 16 yards on nine carries.
“Brody emerged as the savior for Cody late in the (2025) season when the wheels were tired,” St. Pius head coach Frank Ray said. “I hope this year Brody can take some more of that load off. He’s certainly capable.”
Shaver set the St. Pius record for rushing yards (3,002) last season, and after two games he’s ahead of that total. As a comparison, Shaver rushed for 334 yards after two games in 2025, and he has 415 so far.
“The scary thing is his average per carry,” Ray said. “He’s doing more on less carries.”
Opening the holes on the offensive line are senior Jackson Jercinovic (second team, all state tackle), junior Hunter Hylton (all state center), senior Lucas Reitzel, junior Carter Cain, senior guard Colin Spink and junior tight end Landon Mercer.
All three of junior quarterback Evan Eckrich’s completions were to junior receiver Harrison Ray, who gained 80 yards on the receptions. Harrison (6-2, 175) is the coach’s son.
“We threw in the first quarter, and that’s the downside of a game like that,” Ray said. “Evan had good command of the ball, and Harry was catching everything, and then you realize we’re done throwing for the night. Less can go wrong running the ball. Especially with the county’s QB saga right now. There’s always a chance Evan takes that big hit, so give it to the big guys and let them do what they do.”
Ray said the Panthers only crossed the line of scrimmage on offense four times and had negative yards rushing. Junior defensive lineman Lynnden McCoin has led the Lancers, who had eight sacks and even more tackles behind the line, in tackles in both games. Sophomore linebacker Javi Pulido led the defense in snaps.
St. Pius opens its home schedule in a new stadium Friday at 7 p.m. against Priory (1-1).
“They’re a proud team and school and they have a great athlete at quarterback,” Ray said.
Dragons beat the heat, Perryville
As activities director and head football coach at De Soto, Russ Schmidt had to help all of the coaches of fall sports navigate their way around the oppressive heatwave that stayed locked into the area all last week.
As for the football team, Schmidt held practice outside from 5:45 to 6:45 a.m., but the special teams work was done inside. Schmidt said he regrets having done that because Perryville visited on Sept. 3 and blocked a Dragon punt in the first quarter.
The special teams gaffe didn’t produce any points for the Pirates, while De Soto’s offense cooked in the heat and scored the most points in a game since Schmidt took over four years ago. The Dragons improved to 1-1 after beating Perryville (1-1) 54-32.
“After the blocked punt, it became a field position game, and the scoreboard reflected that,” Schmidt said. “With the heat limiting how we could prepare, I told them, whoever maximized their time more efficiently would win a football game.”
De Soto begins its Mississippi Area Football Conference schedule Friday at 7 p.m. in Bonne Terre against North County. The Raiders (0-2) have won the last nine meetings, and beat the Dragons in MAFC and District 1 games last year.
“To say we want to beat them is an understatement, and we’re excited to go compete against them and their new head coach (Wyatt Compton),” Schmidt said.
Jags set school record with 71 points
One week after losing star QB Brody Kube for the season with an injury, Seckman set a school record in scoring Sept. 4 when it thrashed visiting North Point Wentzville 71-35.
All but seven of the 106 combined points were scored in the first three quarters.
Thrust into the starting job at QB, junior Cohner Baer threw two TD passes against the Grizzlies before the first quarter was half over. The Jags led 35-0 in the second quarter before North Point got on the scoreboard. The record amount of points was necessary to stay ahead of a blistering Grizzly passing attack led by QB Alex Graham, who threw five TDs.
“North Point’s a good football team,” Seckman head coach Nick Baer said. Cohner is his son. “They have a very capable offense. They can score in bunches. We couldn’t deliver that final blow on defense, and we had to keep scoring.”
The offensive contributions for the Jaguars were many. Senior Nick Weidler had a TD reception of 37 yards in the second quarter, and a pair of 13-yard TD runs in the third. Weidler accounted for about 100 yards. Junior RB Jaxon Jablonski caught a 72-yard TD pass in the first quarter, had TD runs of 10 and 61 in the second, and finished the game with 255 yards of offense. Junior RB Trey Conner’s 62-yard TD run capped the first-quarter scoring, and Conner rushed for 147 yards.
Setting a record in scoring doesn’t diminish what Kube’s loss means to Seckman, now and when the Class 6 District 1 tournament arrives.
“We miss Brody,” Nick Baer said. “When you lose a three-year guy who was a leader for our team, it hurts. You replay the decisions as the coach on how it got to that point. It’s just an unfortunate part of the game. The hardest part was getting ready for the next one and the next guy up was Cohner. He has been our lower-level QB the last two years. I never raised him to be the QB, but it was a natural fit in what we do. The plan was for him to take over for Brody his senior year and that was moved up.
“Anytime you’re starting a new QB, you’re looking for easy reads, getting the ball out quickly, and we did that to Nick (Weidler) and Logan (Harris). We’re not expecting Cohner to replace Brody’s production. We’re relying on 22 guys to raise their production.
“Brody stepped up (last) week and supported Cohner. We made (Kube) the QB coach. I stepped back and tried to be more of his dad. I wanted to make sure Cohner knew he wasn’t going to win or lose the game for us.”
Seckman kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday at Lindbergh against the hungry, winless Flyers (0-2). This is the first time the two schools have met in football.
“We know they’re a blueblood,” Nick said. “They’re going to be hungry to get off an 0-2 start. It’s going to be a wild game. It comes down to execution in our technique and scheme, and we need to be the more physical team.”