When the Missouri State High School Activities Association released its class and district assignments for the fall sports last week, the most noticeable changes were in Class 1 football.
In 2022, there were 60 Class 1 teams across eight districts. This year there are 36 schools in four nine-team districts.
Crystal City is the only football team, of the 12 in the county, that competes in Class 1. The Hornets are in District 2 and MSHSAA is stretching geography with the schools in that district: Tipton is a 185-mile drive from Crystal City, Harrisburg 161 and Russellville 168. If Louisiana and Chaffee play each other, the road team faces a 405-mile round trip.
Dan Fox, Crystal City’s head coach, said there are several reasons for the shrinkage in Class 1. Some schools have decided not to field teams. A few have moved up to Class 2, such as last year’s Class 1 champion, East Buchanan, and some have scaled back to eight-man football.
Even when the Hornets were struggling to keep enough players on their roster a few years ago, they didn’t want to play the eight-man game because there are no eight-man teams in the area.
“Last year, Class 1’s factor of two allowed us to play teams twice our size and the rest of the classes didn’t,” Fox said. “This year, it’s closer to 1.5, so MSHSAA helped us a bit.”
That doesn’t mean the Hornets aren’t familiar with any of the teams in their district. They beat Chaffee 38-7 in the opener last week and travel to Louisiana on Friday to play the Bulldogs, who they were 1-1 against last year.
While Class 1 is shrinking, the eight-man game is growing, going from four to eight districts and from 38 schools to 43. All but four eight-man teams are west of Columbia and most of them are in the northwest corner of the state.
In Class 2, I-55 Conference rivals Grandview, Jefferson and St. Pius X landed together in District 2 with Hermann, Lift for Life Academy, Montgomery County and Priory. St. Pius eliminated Grandview in last year’s Class 1 District 2 playoffs. I think both teams have the talent to contend in Class 2. When Jefferson and St. Pius meet on Sept. 15, defense will rule.
Herculaneum remains the only team in the county in Class 3, but moves from District 2 to District 1, where the closest teams are Ste. Genevieve and Park Hills Central. The Rebels were state quarterfinalists a year ago. The Blackcats, who gave a vastly-improved Windsor team all it could handle in a 7-6 Owls win last week, will host potential district opponent Fredericktown (0-1) on Friday and will be hungry to ring the victory bell for the first time this season.
There were no surprises for the county teams in Class 4, with Mississippi Area Football Conference Red Division rivals De Soto, Festus and Hillsboro lumped in District 1 with the usual suspects from Perryville, North County and Sikeston. Potosi moves up from Class 3 and replaces Farmington. The Dragons, Tigers and Hawks all won their opener. Hillsboro has won the MAFC Red the last two years. Circle Sept. 22 on your calendar, when Festus looks to break a four-game losing streak against the visiting Hawks.
Windsor also plays in the MAFC Red, and stayed in Class 4 District 2. The biggest advantage for the Owls is that two-time defending state champion St. Mary’s was booted upstairs to Class 5 as a result of MSHSAA’s competitive-balance formula.
The three Suburban Conference schools in Jefferson County compete in Classes 5-6. Fox remains in Class 5 District 1 with Cape Girardeau Central, a state semifinalist last year, and St. Mary’s. Seckman and Northwest are in Class 6 District 1 with Jackson, Lindbergh and Oakville.
Class 6 also restructured, going from four eight-team districts to eight districts with either four or five teams. District 1 is tough enough, but landing in District 2 would have been worse, with two-time defending state champ CBC ready to roll again.
So what stood out in Week 1 of football? The first thing I noticed as the scores trickled in was our teams kept winning. The Leader covers 13, including Eureka, and that group went 11-2. The Windsor-Herculaneum game cancels out one loss, because neither team deserved to lose. Northwest was humbled 49-3 by a state-caliber Sullivan team, but some day I’m going to write the Lions’ comeback story, just like the one I’m penning weekly for Crystal.
It wasn’t that long ago that I chronicled Seckman’s rise from the prep football ashes. It took a Jaguar to turn the Jaguars into winners, but that’s exactly what Nick Baer has done. Whether it’s his 1970s mustache, growing a mullet or wearing sunglasses, Baer is so cool I’d play for him. And smart, too. How many football coaches do you know who hold a doctorate degree? He did something last week no coach in this county has pulled off since Herculaneum’s Dave Cook in 2012: beat Valle Catholic. And Baer did it without the graduated quarterback Cole Ruble, the school’s greatest player ever.
That’s coaching.
Last week’s heatwave postponed opening day for most softball teams, but after going through scores from tournaments in Union, Sullivan and Rockwood Summit, it appears we’re in store for another exciting autumn on the diamond.
Can the Hilton sisters, Kaylee and Ashley, lead Hillsboro to the final four in Springfield? Will Seckman head coach Steve Bonastia take the Jaguars on a long playoff run in his final season, after many years of loyalty and pride he’s given to the program? Fresh off leading the Festus baseball team to its first state title in June, can Jeff Montgomery get the Tiger softball team to the promised land?
We’ll know soon enough; of all the fall sports, softball comes and goes the fastest. Check out our previews of the county softball teams this week.
Hornets dominate Chaffee after first series
Chaffee’s opening drive for a touchdown pinned Crystal City’s defense on its heels until it reached the end zone at J.J. Commerford Stadium.
The Red Devils shoved the Hornet defense down the field, converted on a fourth down and scored on a six-yard run by quarterback Carson Spies, with Levi McKinnie kicking the extra point.
“They came out and ran something completely different that we’d seen on film,” Crystal head coach Dan Fox said. “And while we think we have our kids mentally prepared, we had to make some adjustments. We don’t want to give up an opening scoring drive, but we made some adjustments and held them after that.”
Fox’s squad responded with 38 unanswered points for a 38-7 victory on Aug. 25 that sent a message to the Red Devils, who are in Class 1 District 2 with Crystal: See you in the playoffs.
The Hornets forged a breakthrough 8-2 season a year ago and return several seniors with tons of varsity experience and the talent to go with it. It was all on display on a hot night, starting with running back Kanden Bolton bolting for two quick touchdowns in the first quarter.
Bolton, last spring’s Class 1 state champion in the long jump, ran in his first score from 46 yards, with senior Caden Raftery plowing in for the two-point conversion and an 8-7 lead. On Crystal’s next series, Bolton dashed 66 yards to pay turf and another Raftery two-point conversion made it 16-7 with 8:46 left in the second quarter.
Bolton averaged 27 yards per carry and gained 135 yards. The Hornets rolled up 334 yards on 33 carries.
“KB is a special kid; he can take any play to the house,” Fox said. “We’ve got other kids, too. We spread it around. But KB’s the guy. He’s bought in since his freshman year and I love him to death.”
Sophomore running back Cohen Compton, not far behind Bolton in the speed department, extended Crystal’s lead to 22-7 with a seven-yard TD run, set up by Raftery’s dash through the Red Devil defense for 37 yards. Crystal QB Nolan Eisenbeis’ two-point conversion pass fell incomplete. Compton finished with 58 yards on five carries.
The Hornet offense took advantage of good field position again, marched quickly inside the Chaffee 10-yard line, and went up 30-7 seconds before halftime when Eisenbeis connected with senior wide receiver Camden Mayes on a fade route for a 10-yard TD pass.
“I was just really excited we got that touchdown,” said Mayes, who was fourth in the 110-meter high hurdles and second to Bolton in the long jump at the state track and field meet in May. “We all did good things on the field.”
“To be honest, when I rolled back, I didn’t think there was a cornerback out there,” Eisenbeis said. “Cam sold him on a slant and broke out, and it was wide open. I could have thrown that ball anywhere and it would have been a touchdown. It was a great route.”
Fox said despite relying heavily on the running game last year, he’s tailoring the offense to what Eisenbeis and Mayes can do through the air.
“We’re trying to throw more,” Fox said. “This year Nolan is our QB and he can throw well, and Camden’s a good receiver. We’re going to try and spread teams out and not have to face nine or 10 guys in the box.”
Eisenbeis, who led Crystal with 12 tackles, called his own number and ran 11 yards for a touchdown in the opening minute of the second half. That allowed Fox to more quickly rotate backups into the game as the starters came off the field bathed in sweat. The “wet bulb” temperature at kickoff – which was moved back to 8 p.m. – was under the maximum threshold of 92.
With Chaffee going nowhere offensively, Crystal had a couple of chances to turn on the running clock under the 35-point mercy rule. Bolton recovered a fumble deep inside Red Devil territory, but the second-string offense couldn’t punch the ball in on fourth-and-goal.
“We were happy to get a lot of guys in,” Fox said. “It hasn’t been that way forever. In the past, our starters had to play the entire game because they had to learn. Our backups never got any better.”
The Hornets travel north to Pike County to play Louisiana Friday. The Bulldogs squashed Bowling Green 54-18 in their opener. Crystal and Louisiana played twice last year, with the Hornets winning at home 40-20 before the Bulldogs ended their season 28-24.