The Tigers beat the Dragons in the regular season and district tournament in 2018, but De Soto snapped a two-decade’s long losing streak against Festus this year with a 38-20 victory on Sept. 27. The two Mississippi Area Football Conference Red Division rivals play in Festus on Friday.
The other 10 football teams in Jefferson County face the same fate: win or pack up for the season. There are other 2019 rematches with Jefferson playing at St. Pius X in the Class 2 District 1 playoffs. The Lancers (7-2) beat the Blue Jays (4-5) in an I-55 Conference contest on Sept. 20. Crystal City (0-9) has the unenviable task of traveling to Ste. Genevieve to face Valle Catholic (8-1) for the second time this year. The Hornets were shut out by the Warriors 68-0 on Sept. 20.
Festus ended the regular season with a 31-7 loss to Troy Buchanan in Lincoln County. But the Tigers picked up 20 bonus points because they are a Class 4 school and the Trojans are in Class 6.
Troy ran the ball 59 times for 319 yards against a banged up Festus defense. Max Mitchell had two touchdown runs of 1 yard in the first quarter and threw a 31-yard TD pass in the third to give the Trojans a 24-0 lead before the Tigers got on the scoreboard. Landon Bradshaw followed up the TD pass with an 89-yard kickoff return for a score.
“We had no quit. We were down 17-0 to a Class 6 school at halftime playing with a makeshift offensive line,” Festus head coach Russ Schmidt said. “We were down our starting left tackle and a guard and we went toe-to-toe with them and that was a huge accomplishment.”
Schmidt said his team’s best drive of the game was its first one of the second half, but it stalled on a turnover on downs. On the positive side, he said the team didn’t sustain any injuries.
“We got out of it healthy,” Schmidt said. “I don’t know what you gain playing that game. You risk kids getting hurt.”
Schmidt said the Tigers are dropping Troy and have added Ste. Genevieve, Farmington and St. Charles West in its next cycle.
“If you play the big schools the first couple weeks of the season that’s where you get the bonus points,” Schmidt said.
In the first meeting against De Soto, Briar Fischer tossed three touchdown passes for the Dragons. Fischer was named the MAFC Red first-team QB and has passed for 1,627 yards and 14 touchdowns this year. But Fischer is prone to turning the ball over with 21 interceptions in the past two years.
“Our secondary is playing better but we didn’t get a pass rush on them the first time we played them,” Schmidt said. “If we can get Briar under duress, you force potential mistakes.”
The only running back who’s questionable for Festus this week is Chalmer Brickhaus, who’s been nagged by a back injury all year. Jaden Rystrom returned to the lineup two weeks ago against St. Francis Borgia and the running back gives the Tigers that extra gear out of the backfield.
Thirteen Tigers have rushed at least one time this season. MAFC first-team fullback Jack Robinson leads Festus with 720 yards and 11 TDs. Rystrom is averaging 9.7 yards per carry in gaining 415 yards.
“Our goal is not to be as sloppy as we were the first time we played them,” Schmidt said. “All the things they did right, we did wrong.”
Sophomore Cole Rickermann has started just three games under center for the Tigers, but Schmidt said he’s not concerned about his lack of experience when the playoffs begin. Rickermann has thrown four TDs in 55 pass attempts.
De Soto’s play has been streaky with two losses to open the season, followed by four wins in the middle, and now three defeats. In their 20-14 loss to Potosi last week, the Dragons managed just 14 yards on the ground. De Soto head coach Chris Johnson said he’s had to use a running-back-by-committee approach all year. Dominic Punjani leads the team with 302 yards.
“We started that way and we’re ending it that way,” Johnson said. “We’ve rotated multiple bodies. We didn’t have the luxury of having a true No. 1 tailback.”
That puts more pressure on Fischer, who’s very capable of using all of his receivers on any given night. Ethan Reissing leads the team with 26 receptions for 365 yards. Briar’s younger brother, Levi, Kameren Brooks and John Whited have all caught 19 passes.
“He was getting the ball out good and putting the ball on the receivers when they made their breaks,” Johnson said of Briar’s performance against Potosi. “It’s a matter of him relaxing and letting the game come to him. Sometimes he presses a little bit and does more than he needs to. That’s a good quality at times because he wants the team to be successful.”
During the current losing streak, Johnson said De Soto hasn’t made the plays it’s needed to win.
“There were two or three good opportunities to make plays that we didn’t hit on in each (loss),” he said. “We’ve given up what seems to be opportunities to other schools we weren’t giving up in the middle of the season.”
Against the Trojans, the Dragons played well on defense and then gave up two big passes down the middle of the field to their tight ends.
“We’re playing good defense and then we give up a cheap (pass catch) on a guy who’s wide open,” Johnson said. “The effort was better, but it hurts when you’re battling hard and they move the ball 80 yards and punch it in.”
De Soto won the turnover battle against Festus in the first meeting. The Dragons have been opportunistic defensively in 2019 with 14 fumble recoveries and seven interceptions. Chase Greenlee leads the team with three fumble recoveries and Reissing has three picks.
“That’s going to be the No. 1 thing they’re going to emphasize is the turnovers last time were in our favor,” Johnson said referring to the Tigers. “When we were winning games, the turnover margin was in our favor. The last couple of weeks it hasn’t gone that way.”
Johnson doesn’t put much stock in living off what happened in the first game.
“It’s a matter of not letting yourself fall victim to the previous game,” he said. “Every game is uniquely different. You don’t know when you’ll get a touchdown return or big interception. You have a better feel what you can do. On defense you have an idea what you held up against.”
Blue Jays seek redemption
If Jefferson falls to St. Pius on Friday, it will be the Blue Jays’ first losing season since 2014 and the first one under head coach Alex Rouggly.
Jefferson had won three of its last four games until dropping a 41-28 decision to St. Vincent last week in its district tuneup. The Blue Jays (4-5) led the I-55 game 28-20 at halftime but were shut out in the second half.
“We were able to execute for the most part on the offensive side of the ball in the first half,” Rouggly said. “Our kids made some big plays during big-time moments. Defensively, we struggled tackling, and at moments covering during the first half.”
Quarterback Drew Breeze led Jefferson with 107 yards on just five carries. Breeze scored on a 55-yard run in the second quarter and passed for two TDs and 222 yards.
Brandon Perry had 37 yards on nine rushes and scored from 8 yards in the first. Perry caught four of Breeze’s passes for 75 yards and a 56-yard score in the second. Dylan Duncan snared four passes for 86 yards and was on the scoring end of a 63-yard pass in the second.
The game’s turning point came in the third quarter when Perry picked up a first down on fourth-and-short, but before the whistle ended the play, Perry was stripped and St. Vincent took the fumble 72 yards the other way for a touchdown to tie the game 28-28.
“That seemed to take the wind out of our sails for the remainder of the quarter and was a pivotal moment in the game,” Rouggly said.
“We battled for four quarters against a good football team and had every opportunity to win the game, but unfortunately you can’t make mistakes in crucial moments against good football teams. We did just that throughout the second half, with turnovers, dropped balls and missed assignments. We have to move forward, plain and simple. We have no time to feel sorry for ourselves on the missed opportunity.”
That’s because the Lancers are bound to be cranky after losing a chance to win the I-55 title last week to Valle. The Blue Jays led St. Pius 7-0 in the first meeting, but their offense was contained after that.
“We have a very good St. Pius team to prepare for this week in the first round of the playoffs,” Rouggly said. “I fully expect our kids to continue to prepare the way they need to in order to be successful this week in practice.”
Hawks host Bulldogs
The last time Hillsboro met Sikeston in the playoffs was in 2016. The Hawks host the Bulldogs of southeast Missouri on Friday night in Class 4 District 1.
Micheal Keller shredded Sikeston that night for seven touchdowns and 447 yards rushing as Hillsboro ran away with a 72-46 victory. The Bulldogs enter Friday night’s game with a record of 3-6, the same as the Hawks.
The two teams have common opponents this year in Farmington and Jackson and both Hillsboro and Sikeston were blown out in shutouts against both teams. The Hawks enter Friday night on the heels of losses to the Indians and Poplar Bluff.
Austin Perez and John Bennett scored on short runs in the first quarter as Hillsboro led the Mules 14-0 after the first quarter. Poplar Bluff responded by scoring the next 33 points en route to a 39-26 win. Freshman Jaxin Patterson continued his tremendous all-MAFC Red first-team season for the Hawks with 200 yards rushing against the Mules. For the season, Patterson has gained 1,150 yards on 228 carries.