If Troy Buchanan school officials find a wooden horse on their football stadium parking lot Friday morning, they might want to check and see what’s inside.
It could be filled with Wildcats, who’ve taken down all of the teams they’ve played from the Trojans’ conference in this decade.
Eureka travels north Friday at 7 p.m. to Lincoln County to play Troy Buchanan in the football season opener.
It’s the sixth year in a row that the Wildcats have kicked off their season against a team from the Gateway Athletic Conference South Division. Eureka, which competes in the Suburban Conference Yellow pool (the highest in the conference), has won the previous five meetings against the GAC South.
“Troy is a quality program. Like us, they have a long history of good football, and it’s an exciting week one matchup,” Eureka head coach Jake Sumner said.
Teams in the GAC are tough, but in Eureka’s world, the two squads that usually mean the difference between winning a conference or district championship come from within St. Louis County. A Class 6 school, Lafayette hammered the Wildcats 35-6 and won the Yellow pool last year. In another Yellow pool matchup, Garrett Anders caught a 52-yard touchdown pass against Kirkwood and Eureka led the Pioneers 21-17 after three quarters. Kirkwood quarterback Cooper Owens threw a fourth-quarter TD pass, and the Pioneers won 24-21. Cooper pierced the Wildcats for six TD passes in two games, the second being a 21-10 win in the Class 5 District 2 championship. Eureka finished the season 8-3. Kirkwood scored 70 points the next week against Farmington in the state quarterfinals before falling in the semifinals to state champion Platte County.
The Missouri State High School Activities Association will release class and district assignments for football on Friday. The Wildcats last won a district title in 2023.
Eureka tuned up for its trip to Troy by competing Aug. 21 at a jamboree against Lift For Life Academy, SLUH and Lindbergh, another member of the Yellow pool.
Patrick Hutchcraft graduated from Eureka in the spring, leaving Wildcat coaches the task of figuring out whether juniors Zac Kem or Rudy Lang would be the heir apparent. Sumner was somewhat coy about who had won the starting job for the opener, but he did say the competition is very close. Kem completed his only pass attempt last year for 22 yards.
“Rudy is 6-2, has good arm strength and has more of a prototypical QB build as a pocket passer,” Sumner said. “Very skilled and unique. Either one we feel strongly is going have a great season. They are both mobile, but Zac can run, has a strong arm, precise, fast, shifty, strong. They’ve been competing for the job all summer and one of the two will start and lead the offense.”
While there might be some uncertainty about who starts under center, there’s no such dilemma in the rest of the backfield, starting with senior Brandon Webb, who amassed about 1,000 yards of offense and led Eureka with 15 TDs last season. Webb could be the next 1,000-yard rusher in the team’s long line of them.
“Big physical back. Very explosive, quick feet,” Sumner said.
Juniors Curtis Harris and AJ White are perfect complements to Webb in the backfield. Harris is another back who’s capable of catching the ball out of the backfield. He gained 225 yards on the ground and scored six TDs.
“AJ’s not as big as Brandon, but he’s very explosive, quick feet,” Sumner said. “Curtis is very versatile. A strong, physical runner. All three are physical and fast who can be great weapons.”
A junior, Anders is back at wide receiver after catching 17 passes for a 23.5 average and four TDs. Other receivers are juniors Riley and Keith Major, who are brothers but not twins, Knox Smith, Chase Edmiston and senior Lincoln Rausch.
Sumner described the offensive line as a veteran group in some spots and youthful and hungry in others. Senior tackle Joe Scotino (RT, 6-5, 280) and sophomore tackle Michael Werges (LT, 6-5 305) both played in every game last season. The guards are both juniors. Kaden Duke (LG), and Charles Simons (RB) played as sophomores.
Seniors Noah McCollum and Collin Swingle will fill in on the OL as needed.
That’s because McCollum and Swingle are needed to anchor the line on defense. McCollum is coming off a first-team all-state season as a defender after making 53 tackles and five sacks. Sumner said McCollum has grown into a leader on and off the field in his fourth season on the varsity.
“He is so focused on helping us be the best team possible,” Sumner said. “He’s bigger, faster, stronger and is more driven.
McCollum has received an appointment to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point in New York.
“Only the highest-character people go there. He checks all of those boxes,” Sumner said.
“Collin is a physical hard-nosed team guy,” the coach added. “He’s one of those Eureka boys who rises to the level of the high standard here.”
On the DL are Webb and senior Benny Shaw. The linebacking corps is comprised of juniors Brody Alderman, Ben Mohesky and Luke Souhrada and senior Graham Johnson.
In the secondary are twin brothers Asanta (CB) and Ahmad Brown (S),who are juniors, senior Michael Millaway (CB/ WR), Edmiston, Rausch and Keith Major.
“They’re all interchangeable,” Sumner said.
Senior kicker Patrick Bradley made 45 extra points and two field goals last season. He’ll also be the punter. Swingle is the long snapper in both areas. And Rausch does some kicking too.
“There’s a lot of work to be done, we’re far from the team we need to be, but I think our boys have done a great job and have risen to the challenge,” Sumner said. “The puzzle pieces are there, whether we put them back together remains to be seen.”
Sumner is aware that the Wildcats are at the top of a lot of preseason polls.
“I look at the team in front of me,” he said. “I’d love to see how many times the No. 1 team in the preseason won state at the end of the year. Not many.”
Girls volleyball began season Thursday in O'Fallon
By Eureka girls volleyball standards, last season just wasn’t up to par.
The Wildcats lost their last three matches of the season. A four-set loss to Ursuline in the Class 5 District 2 quarterfinals put a cap on a 15-15-2 campaign. It was Eureka’s first non-winning season since 2011.
“We weren’t in a great headspace to end the season last year,” said Eureka head coach Jodie Fowler, who guided the Wildcats to the Class 4 state championship in 2018. “All roads lead to the same district for us.
“We’ve got a lot of new faces, but also the same faces that are returning. I’m very excited about the talent that we have in our gym. I’ve liked everything that I’ve seen so far. And I’m not just saying that, because I don’t believe in that. Our kids are going really hard. They’re holding each other accountable for rules that we put in place together. I made a comment, something like it was a little bit too chilly in the gym during camp week, and one of the seniors came over and said, ‘We don’t do that anymore. We don’t complain for no reason.’ And I was like, ‘Whoa, awesome.’ I’m here for this. I got excited. Our senior leadership this year is really remarkable.”
Senior Hannah Garrett was among the team leaders in 2025 with 188 kills and 59 blocks. Garrett is a four-year starter. Seniors Caroline Tenholder, Reese Rogers and Amanda Hein have been on the varsity for three years. Senior Maya Van Dyke missed last season with a knee injury.
“She came back and tried out this year and earned a spot on the team, which is pretty awesome,” Fowler said. “The girls have been totally welcoming to the fact that she’s off of an injury.”
Fowler repeatedly said that defense is the strength of this year’s team.
“We have equally talented defenders on both sides of the court,” she said. “So our offense has to work very hard to score, and that’s going to be important. Our defense in practice has been lights out. To score against it in practice, you’re going to have to beat almost the best, which is exactly what we’re expecting them to do on the court in a match, too. Our kids have been really awesome.”
Tenholder plays right side and an opposite. The setters are junior Shelbi Mead and Quinn Burns. Teamed with 2026 graduate Audrey Hackney, Mead had 455 assists last season. Hackney is a freshman and on the volleyball team at the University of Central Michigan.
“They are both excellent setters who make good decisions with the ball,” Fowler said.
Rotating on the front row are Rogers, Garrett, Hein, Tenholder, juniors Macy Berg and Elise Parker and sophomore Sami Brown.
Fall competition begins today, and Eureka is swinging right into action by traveling to Fort Zumwalt West in O’Fallon to play the Jaguars and St. Dominic in a triangular. A private Catholic school in O’Fallon, the Crusaders had a record of 23-5, and beat West (23-5) in the Class 5 District 4 semifinals before falling to Incarnate Word Academy in the state quarterfinals.
“I’m excited to play against teams of that talent to start our season,” Fowler said. “The coolest part is we start on game day. Every year that I’ve been at Eureka, we didn’t start playing until the week after everybody else.”
The Missouri High School Activities Association releases class and district assignments on Friday. Because private schools are classified partially on a Championship Factor formula that takes postseason success into account, they fluctuate classes from year to year. Out of the five classes for girls volleyball, private schools from St. Vincent (Class 2), Jefferson City Helias (Class 3) and St. Michael the Archangel (Class 4) won three classes, and public schools from Bismarck (Class 1) and Lafayette (Class 5) won the others.
With renewed energy in the program, the Wildcats are never far away from another 30-win season. Fowler said the key to success will be to avoid unnecessary distractions.
“That’s been our issue the past couple seasons,” Fowler said. “Whether it’s a social media post or an article online, that becomes our focus. We need to keep our distractions to a minimum, and basically just play together the whole year, understanding really what it means to look to the person next to you and know they can do the job. That’s something that’s sort of gotten lost over the last couple of seasons.
"This group of kids, a lot of them are in their third season together. You should know each other by now well enough to know when you can trust somebody and when we got to go a different direction. That to me is going to be our successful season. It would be so cool to win 30 matches. But for me, that’s not the focus. There are a lot of things that can contribute to a bunch of wins, and if we can do those two things, the wins come. So we’ve got to start the season strong.”
Eureka senior commits to attend West Point
In the NFL, very few defensive linemen have been dominant enough to decide the outcome of a game.
Andy McCollum remembers blocking one of them when he was playing offensive line for the New Orleans Saints in the 1990s.
“If you want to name the best defensive lineman that’s ever been out there, by far, it’s Reggie White,” McCollum said of the Hall of Fame defensive end who played for the Philadelphia Eagles, won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers, and spent his last season with the Carolina Panthers. White died in 2004 at the age of 43. “There’s a lot of good players, but he was the best one I ever played against.”
McCollum said he was watching the ESPN 30-for-30 special on White and saw himself in a film clip when he played for the Saints. And when McCollum says humped, take it easy, it was White’s signature move where he’d lift 300-plus pound men with one arm and mostly put them on their backsides.
“He humped our big right tackle, and it shows me trying to save the block, and the film cuts off, which is good because you didn’t get to see me getting run over by him. It was amazing to watch him play,” McCollum said.
When you see McCollum on the sidelines at Eureka football games, the assistant coach is much slimmer than his playing days where he hovered around 300 pounds. He played in the NFL for 15 years as an undrafted free agent. What a great career. Imagine playing on the offensive line until you’re 38 years old. No Aaron Rodgers offseason retreats for the OL.
Of course, McCollum played for the St. Louis Rams when they were known as “The Greatest Show on Turf.” He was a reserve OL on the 1999 team that won Super Bowl XXXIV, and a starter on the 2001 team that lost Super Bowl XXXVI.
“I thank the Lord for being durable,” he said. “I had a couple of injuries here and there. I had one major knee injury. Other than that, I was able to stay healthy. That’s the key for every team in every season. We tell (the Wildcats) the most important ability you have is to be available.
“Since I wasn’t highly drafted, a free agent, I had to prove my worth. Later in my career, you always know they’re trying to replace you. You have to prove yourself every day.”
Senior Noah McCollum is the third of Andy’s sons to play football at Eureka. Jake McCollum is an assistant coach for the Wildcats. Jake played football at Truman State University and graduated last year. He works with Andy as a financial planner and is a coach. Drew McCollum is a captain in the US Marine Corps, and trains Marines at Parris Island in South Carolina. Drew wrestled at Hannibal-LaGrange before going into officer candidate school in the Marines.
In June, Noah committed to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point in New York. Noah said Drew’s experience in the Marines inspired him to serve in the military. West Point graduates are commissioned second lieutenants and are required to serve four years in the Army. McCollum also wants to play football for the Black Knights and aspires to reach the NFL.
Noah will dabble in OL play for the Wildcats, but what made college scouts, and the Army, take notice were his skills at tracking down the person with the ball and rudely introducing them to the turf. That’s not hyperbole. Even Andy sees it. He described his son’s play at least three times as “violent.”
I must admit I hesitated a bit when I scrutinized Noah’s penchant for letting his natural aggressive ability take him out of plays, but he handled it like a pro. I wondered how he remedied that. His response was as blunt as the crown of a helmet.
“Chase them down, and violence at the point of contact,” McCollum said of his method of pursuit.
I asked what kind of job Noah wanted to pursue as an officer in the Army, and without hesitation he said, “Green Berets.” The legendary unit is part of the military’s special operations force that deploys all over the world.
Understandably, Andy couldn’t be more proud to have two sons who want to contribute part of their lives to the safety of this country. And believe me, when you’re a Marine or in combat arms in the Army, your attention is turned inward to your unit and protecting those serving under you. That fits Noah’s profile, says dad.
“I’m very proud of (Noah) for making that decision, and that fits him real good as far as the standard,” Andy said. “And they play some great football.
“Noah has quickness I never had at that age. He’s got explosion off the ball I wish I had. And he’s violent. It looks like he enjoys it, and that’s what you need in the trenches.”
Andy wasn’t about to fall into my trap when I suggested that when there are three sons, the youngest is usually the best athlete. That’s because he’s been shoved around by his bigger brothers and is used to the roughhouse nature needed to play sports like football. Noah is the biggest of the three, though.
The demands of being a top high school recruit, summer practice and maintaining a GPA that opens the doors at West Point will seem like a hazy dream by this time next year when Noah is a Cadet and being galvanized by hundreds of years of institutional discipline.
First things, first. Kirkwood beat the Wildcats twice last year, including in the Class 5 District 2 championship. I’ve covered some intense rivalries, but in my Leader realm, the only other one that stands up to the Wildcats and Pioneers is between Festus and Hillsboro. There’s an extra buzz on the sidelines. Coaches eyes are a little wider. There’s sometimes harsh words exchanged in the hand-shaking line after games. This year will be more of the same.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Noah said. “We haven’t proven anything yet. If we all lock in, we should be really good. The defense has a lot of returning starters, and I think we’re all experienced and know what we’re doing.
“As for Kirkwood. We need to be better. Last year, they were good, for sure. But we need to make sure we do what we can this year to beat them.”