St. Pius X assistant coach Tilden Watson was concerned about how his team’s defense would react in the season-opening game Friday night at Windsor.
“Triple-option teams scare the heck out of me,” Watson said.
Watson was filling in for St. Pius head coach Jerry Woods, who wasn’t at Friday’s game.
The Lancers proved to be up to the task, allowing just 12 yards of total offense in the first half to match the 12 points that the St. Pius offense had put on the scoreboard. St. Pius would allow just five first downs throughout the game en route to its first shutout since Oct. 2, 2015 with a 28-0 win.
“I can’t even explain to you how I proud I am of my teammates,” junior linebacker Dustin Burch said.
“Our coaches all week were nailing into our heads that we each had an individual job, and we did our job, and it was wonderful. It’s all trust. That’s really what it comes down to is trust. We trusted each other, and we got the W.”
Burch also rushed for 83 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries and junior receiver Jalen Thornton caught 11 passes for 109 yards and a pair of scores. Thornton also had two interceptions.
Thornton capped a 12-play, 58-yard drive with a 21-yard TD catch to put St. Pius up 6-0 with 3:25 remaining in the first quarter. He added a 14-yard scoring reception on the final play of the first half to give the Lancers a 12-0 lead.
A high snap on a punt attempt that rolled through the end zone gave St. Pius a 14-0 lead midway through the third quarter.
Burch scored his first touchdown on the first play of the final quarter with a 2-yard plunge up the middle, adding a two-point conversion that put the Lancers up 22-0.
Then just 29 seconds later, after a fumble recovery near midfield by St. Pius linebacker Jarrett Kort, Burch raced untouched for 35 yards and another score to make it 28-0.
Blue Jays blow away visiting Cabool gridders as Graves sets school rushing record
Jefferson swarmed visiting Cabool 56-8 tonight (Aug. 18) in a season-opening non-conference football game for both clubs that was essentially over after a quarter.
The Blue Jays scored 28 points in the first quarter, 28 in the second and did not allow the Bulldogs any points until 7:16 remained in the game. That happened long after the mercy rule – meaning the clock did not stop other than for a touchdown or end of quarter – kicked in at the second-half kickoff.
Adding to the enjoyment for the home fans was junior Andrew Graves breaking the school’s career rushing record on a 3-yard touchdown run with 7:13 on the clock in the first quarter. It was his second touchdown of four he would score in the game, all in the first half.
He broke the record set by his brother, Austin, two years ago.
“It feels awesome, to get the record and it’s twice as awesome to get it on a touchdown run,” Andrew Graves said. “It was just an old-fashioned power play. I went straight up the gut. I probably won’t give Austin a hard time about it.”
Junior kicker Lucas Vaughn had a busy first half, successfully booting all eight point-after kicks following Blue Jay touchdowns.
“That’s probably a school record,” Jefferson head coach Alex Rouggly said of Vaughn’s achievement. He also praised Vaughn for his long kickoffs.
Keller scores 4 times, Hawks hold off Affton
Affton shoved Hillsboro’s defense down the field in 14 plays and junior running back Gus Palmer ended the drive with a two-yard touchdown run to give the Cougars an early 6-0 lead.
Then the Hawks pushed back and kept it up with the next five touchdowns to win the season opener Friday night at home 34-20. The game was much closer than last season when the Hawks shelled the Cougars 42-0.
“I saw a much improved Affton team tonight,” Hillsboro head coach Lee Freeman said. “Down the road, they’re going to be really good so I’m glad we played them early. We made some mental errors on that first drive and couldn’t get them off the field. Early in the season when you don’t have a lot of film to study tendencies, you’ve got to roll with the punches.”
Senior running back Micheal Keller showed everybody in attendance that he’s just as electric as last year, even while running behind the Hawks’ newly rebuilt offensive line. Keller scored four touchdowns before sitting out most of the fourth quarter.
Freeman praised Keller’s backfield mates: seniors Joe Garner, Joe Gregory and Luke Skaggs, whose 40-yard gallop in the second quarter set up Garner’s one-yard plunge that gave the Hawks a 20-6 lead.
Freeman pointed out Garner’s play to the rest of the team after the game.
“The experience shows with those guys,” Freeman said. “I thought Joe Garner played awesome on both sides of the ball, and he made a play on special teams.”
Junior Ethan Eckrich started at quarterback for the Hawks but senior Tyler Isaacson entered the game behind center at the start of the second half. Isaacson had been nursing a wrist injury on his throwing arm.
“We didn’t think we’d have Tyler but after talking to the trainer (Thursday) he was medically cleared to play,” Freeman said. “We were in a situation to get him in there and knock some rust off. He hasn’t thrown the ball in nine weeks. There will be some growing pains.”
Keller, last year’s most valuable player in the Mississippi Area Football Conference Red Division after rushing for 2,016 yards and 33 touchdowns, ripped off TD runs of 88 and 61 yards, and had an 88-yard punt return for a score nullified because of a Hawk penalty.
Eureka pulls away from Fort Zumwalt West in opener
Eureka traded blows with Fort Zumwalt West for most of three quarters Friday night, before the Wildcats were able to deliver the knockout shots in a 45-26 victory at the Jaguars’ Hoekel Stadium.
Eureka quarterback Tyler Kennedy put his team ahead 24-20 with 5:29 to play in the third quarter, and after the Wildcats forced the Jaguars’ first punt of the game, they used some trickery to deliver a crushing blow.
Facing second-and-9 from Eureka’s 49-yard line, Kennedy tossed a lateral pass to receiver Jhalon Asher-Sanders, who stopped behind the line of scrimmage to unleash a pass under pressure to tight end Avery Taggert. The junior hauled in the catch and waltzed into the end zone for a 31-20 lead with 2:07 left in the third.
“You just kind of wait for the right moment, and it was just kind of one of those times we felt like we needed to kind of take a chance and continue to swing that momentum our way,” Eureka head coach Jake Sumner said of the play.
Eureka, which entered the season ranked No. 6 in the state, saw its lead cut to 31-26 15 seconds into the fourth quarter.
The teams then traded interceptions with Wildcats defensive back Gunnar Herbert coming down with a pick to give his team the advantage and the ball on the Jaguars’ 26. Asher-Sanders scored three players later on a 26-yard run, and running back Hassan Haskins closed the scoring with a 10-yard run with 3:45 to play.
Haskins finished with 189 yards and two touchdowns on runs of 5 and 10 yards.
Other county football scores from Friday night
Festus 48, Vashon 6; Chaffee 48, Crystal City 0; Perryville 14, De Soto 7; North County 51, Seckman 7