For a few fleeting seconds last November, the St. Pius X football team flirted with a trip to the Class 2 District 1 championship game.
Riley Naeger’s 25-yard touchdown catch from Noah Lampros with 38 seconds to play cut Caruthersville’s lead to 28-27. St. Pius head coach Dan Oliver made the gritty decision to go for a two-point conversion rather than kick an extra point to tie the game. Josh Ruble ran the ball in and the Lancers led 29-28.
But the Tigers scored twice in the waning seconds to win 40-29. Naeger, who is on a basketball scholarship at Drury University in Springfield, graduated along with Lampros and Ruble. But Oliver said that even with all the uncertainty in preparing for a season under the specter of COVID-19, the Lancers are ready to build on back-to-back 8-3 seasons.
“You have to take so many precautions with football anyway,” said Oliver, entering his second season as head coach. “Now you have to worry about things that are virtually invisible. We’ve been very fortunate. We’ve been going all summer under the county guidelines and have had zero cases. We must have done something right and hopefully we’ll get to play a full season.”
Three new opponents will give St. Pius a chance to play teams outside of the area.
After opening the season with Windsor the last four years, the Lancers host Monroe City on Aug. 28. The Panthers, located 150 miles northwest of Festus, were state champions in 1994, 1996 and 2017 and went 7-4 last year as a Class 2 school.
In Week 2, St. Pius will travel roughly the same distance to Piggott, Ark., in the northeastern corner of the state. The Mohawks are a Class 3A school and were 2-8 last year. The Lancers will head south again to play Doniphan on Oct. 2. The Dons were 1-9 as a Class 3 team in 2019.
“Monroe City is a good program that’s had a lot of success in the state playoffs over the years,” Oliver said. “Then we go south to Piggott. When we scheduled that game there was a lot less concern about travel.”
Within the I-55 Conference, no team has played 15-time state champion Valle Catholic closer than the Lancers, who fell to the Warriors 24-6 in Ste. Genevieve last season and 34-26 in Festus in 2018. Valle hasn’t lost a conference game since 2012. The Warriors have to replace graduated quarterback Chase Dunlap, a Class 1 all-state honorable mention selection last year. St. Pius lost two-year starting QB Carson Fischer to graduation.
“(Valle) lost a pretty good quarterback. I don’t think anybody’s going to run away with anything,” Oliver said about the conference race. “We’ve got Nate Ruble and he’s led us in tackling the last two years. The cupboard’s not bare here, either. We lost some good players and (Valle) did too.”
Ruble, a junior, anchors the defense at middle linebacker and has made 180 tackles and four interceptions the past two years. He led a defense that pitched two shutouts last year and held the opponent to a touchdown or less in five games.
“He’s really a good study of film and he’s an extremely intelligent kid,” Oliver said. “He’s in the weight room before most people.”
The Lancers run a 3-5 defense. Inside at linebacker with Ruble are senior Michael Argana and Trace Jones. Argana had six tackles for loss last season. The outside linebackers are juniors Logan Jacobson and Kyle Smith.
Seniors Michael Bollinger and Zander Parson are the defensive ends. The 6-6 Parson is still relatively new to the sport, but has a great upside as a disrupter along the line, like the 6-7 Naeger was at safety last season. Seniors Shjon Meyer and Jackson Hall play in the interior D-line.
Junior Colin Smith and senior Cole Seek, who is coming over from the Lancer soccer team, are in the defensive backfield along with sophomores Austin McGukin and Drew Merseal and senior safety Axel Creed.
“If we can teach (Seek) some football, he’s going to put things in motion and be very good,” Oliver said. “(Creed) was a big hitter for us last year. There were some big pops out there.”
Smith looks to succeed Fischer at quarterback after manning the position for the junior varsity. Oliver said he’s big and strong and runs well.
“We’ll probably run a lot more out of the quarterback position than we did last year,” Oliver said. “Carson was our only quarterback last year and if he would have gotten hurt, we would have been in trouble.”
At 6-0 and 225 pounds, Bollinger can grind out yards and move the chains. A year ago he gained 343 yards on 60 carries and caught 10 passes. Nate Ruble led the Lancer ground attack with 833 yards and nine TDs. Jones, a halfback last year, has moved to fullback.
Oliver likes the talent he has to run multiple sets, with the wishbone being the primary formation.
“We have a real fullback this year. Last year we tried to convert a bunch of guys,” Oliver said.
“(Jones) is one of those guys who gets behind the line and comes firing out of there and sometimes he’s got the ball, sometimes he doesn’t. I’ve been very happy with his progress. It makes everything easier when you’ve got a good blocking fullback who can also be a weapon.”
Creed and Jacobson, who kicks and punts, look to be the top receivers, although neither caught a pass last year. Seniors Chase Marnin and Tyler Whiteley will play tight end.
Meyer is back at center and is the top player on the offensive line. His skill as a long snapper makes him invaluable in the offense.
“We might be under center one play and then the next play in the shotgun,” Oliver said. “Meyer is a great run and pass blocker and communicates with everyone on the line. If he was 6-4, (recruiters) would be all over him. He’ll still be a good college football player.”
Argana moves from fullback to right guard. His older brother, Patrick, was a first-team all-I-55 player.
“Michael’s got size and has gained some physical presence,” Oliver said.
Parson, who played baseball this summer for Festus Post 253, has lost about 20 pounds from last year and figures to play a more athletic right tackle. Hall and senior Tristan Wyciskalla-Weber, meanwhile, can play guard or tackle.
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