Let the playoffs begin.
The regular season for prep football teams around the state wrapped up last week. Teams will open district tournaments Friday with the winners advancing and the losers eliminated. Among the 12 teams in Jefferson County, Festus (7-2) and Seckman (9-0) are seeded the highest, both earning No. 1 spots and first-round byes.
The Jaguars are in Class 6 District 1 and wrapped up their second consecutive 9-0 campaign, shutting out Webster Groves (2-6) 28-0 in Imperial Oct. 25. Seckman secured the Suburban Conference Orange pool title for the fourth consecutive year and stretched its regular-season win streak to 26.
The Jaguars scored all of their points against the Statesmen in the first half, allowing head coach Nick Baer to substitute at will in the second.
“We came out with a fast start,” Baer said. “It was one of our most complete halves. We’ve been talking about playing our best football. Offensively, it’s execution. We want to control the line and be physical every play. Defensively, we’re continuing to play fast and physical. We do a good job making plays in space.”
Among those plays were interceptions by senior defensive backs Jackson Compton and Ethan Schoemehl, boosting the team total to seven pickoffs this fall. Special teams also factored in the win, with Quinn Mattingly’s long punt return setting up a touchdown.
“(That) was a piece we were missing the first few games of the year,” Baer said.
It was Seckman’s second shutout this year and the Jaguars are outscoring their opponents by an average score of 34-7.
Senior running backs Brady Ambrose and Ben Lewis each topped 100 yards with 140 and 102 respectively. Ambrose scored the game’s first touchdown less than a minute after kickoff on a 44-yard run and Lewis ran in from 26 yards with 3:49 to go in the first. For the season, Ambrose has scored 12 TDs and four two-point conversions and rushed for 849 yards. Lewis leads the team with 14 touchdowns and has 514 yards on the ground.
It was more of the same in the second quarter when Ambrose and Lewis scored from 12 and 26 yards and junior kicker Ben Bajric made all four extra point tries.
Senior receiver Devin Gosser caught three passes for 91 yards from sophomore QB Brody Kube. Gosser leads the team with 23 catches for 427 yards and four TDs. Kube, who could lead the offense for two more seasons, has completed 39 of 74 passes (53 percent) for 650 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions.
“We’ve been talking about making sure we’re playing our best football,” Baer said. “We want to be proud of our last game.”
At Jackson, the Indians (7-2) manhandled Festus 43-7 Oct. 25 and locked up the No. 2 seed behind Seckman in Class 6 District 1. Jackson brought a sizeable crowd to Seckman last year in the district final and played with surgical precision in a 55-21 victory.
Nothing is guaranteed this time of year, and teams like third-seed Lindbergh (7-2) and red-hot Northwest (5-4 at No. 4) will have their say before a potential Jaguar-Indian rematch materializes.
“We went back and watched film from that game last year,” Baer said of the district final. “And those are the things we are focused on. The bye week is very important to keep focused. They are really listening to the messages from our coordinators.
“It feels great to be able to do what we do and continue to have success. We’re not a flash in the pan. Our standard is leading to us winning football games, no matter who’s wearing the (Seckman) helmet.”
Dragons enter district with winning record
Like Northwest, De Soto has revived its program and climbed above .500, winning four of its last five games.
The Dragons (5-4) throttled visiting Herculaneum (1-8) 43-6 in a nonconference game Oct. 25 for their first regular season winning record since 2018 under Chris Johnson.
No. 5 seed De Soto travels to No. 4 North County (6-3) Friday for a rematch between Mississippi Area Football Conference rivals in the Class 4 District 1 tournament. The Raiders beat the Dragons 42-14 in Bonne Terre in September.
“It’s a tough place to play,” De Soto head coach and activities director Russ Schmidt said. “They do it right. Their band is in the end zone. The closer you get, the louder they play.
“We’ll have to play a hell of a lot better on defense. They ran the ball really well between the tackles. You’re going to have to get some stops if you’re going to win. We weren’t successful getting them to punt, and this is huge if we’re going to be successful.”
Behind a stout offensive line, four-year starting quarterback Austin Missey and junior running backs Brenton Drummond and Eli Thebeau each have turned in all-conference-level seasons. Drummond and Thebeau scored touchdowns against the Blackcats.
“(Drummond) caught one of the prettiest balls I’ve seen Austin throw on a ‘go’ route,” Schmidt said. “Austin threw a soft arcing ball and Brenton ran underneath it and ran it for a TD.”
Senior running backs Joey Escobar and Connor Siebert each had rushing touchdowns and freshman Cannon Kisner returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the fourth quarter on a play Schmidt said wasn’t supposed to happen.
“He was supposed to take a knee (for a touchback). But as soon as he cut back the grain, everyone (in Blackcat kick coverage) was in a bad spot and I’ve got my head in my hands as I see him run to (the end zone).”
De Soto has to play away from home throughout the playoffs, however long the Dragons last.
Renovations to JC Culwell Stadium began this week with the demolition of the press box and bleachers. A new turf field was installed over the summer and the entire project is part of a complete stadium remodel.
As befits the team on the field.
“The buy-in, football IQ and preparation (of our team) are a coach’s dream right now,” Schmidt said. “We’re proud of them as a staff. We didn’t have school (Oct. 25) and they finished the night off with a great win that put them in position to finish with a winning record.”
Lancers fall to 15-time state champions
“To be the best, you’ve got to play the best.”
So goes one of the oldest cliches in sports.
In football, St. Pius X has the “playing” part down. The “being” part will have to come later.
The Lancers’ intentionally rugged 2024 regular season schedule, their first as an independent program, ended somewhat predictably Oct.25 in a 47-20 loss at home to Valle Catholic, the Ste. Genevieve powerhouse with 15 state championships in the books.
Pius previously had lost by wide margins on long road trips to out-of-state powers Senatobia (Miss.) 54-0 and Baylor (Tenn.) 48-7. Head coach Frank Ray’s team stands at 4-5 heading into the postseason, at risk of suffering its first losing campaign since 2020.
“The positive is you’re playing the No. 1 ranked team (Valle) in Class 2,” Ray said. “You have to beat them at some point. It showed us something we already knew – we don’t want to be in a high-scoring game. I told the kids at halftime they’ve (the Warriors) been here and there’s an art to winning and they’re good at it.
“The biggest positive for me is we weren’t afraid of them and fought to the final whistle.”
The highlight of the night for the Lancers came on their first play from scrimmage. Junior quarterback Danny DeGeare tucked in the ball on an option play and sprinted 80 yards for a touchdown. Senior kicker Connor Meffen booted the extra point and the score was tied, all too briefly, 7-7.
Long TDs like DeGeare’s have been rare for Pius, Ray said.
“Danny’s getting good at running the triple option. He hit Baylor for about a 40-yarder. This is his first year as QB and we’re committing to the option more.”
Valle turned loose its high-flying passing attack, led by senior quarterback Wyatt Fallert, who connected with senior receiver Colin Henderson for a 40-yard TD to open the scoring. Fallert tossed to senior receiver Tyler Gegg for a seven-yard touchdown on the next series and the Warriors never looked back for their eighth victory in nine outings this fall.
“They’ll throw four straight times and if they hit one, it’s gone,” Ray said. “It’s sit back and throw haymakers and land them. They force you into a quick game. They had under 50 yards rushing.”
St. Pius is the No. 4 seed in Class 2 District 2 and hosts No. 5 Grandview (4-5) Friday in the opening round. Jefferson (5-4), the third seed, hosts No. 6 Priory of St. Louis (3-6). The Blue Jays beat the Ravens 33-16 at Priory in the season-opener Aug. 31. Hermann (7-2) is the top seed in the district and will play the Pius-Grandview winner in the second round.
Hornets hold off Grandview
Crystal City junior Alex Kuchera picked up a Grandview fumble and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, providing the winning margin in a 40-33 Hornet victory at JJ Commerford Stadium Oct. 25.
Crystal senior quarterback Nolan Eisenbeis was almost perfect, completing 10 of 11 passes for 250 yards and four TDs. In a hard-fought first half, Eisenbeis and senior Evan Wolfe connected for TD passes of 36 and 29 yards. In all Wolfe caught four passes for 115 yards.
A 58-yard scoring strike to junior Landyn DeRousse gave Crystal (4-5) a 28-13 lead. Grandview scored the final two touchdowns of the half, but missed on both two-point conversion tries. Junior London Patton caught a 20-yard TD from Eisenbeis for the only points of the third quarter.
The Hornets are the No. 2 seed in Class 1 District 1 while undefeated St. Vincent (9-0) is the top seed. The Indians beat the Hornets 45-14 in last season’s District 2 championship game.
Lions climb above .500
Measuring progress in a football program often isn’t as simple as adding up wins and losses. Sometimes coaches see a change in culture happen right before their eyes.
Northwest head coach Scott Gerling saw it when the Lions trailed 14-0 after one quarter at Oakville in an Orange pool game Oct. 25.
Sophomore quarterback Cohenn Stark fired touchdown passes to senior receiver Wes Knuckles (30 yards) and junior receiver Omarion Frazier (26) less than four minutes apart in the second quarter and freshman kicker Cayden Richard booted the two PATs to tie the game. Nathan Wilson kicked a 36-yard field goal for the Tigers as time expired in the first half and Northwest trailed 17-14.
Wilson extended the lead to 20-14 with a 27-yard field goal, but the Lions moved on top 21-20 on junior running back Drew Spratt’s four-yard touchdown run at the 4:35 mark in the third. Richard made all four extra-point tries on the night and his 27-yard field goal with 3:01 left in the third made it 24-20.
Colby Bangert’s three-yard touchdown run put Oakville back in front 27-24, but Stark scored the game-winning TD from seven yards with 1:05 to play for a 31-27 Northwest victory.
“I was happy for the kids, who played their tails off,” Gerling said. “We had multiple kids make plays at crucial times and we forced a couple turnovers in the second quarter and put a drive together to score a TD. We’ve been in that situation (before) and made a play and got things turned around.”
Stark had his best performance via the air, completing 13 of 23 passes for 221 yards. He also led the Lions with 86 yards rushing on 18 carries. Frazier caught seven passes for 65 yards and Knuckles had three for 95.
“It’s been fun to watch these guys grow up,” Gerling said.
With its third straight victory, Northwest improved to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the Orange pool while Oakville slipped to 4-5 and 3-2. The teams turn right around to face each other again Friday in the first round of the Class 6 District 1 playoffs. Northwest, seeded fourth, gets home field against the No. 5 Tigers.
Gerling spent the day after the win in Cape Girardeau watching his daughter perform with the cheerleaders at the Southeast Missouri State University football game and basking in his program’s hard-won success. Since the current prep playoff format began in 2012, Northwest has never hosted a district game or earned a first-round victory. They’ve checked off the first item and are poised to earn the second.
“It’s unique,” Gerling said about meeting Oakville again. “You’re going to be familiar with kids and schemes. We’re getting a week to make adjustments and get healthy in some spots.”