The Seckman football team stayed undefeated with a surprisingly easy 28-3 win over visiting Pattonville Oct. 6.
The Jaguars’ 7-0 record is explained in part by another number: plus-21, their advantage in turnovers. Seckman yielded zero turnovers through six games and finally coughed one up to the Pirates, but it was vastly overshadowed by three Jag interceptions (two by Eric Miller and one by Jackson Compton) and a Daniel Lauter fumble recovery.
“Turnovers and ball security have been our focus since day one at camp,” Seckman head coach Nick Baer said. “This is a huge reason we’re winning these games.”
Pattonville (4-3) competes in the top tier (Yellow pool) of the Suburban Conference, while the Jaguars are in the fourth-tier Orange pool, where Baer said they’ll remain for 2024-2025 despite their 25-5 record over the last two-plus seasons. The league’s pool assignments are based on each team’s relative competitive success, and schools can request to move up or down in the pool system.
Since the Jaguars (District 2) and Pirates (District 3) are in different Class 6 districts, the win doesn’t bear directly on playoff seeding, where Seckman is No. 1 and Pattonville is No. 4 with two weeks left before the tournaments begin.
Compton’s pickoff led to Jaguar quarterback Tommy Gibbar’s one-yard touchdown run with 5:45 left in the first quarter, with Evan Behnke kicking the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
Pattonville marched to the Seckman two-yard line on its next possession, but the Jags held firm there and the Pirates settled for a 22-yard field goal by Bryan Orta, cutting the margin to 7-3 with 11:22 left in the second quarter.
Seckman responded with a 16-play, 90-yard drive that chewed 8:00 off the clock, capped by Gibbar’s two-yard TD run to make it 14-3 with 3:45 left before halftime.
“That drive personified who we are as a team and a program,” Baer said. “We ran the same power play 12 times in a row. That’s who we are.”
In the third quarter, Seckman made another stand in the red zone, and Orta missed another field goal try. Then the hosts drove to the Pirate 30-yard line, but Kade Heinemeier fumbled for his team’s first miscue of the fall. Miller got the ball back with an interception and returned it 50 yards to the Pattonville 20. A personal foul by the Pirates moved the ball to the 13, and Gibbar scored his third touchdown from there with 11:23 to play for a 21-3 gap. Behnke was four-for-four on PATs.
Miller returned his second INT (and fifth of the season) to the Pattonville 15. Brady Ambrose finished that short drive, and the night’s scoring, on a four-yard touchdown burst with 8:47 to play.
Gibbar completed three of four passes for 13 yards and led all rushers with 21 carries for 111 yards, while Ambrose gained 67 yards on eight carries. Miller also had two pass breakups.
“Eric’s interceptions were at key moments in the game,” Baer said. “We were in our red zone and there were opportunities for Pattonville to get back in the game.”
Baer added that the offensive line played their best game of the year. Caden Lappe has added power while Trent Enloe and Max Sell are three-year starters and hold the line together. Charlie Butler and Owen Kellick have been solid additions after playing JV last year.
Wins at Oakville (4-3) Friday and over Webster Groves (2-4) Oct. 20 at Kirkwood would secure Seckman’s third straight Orange pool crown at 5-0.
“Every game for us is a big game and our boys prepare the same way each week,” Baer said. “The idea (Pattonville) was the best team on our schedule didn’t faze us. The reason for our success is our execution.”
Slow start clips Owls’ wings
Windsor trailed North County 17-0 at halftime, but had the ball and a chance to tie the game after Raider kicker Cole Mullins missed a 37-yard field goal with 2:38 to play in the Mississippi Area Football Conference Red Division contest in Imperial Oct. 6.
But Windsor quarterback Luke Patterson was sacked for a 10-yard loss on first down. On fourth-and-20, Patterson’s desperate pass was picked off by Noah Lashley, and North County (2-5, 2-2) ran out the clock for a 24-16 victory. The Owls (3-4, 1-3) haven’t beaten the Raiders since 2014.
“We shouldn’t have been in that spot in the first place,” Windsor head coach Jeff Funston said. “It took us way too long to get going and we talked about that at halftime. North County took advantage of our mistakes in the second quarter.
“Offensively, we were one block away. One guy missed an assignment and the whole play gets blown up. We can’t have those mental lapses and physical breakdowns and expect to move the ball.”
The first quarter was scoreless and Windsor forced a punt when Raider QB Braydee McClure was sacked for a 14-yard loss on third-and-10 by linebacker Colin Carter. The Owls began their next possession at the NC 40, but it didn’t net a first down and Patterson’s pass on fourth down was knocked down by Jaxon Scherrffius.
Starting at their own 35, the Raiders mounted a modest drive ending with a 23-yard Mullins field goal with 8:27 to go in the half for a 3-0 lead. Willie Coleman III returned the ensuing kick to the NC 40, but the Owls turned the ball over on downs at the Raider 32. NC running back Aaron Cook then started to punch holes in the Windsor defense, scoring on runs of 69 and 25 yards four minutes apart to give the visitors a 17-0 lead.
“Whether it was a bad read (or not), it comes down to gap-assignment football against backs like him,” Funston said.
Windsor scored on its opening drive of the second half on a 35-yard carry by A.J. Patrick. The two-point conversion was good, making the score 17-8. But that momentum was quickly reversed when the Raiders marched right back downfield and quarterback Henry Allebach’s TD and Mullins’ PAT kept NC on top 24-8.
Patrick made it a one-possession game when he ran for a six-yard touchdown on third-and-goal, and caught a pass from Patterson for the conversion, trimming NC’s lead to 24-16.
Cook barreled through the Owl defense for three first downs to help eat clock and the Raiders held on despite Mullins missing another field goal attempt.
“I thought on A.J.’s first touchdown he was going to get tackled, and he made a guy miss and got through the second level, and when he does that, it’s generally good for us,” Funston said. “And then he scored again. How many times does this guy have to bail us out?
“Willie and Colin run hard. The pieces were there. It was a guy on the ground who trips us up or a guy in the hole we didn’t account for.”
Currently seeded fourth in Class 4 District 2, Windsor visits St. Clair (5-2) Friday and wraps up the regular season at home against Cuba (0-7) on Oct. 20. One of St. Clair’s wins came against North County 19-7.