Festus High School junior quarterback Parker Perry threw four touchdown passes, broke a school record and led the Tigers to a 42-24 victory over visiting North County in the Class 4 District 1 championship Nov. 14.
Three of Perry's four TDs were to senior wide receiver Jackson Frank.
Frank leads Festus, the No. 1 seed in the district, with more than 500 yards receiving and nine TDs.
Perry broke Cole Rickermann’s school record of TD passes in a single season and has 33 going into the state quarterfinal at Sullivan (9-3) on Saturday at 1 p.m. Rickermann threw 56 TD passes (29 his junior year) in his final two seasons (2020-2021). Rickermann played basketball at Jefferson College the last two years.
As impressive as Perry’s TD record is, it’s his accuracy throwing the ball and that precision is precisely why he doesn’t turn it over that makes him stand out even more. He’s completed 72 percent of his passes and thrown one interception.
Festus head coach AJ Ofodile has coached both Rickermann and Perry. Ofodile led Festus to its first appearance in the state championship game last season. A 46-7 loss to Lutheran North in that game didn’t derail the success the Tigers have enjoyed since Ofodile’s arrival. Festus (9-2) repeated as champions of the Mississippi Area Football Conference and District 1. Ofodile’s job before taking over at Festus – he’s also the school’s strength and conditioning coach – was as an assistant coach at the University of Missouri in Columbia.
“Accuracy is something you can’t teach,” Ofodile said. “There’s an innate piece to it. Reps, time, effort, those final pieces; which is what makes him special is going through his progressions and reads.”
In a 46-21 conference win over the Raiders (No. 4, 6-6) in Bonne Terre in October, Perry passed for 320 yards and four TDs. Since Ofodile became head coach in 2020, the Tigers are 4-2 in MAFC games against North County and 4-0 in district meetings.
Festus shut out Hillsboro High (4, 5-6) 41-0 in the district semifinals, running its winning streak against the Hawks to three games. Hillsboro beat the Tigers twice en route to the state final in 2023.
“Both (district) games were a lot different,” Ofodile said. “We played cleaner (against the Hawks). The biggest thing I liked (against NC) was our ability to be explosive. That’s always a trendy stat that correlates the most with winning.”
Festus jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the district final, but after the Tigers muffed a kickoff after a Raider TD to tie the game, they found themselves trailing 21-14. A Perry TD pass to Frank with seconds left tied the score at halftime.
“We made technique errors in the first half but guys bounced back at halftime,” Ofodile said. “Panic set in in the first half. In the second half, we bottled them up.”
Senior kicker Luke Wacker made all seven PATs and has 45 this season.
Ofodile is 2-0 against Sullivan, with wins over the Eagles in 2020-2021. The Tigers won on the road in last year’s state quarterfinals and semifinals. Sullivan (9-3) was outscored 88-6 by Northwest High and Jefferson City High in its first two games.
“It’s nice to be home but we’ll travel well too. It shouldn’t matter where you’re playing,” Ofodile said.
St. Pius hosts Montgomery County in state quarterfinals
The Lancers had never made it to the 12th week of the season before this year. Now they’re in the state quarterfinals for the first time after traveling to Caruthersville and beating the Tigers 28-14 in the Class 2 District 1 championship Nov. 14.
An extension to a 13th week means St. Pius will take a record of 7-5 into its first state quarterfinal game Saturday at 1 p.m. when it hosts Montgomery County High (9-2), which beat Bowling Green (4-7) 42-6 in the District 1 final. Led by an aerial assault directed by QB Eric
Czerniewski, the Wildcats finished second in the state in Class 2 in 2005. Czerniewski is in the top five all-time in the state in career yards, attempts and completions.
Winning an elimination game on the road takes three things, said St. Pius X head coach Frank Ray.
“We won the turnover battle, we limited penalties and we ran the ball well,” said Ray in his third year.
The Tigers (8-3) beat the Lancers 33-25 in Festus in the season-opener. Special team gaffes and turnovers turned the tide in Caruthersville’s favor. In the rematch, the St. Pius special teams was a positive factor in the win.
The Lancers have their own record holder in 2,000-yard (and climbing) rusher Cody Shaver. The junior back scored three TDs and led them with 161 yards on 28 carries. Shaver now has rushed for a school-record 2,645 yards and scored 29 TDs this season.
With the Tigers doing everything they could to slow down Shaver, junior back Brody Ervin was the perfect complement with 12 carries for 128 yards. Ervin’s TD run late in the fourth gave Pius a two-TD cushion.
“Brody’s (6-4, 210) a different animal than Cody,” Ray said. “Brody has been great all year. His yards per carry is crazy good. They decided they weren’t going to let Cody beat them. We run wishbone and they moved around their linebackers to deal with that.”
Ray acknowledged the quarterfinals are light years ahead of his team’s 0-3 start.
“We felt good. Nobody else did. I told the guys they’re going to win when they’re ready because there’s lessons to be learned. We also knew we were shooting ourselves in the foot. We had sometimes twice as many yards as those teams, but were turning it over six, seven times.”
Junior Kvion Townsend-Flores and senior Jack Michaud stopped Caruthersville drives with interceptions. Junior DB Harrison Ray is among the leaders in the St. Louis area with five picks. The Lancers have 14 this season.
Jackson crushes Northwest in Class 6 final
The visiting Lions (3, 8-3) trailed the unbeaten, top-seeded Indians (11-0) 14-7 in “The Pit” before the runaway train packed with Division I talent cruised to a 70-7 victory to win the District 1 title. Jackson hosts CBC (11-0) in the state quarterfinals Saturday at 1 p.m. The last time they met in 2023, the Cadets beat the Indians in the district final.
“We competed hard at the beginning,” Northwest head coach Scott Gerling said. “We were banged up from the Seckman game the week before. We knew Jackson has an explosive offense. They made a big play from the first play from scrimmage. We struggled offensively, but they have college-bound kids on the offensive line. When you’re good up front and have explosive kids you’re going to be hard to beat in high school.”
Junior QB Cohenn Stark scored the Lions’ final TD of the season. A trick play and completion to senior WR Omarion Frazier put Northwest into the red zone on the scoring drive.
The offensive player of the year in the Suburban Conference (Orange pool), Stark has scored 24 TDs and rushed and passed for 1,400 yards.
“We got physical a little bit and Cohenn punched it in on a keeper,” Gerling said.
Gerling was an assistant coach at Oakville when the Tigers played in Jackson, so he was familiar with the unique atmosphere.
“If it’s playoff time you’re going to play in front of a full crowd, no matter where you are,” Gerling said. “We brought hundreds of fans in blue among a sea of red. The kids playing in that environment in that moment was cool.”
The Lions averaged 47.7 points in their first eight games and 9.3 in their last three.
“The outcome wasn’t what we wanted, but for young guys hungry to get on a varsity field it shows if we want to take that next step, we’ve seen up close where we need to be. Good players aren’t born without work ethic. It’s never going to happen in the modern game without it.”