Football coaches I’ve talked to agree that the season has flown by like that comet that had us captivated last week as it made its once-in-80,000-years swing past earth.
From August heat and mandatory water breaks to the first chill of fall, our Friday night lights will start blinking out for some teams next week when district tournaments begin and teams are eliminated from contention.
Last year, Hillsboro took us all the way to December and the Class 4 state championship game in Columbia. While the outcome was a Kearney romp, the Hawks, 4-4 this season, showed the rest of the teams in the county that it’s possible to get past private-school powers in the playoffs. Losing star QB Preston Brown for the season with a broken finger hurts Hillsboro’s chances of surviving District 1 against a Festus team that’s already beaten them once.
Festus (7-1) edged the Hawks 14-7 and snuffed out their three-year reign as the Mississippi Area Football Conference champions. The Tigers finished 4-0 in the MAFC and shut out host Farmington 34-0 last week. But they have a sizeable challenge Friday as they travel to “The Pit” to play Jackson (6-2) and finish the regular season. The Indians have rolled off five straight wins and scored 55 points in each of their last two games.
If you’re a fan of Festus and are thinking about traveling down I-55 to watch the game, and you’ve never experienced the atmosphere at Jackson – go! The fans hang right over the field because it’s below ground level and there’s no track circling the gridiron, like you typically see. It’s like a college setting on a much smaller scale. Jackson fans are proud of their team and can intimidate visiting teams. I’ve seen some wide eyes during warmups before district games there.
The last time Jackson played a team from Jefferson County, they throttled Seckman 55-21 in the 2023 Class 6 District 1 final. The outcome had nothing to do with size or any physical measuring stick. Jackson just executed flawlessly and Seckman (currently 8-0) couldn’t keep up.
A win at home against struggling Webster Groves (2-5) on Friday would give the Jaguars their second unbeaten regular season in a row, four consecutive Suburban Conference Orange pool titles and the top seed in District 1. The Indians sit at No. 2, just like last year.
Nick Baer’s Jaguar crew is here to stay. He was working on his team’s schedule for 2026-2027 Sunday night when I called to ask about the prospect of hosting Jackson again for a district crown. Baer reminded me there are four other teams in the district, including high-flying Lindbergh (6-2) which is nipping at the Indians’ heels as the third seed right now. The Jags have wins this year over district foes Fox, Oakville and Northwest.
“We’re watching everybody,” Baer said. “Fox is playing better and Oakville is on a win streak. You see that matchup with Jackson looming. Again they’re a very solid team that will try to do the same things to us.”
In an otherwise routine 41-7 win at Hazelwood West Oct. 17, Seckman got a look at one of the most exciting talents in the St. Louis area. Quarterback Jabarri Lofton is a dual-threat player who can find a crack in your defense and exploit it for a big play. Against the Jaguars, that came on a 96-yard touchdown pass that briefly cut the Seckman lead to 13-7.
“Their QB is the real deal,” Baer said. “He’s tough to bring down and can drop the deep ball in.”
Seckman quarterback Brody Kube and a deep running back trio of Ben Lewis, Brady Ambrose and Chance Ruble give Baer the option of resting one of them when the grind of the season catches up. Baer said he hasn’t used Ambrose lately as much as he’d like to, but the Jags started against the Wildcats in a ‘heavy’ package and Ambrose took it to the house from 68 yards on the first play from scrimmage. Ruble made it 13-0 when he plunged in from a yard out with under a minute to go in the first quarter. Ambrose (102 yards) and Ruble (101) were the leading rushers. Kube fired a 31-yard TD pass to Isaac Perry to close out the scoring in the first half.
Then for the second week in a row, Seckman returned a kickoff for a touchdown as Lewis took the second-half kick 90 yards to paydirt.
“It’s a huge momentum swing,” Baer said. “The key to doing it is the guy with the ball in his hands has to find that seam and stick it there.”
Ruble and Lewis found the end zone with TD runs of three and 42 yards as Seckman kept rolling toward the No. 1 seed.
The rise of power football at Seckman under Baer, after years of futility, partly stems from an abundance of players and Baer’s willingness to adapt the offensive schemes to the personnel. Think of the Jaguar offense a few years ago with all-state star quarterback Cole Ruble, compared to now.
“From an outside perspective, more people know what’s happening with football in the (Seckman) valley and we’re a tough team to play,” Baer said.
Across Imperial at Windsor the night after Seckman won, the Owls were embroiled in a shootout with Fredericktown. Windsor lost its fourth game in a row, 41-38, to fall to 3-5 under first-year head coach Lee Freeman, former head coach at Hillsboro.
With a few minutes left, the Owls scored to take the lead, but Fredericktown drove down the field and punched in the winning TD from a yard out. It’s the fourth Windsor game this year in which the outcome has been decided by three or fewer points.
“We had some errors in the third (quarter) we didn’t overcome and that (was) the ballgame,” Freeman said. “Offensively we moved the ball up and down the field and defensively we did not get off the field much at all in the first half.”
In four of their five losses, the Owls have surrendered 41 or more points.
“Inconsistent play on defense has been the theory because at times we play really well,” Freeman said. “We have not tackled well in space and that goes back to our youth.”
Windsor’s offense took a blow when running back Landen Robbins was lost for the season with an injury suffered in a 52-30 loss to De Soto.
The Owls finished last (0-4) in the MAFC, but can gain some momentum at Bayless Friday. The Bronchos (2-6) are part of the Quad County Conference and have dropped four straight.
All of the teams from the MAFC are in Class 4 District 1. The Owls are currently the seventh seed and would open at Perryville (7-1) if the playoffs began this week.
“It’s the same story every week,” Freeman said. “If we are consistent and don’t have penalties and turnovers, I feel good about things. If not, (Bayless) has some kids that can hurt you. We need to go into districts with a win under our belts.”