In a month that ends with the biggest meal of the year, county football fans will be treated to a moveable feast of district games on Friday.
Just about anywhere you want to go in the county, there will be a playoff contest. At J.J. Commerford Stadium in Crystal City, the Hornets (6-3) are the No. 2 seed in Class 1 District 2 and will host Harrisburg (No. 7, 3-6).
Jump over I-55 a couple of miles away to Festus, and the Tigers (No. 2 in Class 4 District 1, 7-3) await a Sikeston team (No. 6, 2-8) that lost its first eight games before upsetting No. 3 Perryville in the first round, but Tiger head coach A.J. Ofodile said he’s impressing on his team to not take this week’s foe lightly.
Continue heading west on Hwy. A about seven miles and the Friday night lights at Hillsboro will be shining brightly as the No. 1 seeded Hawks (8-1) in Class 4 District 1 come off a bye week ready for a rematch against Mississippi Area Football Conference Red Division rival North County (No. 4, 4-6). Hillsboro torched the Raiders 48-0 in their conference meeting in September when Hawk QB Preston Brown threw for 255 yards and three touchdowns.
Heading south a few miles, Jefferson (No. 1, 7-2) hosts St. Pius X (No. 4, 7-3) in the Class 2 District 2 semifinals that’s also an I-55 Conference rematch from the Blue Jays’ 28-18 victory over the Lancers at Father Dalton Stadium in September. St. Pius advanced by beating Priory (No. 5, 3-7) 33-14 on Oct. 27.
In Imperial, undefeated and top-seeded Seckman (9-0) had a week off to prepare for its rematch against conference rival Oakville (No. 4, 6-4) in the Class 6 District 1 semifinals. Not only are the Jaguars unbeaten on the varsity level, but their JV finished 10-0 and freshman team was 9-0 for a combined program mark of 28-0.
The two-time defending Suburban Conference Orange pool champion Jaguars beat the Tigers 28-7 last month, but it was the only time they’ve trailed in a game this year. Under head coach Nick Baer, Seckman is 3-0 in district home games. Oakville advanced with a 56-14 win over Northwest (No. 5, 1-9) on Oct. 27.
Herculaneum (No. 4, 5-5) held on to defeat visiting Kennett (No. 5, 4-6) 32-26 in the first round of the Class 3 District 1 playoffs on Oct. 27. The Blackcats travel to Park Hills to play the No. 1-seeded Rebels (6-3) and their high-powered offense that features senior QB Casen Murphy and senior receiver Jobe Bryant.
Herculaneum featured a similarly dangerous passing game last season, but QB Jackson Dearing and WR Lucas Bahr graduated. Injuries pushed sophomore Keaton Reeves into the starting QB role for the Blackcats, and Reeves did a good job of running the offense against the Indians; the one pass he threw was for a 19-yard completion to junior receiver Mac Waddell. Waddell also led Herky with 78 yards rushing on seven carries.
“The whole offense played well,” Herculaneum head coach Blane Boss said. “A lot of guys had big plays. Keaton had a couple of long runs for first downs.”
The Blackcats led Kennett 32-12 going into the fourth before the Indians rallied with two TDs. Down by one score late in the fourth, Kennett tried an onside kick but Herky recovered and ran out the clock.
“It’s always cool to keep going,” Boss said. “Especially with the adversity we’ve faced with injuries. The kids have continued to work hard at practice. Their overall attitude and effort have been great all year and these kids have turned it on.”
Those injuries include junior LB/RB Brayden Mattingly, who Boss said is the team’s most explosive player on both sides of the ball. Mattingly has been out since Week 6 with ankle injuries. Another two-way starter at RB/LB, sophomore Payton Light (6-1, 190) hasn’t played on offense or defense since Week 3 after suffering a concussion against Jefferson. Light punted the last two weeks, but it’s doubtful he’ll carry the ball or make a tackle again this season.
When Boss was head coach at Perryville, the Pirates played Park Hills Central every year, so he’s familiar with this week’s opponent.
“They are one of most explosive offenses in the area,” he said. “Those three losses they had were misleading because they didn’t have (Murphy). We’re going to have to tackle well. We’ll have our hands full for sure.”
Lehn runs wild for Lancers
Junior RB Justin Lehn rushed for 386 yards on 31 carries and scored four TDs in the St. Pius X 33-14 Class 2 District 2 win over Priory on Oct. 27.
Lehn has rushed for more than 1,500 yards and scored 23 TDs on the ground and has added 200 yards and four more scores through the air this season.
“Priory has the biggest defensive line I’ve seen,” St. Pius head coach Frank Ray said. “We held our own and got the ball in Justin’s hands and he did what he does.”
The senior combo of QB James Smith and WR Patrick Flanagan combined for a TD pass giving the Lancers a 13-7 a halftime advantage that increased to 26-7 in the third quarter. Lehn led the defense with nine tackles, a forced fumble and two sacks. Junior Peyton Shaver had seven tackles and two sacks, and Thomas Boldt and Flanagan each recovered fumbles.
If St. Pius is to beat the Blue Jays, it’ll have to play cleaner football, Ray said.
“We have to limit our mistakes and penalties and if we do that, we’ll be OK,” he said. “Growth. I want to see my young kids grow and see how far they’ve come. The freshmen have seen some things and taken some lumps. I know what I’ll get out of (our veterans). I never worry about those kids.”
Tigers vanquish Dragons twice by same score
In their MAFC Red Division meeting in De Soto in September, Festus beat the Dragons 41-0.
Nothing changed when the Tigers ended visiting De Soto’s season 41-0 in the Class 4 District 1 first round on Oct. 27. Counting district play, Festus has beaten the Dragons seven straight times.
From the beginning of the season, De Soto head coach Russ Schmidt said he knew the best way his team could be competitive was by using delaying tactics to eat clock and shorten the game. That tactic worked for a quarter, as both teams lost fumbles on their opening possessions.
Festus took a 7-0 lead in the first by marching 78 yards in three minutes. Senior WR Will Reese caught two passes from senior QB Jeremiah Cunningham for 29 yards on the drive that culminated with a 21-yard TD from Cunningham to senior RB/WR Landen Yates.
“The end result is what you want, but our approach wasn’t what we need going forward,” Festus head coach A.J. Ofodile said. “Each game is going to get progressively tougher and we’re going to need a much cleaner run. We had assignment errors today, and to be honest, the effort wasn’t what we need. As an older more experienced team we took care of business, but I thought De Soto came out and outcompeted us.
“Will (Reese) was steady for us. He was able to convert some opportunities early in the game to keep the sticks moving. Landen made a big play in the pass game that got us on the board. The biggest thing for us was our defense played hard, detailed and physically and didn’t give up anything.”
Most of De Soto’s possessions ended in three-and-outs or turnovers on downs. The Tigers quickly ran their lead to 21-0 in the second.
Senior WR Amyas Edwards caught an eight-yard pass from Cunningham on fourth-and-7, Yates took a pass 33 yards to the Dragon 1-yard line and junior Avery Edwards plunged in a play later. Sophomore kicker Luke Wacker’s PAT made it 14-0 with 10:15 to play in the half.
Senior LB Carter White sacked De Soto junior QB Austin Missey for a six-yard loss to snuff out the Dragons’ next drive and the Tigers took over at midfield. Alternating starting Festus QB Essien Smith, a junior, rushed for 19 yards and then on third-and-goal scored from three yards to make it 21-0 with 5 minutes to play in the half. Smith scored the game’s final TD in the fourth.
Ofodile said he isn’t taking the sixth-seeded Bulldogs lightly.
“They’ll be athletic,” he said. “They had a rocky start, but they’ll be a dangerous team with the confidence of two wins in a row. They’re in a tough conference and are battle-tested. We’ve met them in districts a couple times, so they’ll be itching to knock us off and we can’t let their record fool us and understand they’re a quality football team.”
Now that football season is over, Schmidt can concentrate on his duties as activities director. He took both jobs aware of the commitment it is going to take to be able to compete with Festus and Hillsboro and turn around a program that’s gone 2-28 in the last three seasons.
“I saw growth as a football team, even though it doesn’t show it on the scoreboard,” Schmidt said. “The message was clear to the kids. We know what we have to do this offseason. We were physically outmatched more times than not when we stepped onto the field. We have a vision and I’m not on a five-year plan. The future’s now.
“We went through a learning curve this year. I told the seniors when the season started there’s no guarantees. I didn’t come in with pixie dust and a magic wand. We were going to have to do a lot of things right. We did a lot of things right against everyone’s JV (after opponents had removed their starters.”