Only three weeks remain in the prep football regular season, just enough time for teams to clinch conference crowns and jockey for the top seeds in their districts.
Hillsboro and St. Pius X play in districts packed with teams they’ve already played and mostly beaten. The Hawks have successfully defended their Mississippi Area Football Conference Red Division championship and can stay unbeaten this season (they are 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the MAFC) with a win at De Soto Friday.
But the marquee game of the week will be St. Pius X hosting St. Vincent, with the winner gaining the inside track to the I-55 Conference title. The Lancers and Indians are both 5-1 overall and 3-0 in league play, with three league games left. St. Pius is the defending champion and has won eight straight I-55 games going back to last season.
For fans looking ahead, the Lancers close out their schedule at Bayless (1-5, 0-4) and host the newest member of the league, Perryville (2-4, 2-2), on Oct. 21. The Lancers’ lone loss was in the opener to Brentwood (5-1). Those two teams will fight it out in Class 1 District 2 along with Crystal City (5-1), Duchesne (3-3), Grandview (2-4), Louisiana (1-5) and Van-Far (1-5).
Other than Windsor (3-3), the rest of the MAFC Red Division – De Soto (1-5), Festus (2-4), Hillsboro and North County (5-1) – reside in Class 4 District 1, along with Farmington (3-3), Perryville and Sikeston (1-5). The Owls are in District 2,which also includes St. Mary’s (5-1), last year’s Class 3 state champion that was bumped up a class this year.
After three straight I-55 wins over Grandview, Jefferson and Herculaneum, allowing only 18 points, St. Pius traveled to Cuba last week and trampled the winless Wildcats 58-6. That’s the most points the Lancers have scored in a game since ringing up 58 in Cuba in 2018.
St. Pius head coach Dan Oliver said he watched the game film from St. Vincent’s 19-16 win over Herculaneum on Sept. 16 and saw just how close the Blackcats came to winning. Oliver said he admires Herculaneum senior running back Mike Moloney’s running style, but didn’t get much to scout on from the film because Moloney carried the ball sparingly. St. Pius got a bigger dose of Moloney a week later, but the Lancers won 13-6 at home.
“I think we have a good chance (against St. Vincent),” Oliver said. “Herky could have easily won that game and they played us well. With the way Moloney runs the ball, I would have loved to know how that works out because that would have helped our approach. But (Herculaneum) used more passing against St. Vincent and the way we’re built and made, they know that’s coming. That’s how we beat (the Indians) last year, and two years ago the same way. It’s always a scrum to play those guys and you never know how it’s going to turn out. Our defense is so much better than anybody around.”
St. Pius senior defensive end Alex Moisis registered five sacks against the Blackcats last week.
“He’s unblockable,” Oliver said. “You can’t block him without holding him.”
Against Cuba, senior linebacker Dabrien Moss returned an interception 67 yards for a touchdown with less than a minute left in the first quarter to make it 27-0 and the rout was on. The other early scores for the Lancers were by running backs Nolan Sipple (a 47-yard run) and Austin McGukin (20- and four-yard carries).
“Dabrien saw (the interception) coming the whole way and once he picked it, within a second or two he had two or three guys leading him down the sideline to make sure he was going untouched the rest of the way,” Oliver said. “That put things out of reach. We took over the game at that point.”
Taking his first snaps as a varsity starter against Cuba, sophomore quarterback Brennen Ervin filled in for starter James Smith, a junior who suffered a broken collarbone in the Herculaneum game. Ervin completed four of seven passes for 66 yards. Oliver said Smith could return by the district playoffs.
Hawks roll in Imperial
Hillsboro scored just about every way possible in a 67-13 blowout over host Windsor in an MAFC Red game on Sept. 30.
The Hawks played flawlessly in the first quarter, sprinting to a 36-0 lead. Quarterback Preston Brown began the barrage with a 15-yard touchdown run. After running back Jaxin Patterson made it 14-0 on a four-yard trip to pay dirt, Brown completed a 14-yard TD pass to receiver Blake Larson. Less than a minute later, Patterson tackled a Windsor ball carrier in the end zone for a safety and a 23-0 lead. Patterson piled on the next TD run and Hillsboro closed out the first-quarter scoring on a 58-yard punt return for a touchdown by Larson.
Larson has close to 400 return yards this season.
“He’s deceptively fast, a long-striding, lanky kid,” Hillsboro head coach Bill Sucharski said. “He’ll make people miss.”
With the big lead, Sucharski pulled Brown after one quarter and replaced him with junior A.J. Heuszel, who threw a touchdown pass to senior receiver Canyon Stout in the second quarter and ran for another score in the fourth.
In between, on Windsor’s kickoff to open the second half, Larson fielded the ball, started running, got hit and fumbled right to teammate Ian Phillips, who ran the rest of the way for a TD and a 60-13 lead.
“Blake gets hit and Phillips grabs it out of mid-air in stride,” Sucharski said. “The ball never hit the ground. The kids were still following the play. That was a good thing to see.”
Senior Austin Romaine didn’t play against Windsor because of an injury. Sucharski didn’t want to speculate on when Romaine would return, but didn’t rule out the Oct. 14 showdown with Cardinal Ritter (6-0). Romaine leads the Hawks in rushing (631 yards) and touchdowns (nine).
“We want to make sure we get him right (for) later in the season,” Sucharski said.
After a team-leading 184 rushes last year, Patterson’s carries have diminished, but only because of more options in the backfield. He already has more than 4,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in a spectacular four-year career. With the responsibility of playing linebacker alongside Romaine, Patterson isn’t worried about his rushing stats, Sucharski said.
“It’s a byproduct of more overall depth,” Sucharski said. “The kids work really hard and we’ve had a running clock in the second half of our games. That reduces time for both teams and reduces carries. He understands our philosophy.”
Sucharski said he’s not worried about his team overlooking the Dragons and focusing on Ritter. Last season, Hillsboro shut out De Soto 47-0, then went on the road and won tough games at St. Francis Borgia and Poplar Bluff.
“We have to focus on ourselves and look at cleaning up our mistakes,” he said. “You don’t want to overlook anybody and we broke down (De Soto’s) film like everybody else’s. I’ve called to get the game film on Ritter, but they don’t play until Saturday and that limits our prep time.”
Blue Jays move to .500
After a 1-3 start, Jefferson has won two straight I-55 Conference games to even its record this season.
The Blue Jays have played solid defense all along, even in losses to Fredericktown (a scoring-starved 6-3 game), Herculaneum (16-8) and St. Pius (27-12).
Jefferson beat host Bayless 42-6 on Sept. 23 and, despite losing three fumbles, defeated Perryville 20-7 at home on Sept. 30. Sean Usery (112 yards) and Max Schnitzler (108) both went over 100 yards rushing against the Pirates. Jefferson quarterback Kole Williams threw a TD pass to Nate Breeze, who also led the team defensively with 11 tackles.
The Blue Jays visit Grandview Friday in an I-55 matchup.