The Missouri State High School Activities Association has released its class and district assignments for football for the 2018-2019 school year and as usual there’s plenty to mull over.
With all 12 Jefferson County prep teams playing a varsity schedule – Grandview is back after a one-year junior varsity hiatus – let’s take a look at what’s different in 2018 and what some of the head coaches think about where they landed.
For starters, Fox and Seckman have moved down from Class 6, home of the largest schools, to Class 5 District 1. Before Warrior and Jaguar fans start rejoicing, they should take a look at the other teams in their new district (more on that later). Northwest, meanwhile, remains in Class 6, but has moved from District 1 to District 3.
District 3 is heavily weighted with good teams from the Suburban West Conference. Eureka was 12-1 a year ago, its only loss coming to eventual state champion CBC in the Class 6 semifinals. Kirkwood has won two state championships in this decade (2012 in Class 5 and 2016 in Class 6). Lindbergh and Lafayette were 10-2 and 7-4 respectively last year.
Any of the four Class 6 districts could produce this year’s state champion. MSHSAA officials did a good job of not lumping all of the best teams from the St. Louis area in the same district.
The other three schools in Northwest’s district – Joplin, Springfield Kickapoo and Ozark – are from the southwest corner of the state. Ozark was 7-5 in Class 5 last year and Kickapoo (2-8) and Joplin (8-2) lost in the first round of the Class 6 District 4 tournament.
While Northwest has managed 4-6 records in each of the last two seasons, the Lions have about as much chance of winning their new district as Gen. Custer had against the Sioux at the Little Big Horn.
The good news is Northwest head coach Corey Toejnes has 105 players in his program (including 22 seniors), more than any other school in the county. But he’s still surrounded by some juggernaut programs.
“Ozark is on the way up and Kickapoo has some really good athletes,” Toejnes said. “In the spring, it looked like we were going to be Class 5, but the way the numbers are, we’re Class 6. That’s something to be proud of. If we have the type of season we’re capable of, we can host a district game.”
Playing well enough (5-4) in the first nine games could mean the Lions would host a district game for the first time since the advent of the current playoff system in 2012. That’s motivation enough to avoid a four-hour bus ride in Week 10.
Toejnes got his first look at the Lions against an opponent at Friday’s jamboree.
“We had some ups and downs. We rotated heavily,” he said. “There were some good things. It was a good chance to see where we’re at. We’re a physical, smash-mouth football team and that’s hard to simulate in practice.”
Fox and Seckman are in Class 5 District 1 with Jackson, Oakville and Poplar Bluff. None of those teams are slouches; Jackson outgunned Bluff 56-49 in three overtimes in last season’s district semifinals. Oakville beat Seckman and lost to Fox during the 2017 regular season.
One coach who likes the state’s new rule of realigning district football assignments every year, instead of every two years as in the other sports, is Fox head man Brent Tinker.
“Re-seeding the districts every year makes a lot of sense,” Tinker said. “We’re familiar with all the opponents. Jackson (a participant in Friday’s jamboree) has been traditionally successful. You’re not going to sneak up on anybody. A good regular season might give you that Week 10 bye (a feature unique to Class 5, which has five or six teams in each district). That’s helpful in high school football because of depth issues.
“Dave Sievers is the new head coach at Poplar Bluff and he’s one of the best men you could meet. That town loves him and his kids love him and they’ll play great fundamental football. The district will be hotly contested and seeding will matter.”
De Soto, Festus and Hillsboro remain in Class 4 District 1 with Cape Girardeau Central, Farmington, North County and Sikeston. Perryville was moved out of District 1 and replaced with West Plains. The Zizzers were in District 5 last season and went 8-3. West Plains had been in the same district as 14-time state champion Webb City since 2012.
That change in Class 4 District 1, by the way, is the first in that district since the state created the current playoff format in 2012.
Hillsboro advanced to the district final in each of the last two years and beat Cape Central to capture the title last fall. But the Hawks have lost more talent to graduation in a two-year span than any team I can remember covering. That doesn’t mean head coach Lee Freeman won’t have his team ready to defend their title, however. North County could be the district favorite because the Raiders return all-Mississippi Area Football Conference Red Division first team quarterback Kolten Poorman and receiver Cole Ziegler.
Festus finished 5-5 last year and was blown out 47-6 by North County in the first round of the playoffs. The Tigers would love to show off the $5 million they spent on stadium renovation this offseason by hosting a district game.
“West Plains moving into the district is a game-changer,” Festus head coach Russ Schmidt said. “We’ve played them four times and that’s a four-hour bus ride.”
The other county team in Class 4 is Windsor, which stays put in District 2. Ladue is the favorite again to capture the District 2 crown after losing to Webb City in last year’s state championship game.
“The district is heavy with large schools and talent,” Windsor head coach Alex DeMatteis said Friday before the Owls hosted their jamboree. “It’s interesting that a lot of schools moved up and down out of Class 4 and Class 5, but we’re going to put out the best product we can, get seeded and go play.
“I’ve never heard of (Rockwood) Summit being (in) Class 4. Even Fox and Seckman dropped from Class 6 to Class 5. It’s interesting every time those (district assignments) come out.”
As was the case in 2016 and 2017, none of the county teams reside in Class 3. In Class 2, Jefferson and St. Pius X are in District 1 while Herculaneum and Grandview will compete in District 2. Defending champs Caruthersville and Lutheran North, respectively, are once again the favorites.
“Our districts are bizarre in where the schools are from,” Grandview head coach Dave Dallas said. “If you look at us and Herky, (we’re) playing schools from St. Louis, and you’ve got Jefferson and St. Pius going south. (MSHSAA) tries to get each district to where it’s balanced out travel-wise.”
Crystal City stays in Class 1 District 1 and has its own 14-time state champion to deal with there in Valle Catholic.
Here are the enrollment breaks for football Classes 1-6. Classes 1-4 each have 64 teams while Class 5 has 42 and Class 6 has 32.
Class 1: 1-188 students
Class 2: 189-337
Class 3: 338-555
Class 4: 556-990
Class 5: 991-1,292
Class 6: 1,293-2,017