And sports editors.
Bands will strike up the schools’ fight songs next Friday (Aug. 30), players will rush onto the field and families will gather to watch the spectacle that is Friday night football.
Festus hosts Fox in the marquee matchup of Week 1. The nonconference opponents met in the season opener last season in Arnold with the Warriors winning 27-6.
Fox, a Class 5 school, had its best season in a decade in 2018 when it finished 9-2 after losing 42-23 to Jackson in the District 1 championship. Festus (7-5) lost to West Plains 42-6 in the Class 4 District 1 final.
Fox rushed for 318 yards against Festus and nearly pitched a shutout last year before yielding a late touchdown. The Warriors boasted three 1,000-yard rushers last year in Cole Elwood (89-1,023), Gavin McGinness (114-1,163) and Bob Neibert (186-1,231). They were three seniors on a team loaded with veteran leadership. Elwood was a Missouri Football Coaches Association first-team all-state selection last year.
After the first week of practice, Fox head coach Brent Tinker said his overall numbers are up, but the shape of his starting roster is still being evaluated. Replacing McGinness at quarterback is one of Tinker’s biggest tasks. Junior Brock Inman has been taking snaps with the first team and senior Jake Pisoni is working with the first and second teams.
“They’ve got a healthy battle going on. They’re both capable athletes,” Tinker said.
Senior Carson Elwood, Cole’s younger brother, has taken over at fullback, a position that Neibert ran to a school record in career yards. Carson (205 pounds) only had eight rushes last year, but one of them was for a 16-yard touchdown against the Tigers. Tinker said he still hasn’t decided who’s going to play alongside him in the backfield.
“Carson is faster and more of an athletic kid,” Tinker said. “Bobby was a powerful runner. Caron’s got more movement and wiggle about him. He’s been a really good leader in the offseason.”
Anchoring Fox’s offensive line is senior Austin Dearing, who was second-team all-state in 2018. Dearing will play center and guard this year. Seniors Jeff Keller and Nick Nice also have experience on the O-line for the Warriors.
Festus head coach Russ Schmidt and Tinker are friends away from the sidelines and meet occasionally for breakfast. Tinker said any talk of the Warriors eating the Tigers’ lunch in last year’s game is false.
“We played an opponent that, obviously, was physically better than us,” Schmidt said after last year’s loss.
Tinker gave a coach’s perspective of the game.
“Our kids played really good, but nothing was easy,” Tinker said. “There were several crucial moments. I talk to Coach Schmidt a lot. I don’t feel we dominated that game. I feel it was an extremely competitive game. Their mistakes let us get away with a few things. Cole Elwood made big plays in times we needed them. I don’t think we bullied them or pushed them around. I look at them as a very even opponent. Going into this year, it will be very similar. I have confidence we can win, but without a doubt they can beat us if we don’t play our best.”
In next week’s Leader, I’ll preview the Mississippi Area Football Conference Red teams from the county and Tinker agrees with me that Festus has a dynamic backfield that’s the best in the county this year. After I talked with Schmidt on Sunday morning, it dawned on me that the Tigers actually line up six deep in the backfield. Austin Anderson, Chalmer Brickhaus, Cayden Glaze, Jack Robinson, Cole Wagner and Jaden Rystrom give Schmidt options like never before. The thought of the Tigers distributing the ball to any of those running backs early in the season when the temperatures run hot makes me feel sorry for the defenses that must stop them.
Schmidt said his team is farther along this year and he feels they’ll be better prepared to face Fox. The Festus R-6 School District spent $5 million to renovate its stadium last year and the beautiful facility should be full and rocking for the big game.
“There’s been high enthusiasm, high energy and lots of reps,” Schmidt said of his team’s first week of practice. “Our kids are really ahead of schedule than we were last year. There’s a difference between football smart and book smart and we’ve got football-smart kids. We’ve simplified things so the kids can play faster. Offensively the kids are more familiar with the system. Special teams were taught at a different level. Our kids grasped what we’re doing this year, even before we got into camp.”
Schmidt said he’s been preparing for the rematch against Fox since the night the game ended. I told him it sounded like he’s got the game circled on his calendar.
“After you play somebody for the first time, round two you have an expectation of what to do,” he said. “When you have 364 days to do that, you can figure things out. Week 1 is the tone-setter for the season.”
Here is a look at the other Week 1 football games played by county teams:
Seckman started last season 4-0 en route to a 6-4 finish in what might have been the Jaguars’ finest campaign. Doug Baker resigned as the head coach after the season and new head coach and former Seckman running back Nick Baer takes the Jaguars to Washington on Aug. 30 for their opener. Seckman beat the Blue Jays 27-13 in last year’s opener.
After winning 6-3 in Perryville in last year’s first game, De Soto hosts the Pirates on Aug. 30. The Dragons played their opener last season a week after assistant coach John Ames died.
The post-Andrew Graves era begins for Jefferson at home against DuBourg on Aug. 30. Graves graduated as the Blue Jays’ leader in many categories, including career rushing and touchdowns. Jefferson beat the Cavaliers 51-6 in Week 1 last year on the way to a school-best nine wins.
For the fourth straight season, Northwest opens its schedule against Francis Howell North. The Lions have won the last two games against the Knights and beat them 34-14 in 2018 on their way to a 3-0 start.
Jordan Duncan won’t be back at quarterback for Herculaneum, but I don’t think the talented senior’s decision to focus on baseball will hurt the Blackcats much. That’s because they have Austin Huson to hit on defense and punish tacklers at running back. Huson scored the game-winning TD against Cuba in last year’s opener. The Wildcats and Blackcats meet again on Aug. 30 in Herky.
Windsor hosts St. Pius X as the two nonconference opponents open the season against each other for the fourth straight year on Aug. 30. The Lancers have won the last two meetings by a combined score of 70-14.
Grandview got back on the varsity gridiron last year following a season of junior varsity play to replenish its ranks. The Eagles were 0-10 last season and lost 50-0 at home to Scott City to start the season. Grandview travels to Scott City in Southeast Missouri on Aug. 30 to open 2019 with more skill and depth.
Hillsboro beat Sullivan 30-17 in its first game in 2018, and the Hawks were 4-1 at the midway point of the season. However, they dropped their final five games and allowed more than 50 points in two of them. Hillsboro hosts the Eagles on Aug. 30.
Flooding at J.J. Commerford Stadium forced Crystal City to move its home opener to Festus on Aug. 31. The Hornets, 1-9 last year, will play Chaffee, which shut them out 20-0 in 2018.