Maybe McConnell will retire since thedems will still have the Senate and assuming the pubs take the House Pelosi will probably retire and maybe the pubs will have enough sense not to make the McCarthy Speaker.

2024-2028

Valle 7-0 @ end of 1st

will marionville host there semi game

ADVANCING TO ROUND FOUR CONGRATULATIONS:

42 pts:

griffonsooner

41:

ncmo24, BlackSwarm, thelizardking1969

40:

ChaoticFanatic

39:

carthagefan2006, NEMOFball, Anti-BS

ELIMINATED. THANK YOU ALL FOR PLAYING THIS SEASON AND HOPE TO SEE YOU HERE NEXT YEAR:

38:

NorthlandFootball, joshuagray

37:

da bears 25, hangmanbobbyjaggers, BoosterBosko

36:

O Line Wins Games

35:

Mowestdad, shoot90draw

32:

panther72

NOW on to Round 4 (8M district finals, C6 semifinals, C1-5 quarterfinals) for you eight advancers. Game dates and times TBD most likely over the weekend so look for games to post SUNDAY MORNING with a 7 PM FRIDAY deadline for entries. Those of you who did not advance and won a regular season prize I am ordering those this week so look for yours circa Thanksgiving.

All scores revert to zero and will now tabulate week to week with a single tiebreak.

This will be the final round I select games. Rounds 5-6 will comprise ALL Missouri games. CONGRATULATIONS again to you eight survivors and GOOD LUCK. FOUR advance out of this round to the aforementioned #5.

Like I suspect everyone else in these parts been really, really waiting for this one to come back around and here it is! THE rematch in the KC metro this week if not all of MO. Here are the distant, from the stands observations about this ultimate District title Friday night tilt:

FACTORS FAVORING SMITHVILLE:

1) This is what I call the "back side of the bell curve" year i.e. the final one before youth and inexperience set the program back for a year or two (all relative they will still be competitive). All the key contributors both sides of the ball are Seniors so there is the urgency factor in play here.
2) The defense. Yeah they don't have any real huge superstars this year (could make an argument for the Boyd kid though) but this, from watching replays and live games the past month, unit is really rounded into shape and will be very difficult to score on.
3) Experience. All these players were in Columbia last year and the huge key is the returning field general Hedgecorth. Expect the Warriors to play very disciplined and mature (HC Ambroson has alluded to this factor more than once in Courier post game wraps this fall).

FACTORS FAVORING KEARNEY:

1) Coaching. This is completely off the charts this year. Yours truly was aiming for a 8-3 type season where the KDogs were more competitive with Fort and Smithville who I knew brought plenty back from very deep runs last year. My year one read is this is a very no-nonsense focused staff and the HC is as analytical as any in the Metro area. NO way to know what to expect both sides of the ball but will be tons of fun to find out.
2) Athleticism. This team is beyond loaded with top notch ones as others have pointed out here all year plus they have their fair share of Senior talent and #14 is the best player on the field and who knows where/when he will pop up (again back to coaching). HUGE key will be overall D Back play. This has been an early game issue at times. One other factor to watch is whether Kearney goes on one of those "spurts" they have shown in recent games and can Smithville stop that momentum if it happens.
3) Home Field Advantage. Cold as it will be expect a major crowd which will be augmented by players/coaches etc. from surrounding towns not playing this Friday night. Will be the best atmosphere K has hosted since Hannibal 2016 and the players etc. should totally avoid anything resembling the occasional slow starts we've seen in these overmatched games of late.

I could go deep in the weeds here but no point. Overall it is very rare I really don't have a good read on a game like this but there are too many unpredictable factors plus the fact round 1 was very close (20-19 Kearney). One thing I will say, though, is I have seen many even ones like this break one way or the other early. Would not be one bit surprised to see this happen especially given the very cold conditions to come. Told one of my old HS buddies this is the kind of game I would crawl the six blocks to the Stadium from the house in a foot of snow to witness. FUN TIMES AWAIT.

Should we take up a collection for his Blue Check Mark fund?

Login to view embedded media

24-7 St Charles wins. Huge upset I would think.

How early can you log into mshsaa tv before game time?
For example my mother wants to watch it and I already paid for it but I’m not sure she can figure out how to sign in. I was wondering if I could log in for her about 1:00 Friday before the 7:00 pm game

I like the current playoff format as I believe it does the best job of crowning a champion and gives everyone a chance. I always wish, though, that MSHSAA would re-seed each division after districts or even when there are 16 teams left. I admittedly root for the Mineral Area/MAAA/Jefferson County schools and think it is tough year-after-year for Park Hills (or Valle or Hillsboro or whoever) running up against the St. Louis privates (John Burroughs in the 2010's and now St. Mary's/Cardinal Ritter/Lutheran North/Lutheran St. Charles). And anyone that thinks Valle is the same as the STL privates is just trolling. Just to change it up a bit, it would be fun to re-seed using MaxPreps rankings. I notice that Hillsboro and Park Hills are both currently ranked #3 in their respective classes but both get to run up against the unstoppable private machines this week. Here is a look at what re-seeding might look like this year in Classes 2,3,4. Matchups would be 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6, 4 v 5. Would be fun to see some different out of area matchups. I know people are going to cry about travel but travel is already crazy in this round as West Plains plays Hannibal (263 miles) and Portageville plays Duchesne (192 miles). I like how a few years ago they rotated the semis (where 1-2 used to play 3-4 automatically, now they don't), maybe they could rotate the quarterfinals too. This is just for fun, though, current system is as good as it will get. And nothing against St. Louis privates, they play within the rules that MSHSAA allows so good for them. No matter system, the best team will win in the end. And I know MaxPreps is not the perfect solution but better than using MSHSAA district points IMO.

Class 4
1. St. Mary's
2. Center
3. Hillsboro
4. Smithville
5. West Plains
6. Hannibal
7. Parkway Central
8. St. Dominic

Class 3
1. Cardinal Ritter
2. Park Hills Central
3. Maryville
4. Pleasant Hill
5. Reeds Springs
6. Sullivan
7. Boonville
8. St. Charles West

Class 2
1. Blair Oaks
2. Lafayette County
3. Mountain View Liberty
4. Lamar
5. Seneca
6. Bowling Green
7. Lift for Life
8. Holden

I saw rankings today that ranked them as the number 1 team in the country. Class 5 is over before it starts.

Bracket

Left side Quarterfinals:

Hillboro(10-1) @ St. Mary’s(9-2)

Center(11-0) @ Smithville(10-1)



Right Side Quarterfinals:

Pkwy Central(9-2) @ Hazelwood East(8-2)/St Dominic(5-5)
(Regardless of who wins HE/StD, Parkway Central will not be hosting)

Hannibal(9-2) @ West Plains(8-3)


after the research I’ve done on the teams on the right side of the bracket these last couple of weeks, I just don’t have any reason to believe that the winner of the Hannibal/WP game won’t be favored in the semis

St Dominic improves to 6-5 and will host Parkway Central(9-2) in the State QF next week.

Hazelwood East finishes the season at 8-3

Raytown keeps turning the ball over and Grain Valley keeps scoring.

vv

With Jackson on the downturn (or so it seems) will we see a SEMO school win another title anytime soon? Outside of Jackson I have not been much impressed with what is going on in that corner of the state. Granted I do not know much about the smaller schools (Scott City for example) but the class 4 & 5 schools leave much to be desired. Could be way off but doesn't seem like this area of the state is keeping up.

29-yard TD reception for Heston Miller
XP good
7-0 WP with 8:16 left in the 1st Q

I’m wondering if the Bolivar broadcast stream was the only option with MSHSAATV because that’s what I’ve got

Fort nice opening drive. OP returns favor w 60yd run on first play from scrimmage
And then Fenner w 100yd kickoff return

Nm

Anyone watch? 7-6? I was expecting a fairly high scoring output. Thoughts?

This old alum and fan says THANK YOU for one of the most amazing seasons in KDogs history! Tonight is one of those bitter old pills to swallow but definitely a great learning experience that will benefit all of you moving forward! Each and every one of you did a SPECTACULAR job and everyone in this great community owes you a tremendous amount of gratitude!

Never been more proud!

God bless and see you all next August!

Trump was too busy golfing or honoring Rush Limbaugh and Gym Jordan to do stuff like this.

Login to view embedded media

Dont think we have heard much on Osage. MoSooner what is the word on them?

Getting my bearings and thawing out! Kudos to Smithville they totally played like the defending champs tonight! Will get to that game in another thread. Stats and the announcement of the EIGHT survivors coming later tonight!

Adrian 29, Butler 18
Lincoln 38, Cole Camp 20
North Andrew 46, East Atchison 14
St. Joseph LeBlond 42, King City 14
Lee's Summit North 24, Nixa 10
East Buchanan 21, Mid Buchanan 0
Center 35, Nevada 13
Fort Osage 44, Oak Park 25
Higginsville 7, Richmond 6
Maryville 33, Savannah 28
Smithville 49, Kearney 13 (bonus/deduction)
Worth County 46, South Nodaway 28

Going only to my absolutely reliable sources for these...............