Looks like the top football is played in the Southwest area of the state. Joplin finished as Class 6 runner up and then you have Carthage, Webb City, Cassville and Ava playing for titles this weekend. St. Louis only has left besides state champion DeSmet is Lutheran North. Southeast Missouri has Valle and Jackson left. KC, I will give them Odessa and Platte County. Lincoln I will say is from Central Missouri.
I can speak for the St. Louis area, as the only teams that have won and has a chance to win are our Private Schools who are like Select teams, as they get players from all over STL area. That is why the public schools in St. Louis and even St. Charles are at a great disadvantage, as they are going up against All-Star teams. Now, I can go either way on this topic, as some of our public schools in STL fail our kids academically, so I know these kids are in a better place for both education and sports. But I think we have reached a point where we need to go to separate Public and Private schools for the sports. I would have loved to see a Private school football tournament where a Lutheran North would have played CBC and DeSmet to see where they stack up. You could place all Private and Charter Schools into one bracket (Any school where the students are not bound by specific border boundaries for attendance) and place all true public schools into five classes, starting with 64 teams in the largest class and having the smallest class as the catch all.
I know we get tired of all of these Public vs Private school debates, but a team like Lutheran North, who could possibly be the best team in the STL area besides East St. Louis who resides on the Illinois side of the river, playing for the Class 2 title is somewhat of a joke. And to even think that Cardinal Ritter, who actually beat Lutheran North is also in Class 2 (no Ritter is another entire topic), there is something wrong with the playoff system. The new system coming will not solve the problem.
And to make myself sound crazy, I will be rooting for North to win this weekend as I support the STL teams, but I do not think it is right.