My Way Too Early Missouri Football Rankings (Classes 4-6)
- Thread starter STL Crusader
- Start date
I "believe" they are playing Rockhurst in their opener again. Hawklets were very young last year and showed flashes of promise so that could be a good way to kick 2023 off this late August.
Ah maybe thats what they meant by "Expect to See Sprague on the field with RayPec in week 1"
Caldarella has Grain Valley in his Twitter bio so it appears the rumors are true. Will definitely note GV as contenders in Class 5.
CLASS 4
1. Hannibal
2. Kearney
3. Cardinal Ritter
4. Parkway North
5. Nevada
6. Vashon
7. Festus
8. Reed Spring
9. Smithville
10. Grandview
CLASS 5
1. MICDS
2. Carthage
3. Rockwood Summit
4. Lafayette
5. Cape Central
6. Webb
7. North Kansas City
8. Ladue
9. Republic
10. Holt
CLASS 6
1. CBC
2. Fancis Howell
3. Lee's Summit North
4. Rock
5. Joplin
6. Rock Bridge
7.Nixa
8. Staley
9. Oak Park
10. Liberty North
Kearney beat last year's version of Smithville with last year's team, where 8/11 starters on both sides of the ball are coming back (13 All-Conference players return to Smithville's 4.) Unless there are major turnovers and coaching issues, that will not be their hardest game of the year for Kearney. These younger classes are used to beating SV.
Derek Joiner, a highly recruited OL (1st team all state) coming back. John Hatcher, OL. Cortell Rodriguez, OL, is all coming back. All good players. Good tight end Tayvin Phillips, and DL Anthony Tabron. There are good athletes there. Also, they lost their QB late in the season. There is always potential there with the athletes they can bring. It is just the orchestration of it. They have more speed than anyone in the conference--maybe not football skills. But yeah, you are probably right.
Varsity staff at Smithville will get things figured out. Kearney has not won at Smithville since 2011 where I believe the Warriors have not lost in the regular season since that now legendary 2018 Platte County comeback (my stupidest halftime exit of all time and I'm pushing 60). We shall see!
Make no mistake I love what this current Kearney staff is doing and they will be a very serious contender but have seen these "rivalry jinxes" too many times over the years it won't be easy. Not one bit.
I would be very surprised if Carthage is very good this year. They lost all 11 defensive starters and about 8 on offense (mostly the same guys)
The only reason K did not at Smithville since "2011" is they did not have a game in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, or 2016. All of which they would have won by three touchdowns.
I am fully aware of that haha. They played in the playoffs at Kearney in 2014 was 24-3 Dogs. That was among the strangest years ever in these parts. One key injury after another yet they beat soon to become Alabama Crimson Tide star Hale Hentges and Helias Catholic in OT before facing one of the best Webb teams of all time.
In case you were curious about how those would have turned out..
[2013] Kearney (MO) 38, [2013] Smithville (MO) 10
[2014] Kearney (MO) 28 , [2014] Smithville (MO) 7
[2015] Kearney (MO) 35 , [2015] Smithville (MO) 7
[2016] Kearney (MO) 26 , [2016] Smithville (MO) 7
Yep Smithville was just getting going and KTown was very well established. How times have changed............
Republic lost quite a bit but they have some really good players coming back . I expect them to be pretty good
Anything can happen but on paper Joplin should be loaded on offense this year and have 3 of the best players in the coc ( Renfro , Hafer and Holt ) if they can put together an at least average defense they will be very good
Well I obviously hope you are right but actually hope somebody pushes them well before that. Still think that team will be Smithville just a hunch not based on anything except the strength of that varsity program.
Well, since Kearney are a bunch of "Cheating M...F'rs," they should win by a couple TDs this year.
They went 10-1 last year all good. I guarantee they are NOT cheating unless Joey knows something I literally have never heard..............
THey cheated well enough to beat Smithville and Fort last year with a mostly underclass team.
Smithville beyond pushed easy C4 favorite St. Mary's actually could have won that one I was there. That was the back side of a three year peak for that program but yeah KTown I am sure learned a lot from that game. Again all is fine they could well break through in just Minnick's second year. Got the calendar circled for September 8 already!
Yes, repeat as conference champions. Hopefully, not play 1st half turbos for seven weeks going into the playoffs.
I agree. Defense has been the weakness of recent Joplin teams and what in my opinion has kept them from being great vs very good. In most games they just outscore and it works but if offense has an off night or takes awhile to get going - makes an otherwise winnable game difficult. Carthage D was very, very good last year but they still had no answer for Renfro. Seemed like the dude ran like 8 yards every time he touched the ball. Carthage should not have won that game but they caught the Eagles asleep at the wheel there at the end.
As of now until I see another team on fire or it becomes evident that Joplin is laying an egg they are my clear favorite in the COC.
People seem to either think Carhage will be very bad or very good. I don't think they will be bad. Probably a step or two down from last year but I think they will be better than some are suggesting especially as the season progresses. I think the only highly probably loss is Joplin. I'd give WC and Nixa an edge but not a write-off. At this point I think Republic game leans Carthage. So I could see them getting any 2 of those 4 and that would be a pretty solid season IMO.
There will only ever be 2 programs that can compete for that putrid conference championship year in and year out, if it stays similar in make up. Turbos are inevitable.
They still win their crappy conference. Be nice to switch Smithville and Kearney to the Red, and trade with Truman and St. Joe Central. Why would being in Class 5 matter to Kearney? They beat the Runner up in Class 5 going away last year with an underclassman team.
Year in and year out, the best in class 4 have typically beaten class 5 teams, including the best ones. And that next conference up is nearly as putrid. Heck, the next one up from there is not great.
