Showdown Friday across MO

[ChaoticFanatic]

I’m surprised Kennett took Valle on for their Week 9 opponent this year to be honest.

 

[503_Maple]

I have been tracking most of the Class 2 big dogs this year for my scoreboard tracker that I maintain every week as well as several other classes and what I have seen through the webcasts and constant twitter reports that I have had to watch is

Bowling Green is for real. I would be tracking some reports on some of the other games on my list and the Bowling Green tracker would be just shooting up like a rocket on the scoring every week.

Higginsville and Richmond are very good but I can't fully say they are as good as Bowling Green and Blair Oaks. The webcasts that I have seen shown that Higginsville can be slowed down and Richmond doesn't over power their opponents but they play a clean sound ball control game.

Monroe City is outstanding but I would like to see them get truly challenged and so far they have easily met any challenge before them. In Class 1 they will go far.

Russellville, a new football program in Class 1 is unbeaten so far this year but they are not 100% blowing out their opponents every week and their schedule has not included any of the big dogs as of yet. With that being said I don't think that would go well when they play a team like Monroe City who is very experienced and has faced upper Class teams and still continued to easily dominate.

Lamar and Seneca put on a show earlier in the season and I monitored it constantly that night. From seeing how the both teams did in other weeks I would have to put them right now right up with Richmond and Higginsville. They are great but they in my eyes have not seperated them from them as possible Class 2 state finalists.

Maryville and Lutheran North put on a show this past week. You can truly see how Lutheran North has improved since they faced BO earlier this year. Both teams will do well in Class 3 but to consider them a true finalist to win Class 3 they would need to continue to improve and that seems a rough road ahead.

CMAC teams all seem like none of them would be considered a dark horse in Class 4 or 5. They are constantly beating each other up and when a stronger team comes in to face them they are easily overmatched as when we saw Cardinal Ritter easily handle Helias.

Blair Oaks seems to be the real deal. Many question marks to start the season with a young defense but those were easily put to rest early. Their early heavy schedule seemed watered down at first with many thinking that Maryville wasn't as good as thought and same with Lutheran North, those wins now look alot more impressive. With their schedule moving forward I don't see many obstacles in their way going all the way to Thanksgiving weekend when we would see one of the other top dogs in Class 2 face BO with the winner going to the Show Me Bowl.

Lamar has never had to replace this many OL in one season, then also to lose their best lineman to a knee injury before a season. I think it was a much taller issue than originally thought. But I think everything is coming together, Seneca not only caught Lamar during that experiment, but also another that missed a few weeks went down that game. (Back and healthy now) I think things will go differently this time. I don’t foresee rotation issues, and 5 fumbles again, let alone in another game. It still should be a great game.

BO is the favorite right now to win state in class 2. Hardest path as well. BG LC are the other real deals. Will be fun to watch.

I see you really care about point totals. Those things aren’t truly the best indicator of team performance. Opponents and how bad they are can inflate points and total on a season. I’ve seen numerous games where Seneca and Lamar for example just put in JV and get the clock down while in turbo. Keeping the foot on the gas can lead to injury. It’s not always something a team wants to do. BG plays opponents (not taking anything away from them) that most of ranked class 2 could score 70+ on just saying. Circumstances are everything.

 

[bman_turbo2000]

not concerned on point totals. I know the schools that are in turbo clock mode have their JV in to get experience. I just thought it was entertaining last week that BG, BO and Higginsville looked like they were trying to outscore each other in their games last week. I know that was not the case.

 

[503_Maple]

not concerned on point totals. I know the schools that are in turbo clock mode have their JV in to get experience. I just thought it was entertaining last week that BG, BO and Higginsville looked like they were trying to outscore each other in their games last week. I know that was not the case.

Ok, I see why you mentioned those things. Just thought it was worth mentioning, it will be fun to watch!

 

[Veer2Eternity]

Valle Catholic has continued to impress me as with their win over Seckman and with how well Seckman is doing as well as their gut performance against Park Hills they could surprise in playoff time but of course their district is a pain and they have to get past them first. This by far though seems like their best chance since being bumped up to Class 3 to get past their top heavy district.

Just too bad they couldn't put all the best (read Private) schools in the east in the same district.

 

[sw5890]

Lebanon and Camdenton sounds like a dandy. If I had time on my hands it would be a fun trip to make, not really having a preference in that outcome. Would be fun to watch these two that could likely play either WC or Carthage. Lebanon has really impressed me, the little bit I've seen of them. I watched them last year at Webb City and they were solid until Webb really got going and was able to exploit a few mistakes by the Jackets in the second half.

But I'll be at Carthage and Joplin which also should be fantastic. I think Carthage could have a tough time getting their arms around Joplin's offense but they should be able to put up plenty of points of their own. If Carthage can avoid those drive killing offensive holding penalties I think they'll come out on top.

 

[Eagles_Ball]

I'm jealous! I wish I could be there. I think this will be an epic game.

I'll have the 3 yr old in tow, so don't be terribly jealous. I'll have the ipad fully charged, a backpack full of toys, and hope like hell I can get through the concession stand line for some cotton candy. If all things align, I might make it past halftime! Lol

 

[shovel_option]

Rumor has it Hillsboro's best player may be out with an injury, and maybe for the year. Need to confirm that though, could be a bad JeffCo rumor. Anyone else hear anything?

Shouldn't matter though because Ritter is on a different level this year. Could it be due to the fact they got the Boyds to transfer from East St. Louis late in the summer? A solid #2 WR and an absolute freak of a sophomore QB. Or the Soph DL from ESL that plays a lot as well. OR the RB that also transferred from ESL that plays quite a bit. Hilarious.

Those of you who lump all private schools together and as the same are clueless. These guys in the major metro areas play by a different set of rules and do what they want and get who they want. Those outside the cities are 100% different.

 

[Veer2Eternity]

Rumor has it Hillsboro's best player may be out with an injury, and maybe for the year. Need to confirm that though, could be a bad JeffCo rumor. Anyone else hear anything?

Shouldn't matter though because Ritter is on a different level this year. Could it be due to the fact they got the Boyds to transfer from East St. Louis late in the summer? A solid #2 WR and an absolute freak of a sophomore QB. Or the Soph DL from ESL that plays a lot as well. OR the RB that also transferred from ESL that plays quite a bit. Hilarious.

Those of you who lump all private schools together and as the same are clueless. These guys in the major metro areas play by a different set of rules and do what they want and get who they want. Those outside the cities are 100% different.

Those outside the cities are different in that they can pick from a larger talent pool than the schools they compete against in MSHSAA playoffs.

 

[oldbaldguy85]

Valle Catholic has continued to impress me as with their win over Seckman and with how well Seckman is doing as well as their gut performance against Park Hills they could surprise in playoff time. Even better for Valle this year without the St. Louis heavy hitters are not in their district which completely opens the door for Valle to possibly cruise through districts before a highly anticipated rematch with Park Hills Central. Right after districts brings in the big hitters out of St. Louis with Cardinal Ritter. With this year's setup. Lutheran North would not see Cardinal Ritter until possibly the Show Me Bowl.

Valle Catholic should beat Kennett handily Week 9. Kennett does not play that type of competition and will be shell shocked. Kennett lost by a bunch to Park Hills Central last year in the district (51-14). Valle Catholic should win their district over Park Hills Central. But then I would believe that Cardinal Ritter would be pretty big favorites to beat Valle Catholic (or PHC) in the next round. We shall see Friday when we see how Cardinal Ritter does vs. Hillsboro but I believe that Ritter will win big vs. Hillsboro. The last few years when Park Hills Central and Valle Catholic have faced the private STL All Stars, it has not went well. Valle v. St. Mary's 2021 Lost 7-55, Valle v. St. Mary's 2020 Lost 22-55. Park Hills Central v. St. Mary's 2021 Lost 7-44. Park Hills Central v Cardinal Ritter 2020 Lost 14-45. Proof is in the pudding. I would love to see Valle Catholic (or PHC) advance far but just has not happened the last few years, not even close. And those 2 (Valle and PHC) have had good teams.

 

[bman_turbo2000]

Cardinal Ritter would be considered the favorite going in against Valle but then again I go back to 2018 and 2020 when Lutheran North was about to face BO. Lutheran North was considered the favorite going in. BO with their game plan and coaching got past Lutheran North and then faced Cardinal Ritter in 2020 right after Lutheran North in St. Louis and marched on to the Show Me Bowl and this was with touchdown Luther on the CR team. I see a lot of Valle in that situation. Valle is a well coached highly disciplined team. They would be the underdog with many saying they don't have a chance (as what everyone said about BO) and play their hearts out and moved on. I am not saying this is going to happen but after watching a few of the webcasts of Valle this year I would not be surprised if they toe to toe with CR and honestly I would not consider them an underdog at all against Lutheran North at this time.