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Week 10 review

It was simply a glorious couple of nights for football.  While I enjoy catching a game indoors, I think football should be played outside.  The elements are part of the game.  And Thursday night was a football cathedral.  Wind & rain.  Mud & muck.  Slipping, sliding, sloshing.  It was beautiful man.  A perfect end to a great regular season.  Yes, some teams lost that wouldn’t have if the weather had cooperated.  But that’s just another nuance that we all love.  Unless it’s your team that loses.

Last year I picked the playoff games and did really freaking good.  But, I’m not doing it again.  I’m going to sit back and enjoy them myself instead of rooting for someone because I picked them.  You’ll still get a preview before each round so you’ll know what to look for.  But I’m shutting down the prediction machine until next year.  I’m done channeling my inner Carnac.  The crystal ball has left the building.

Shed no tears my friends as we say good bye to this year’s last…

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The Good

Week 1 picks

And we’re off.  We’ll review the picks on Monday each week to see if I’m a genius or a moron.  The truth is out there.  Early conference matchups dot the landscape.  And a clash of titans highlights the night.

WEEK 1 PICKS

Game of the Week

  • Harrisonville (#6, Class 4) at Webb City (#1, Class 4)
    • As if we need anything else to make this game more interesting, the Cardinals have suffered a rash of injuries to linemen.  Harrisonville has a couple of key injuries also but returns their biggest threat on both offense & defense.  QB Sam Cooper who passed for almost 1,500 yards and rushed for over a 1,000 last year, and LB Sam Dahman who is just a beast of a tackler.  Braxton Baker should be able to carry the mail on the ground, but Patrick Drake will have to have some success in the air for Webb to move the ball.  The key for the Cardinal defense is to contain Cooper.  If they can make him try to beat them with his arm instead of his legs, Boo Rodgers and the other Cardinal DBs should clean up.
    • Continue reading Week 1 picks

2009 Football Viewing Guide

OK. I’ve told you all about the teams, the conferences, and made predictions for all of them. To wrap up our preview for this year, here’s my picks for district champions, top players, rivalry games, and other games to watch.

DISTRICT CHAMPS & RUNNERS-UP

Class 1

  • District 3 – Cabool, Marionville, Miller, Thayer
    • Champ – Miller
    • Runner-up – Thayer
  • District 4 – Jasper, Lockwood, McAuley, Sarcoxie
    • Champ – McAuley
    • Runner-up – Lockwood

    Continue reading 2009 Football Viewing Guide

Class 4 Show-Me Bowl recap

On a day when the Webb City defense was not at their best, the Cardinal offense rose to the challenge scoring 20 fourth quarter points to bring home the Cardinals eighth state championship 41-34.

Although they weren’t statistically at their best, in the end Webb City’s defense still played a huge part in the win as they harassed Helias QB Jay Shimmens all day and held him well below his season averages.  The dual threat QB is the Crusaders biggest weapon but could only complete 9 of 21 passes for 149 yards while being sacked 4 times, and rushed for only 40.  Yet Shimmens still accounted for 4 touchdowns.  3 passing and 1 rushing.  Meanwhile, his Webb City counterpart Mack Kyle was the model of cool leadership and offensive efficiency.  Kyle ran up 110 yards and a TD on the ground while going 7-10 through the air for 214 yards and 2 TDs.
Continue reading Class 4 Show-Me Bowl recap

Show-Me Bowl preview

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.  Hope you’re enjoying the day with family and friends.  Tomorrow I’ll be making the trek to and from St. Louis so I’ll have the class 1 and class 3 game reports Saturday for you.  If you don’t have Fox Sports Midwest, MSHSAA will have the results as soon as they games are over.  Here’s what to look forward to.

CLASS 1

  • Thayer, 12-1 vs Orrick, 14-0 – No surprise to see these two meet again.  The season has shown that they are clearly the cream of class 1.  Outside of their loss to Liberty, Thayer has only been challenged in their 21-13 win over class 3 power Mountain Grove, and their 28-21 sectional win over Miller when they were clearly looking past the Cardinals.  No one else has come within 3 touchdowns of them.  Orrick has been dominating pitching 9 shutouts and only allowing more than 8 points to one opponent.  The Bearcats are riding a 28 game winning streak that has as it’s centerpiece last year’s championship win over Thayer.  The Bobcats dominated the first half of that game, but an interception, a blocked punt, and 2 drives the ended on downs inside the 20 kept the halftime score 8-8.  Orrick came alive in the second half and won 20-8.  The rematch promises to be just as good as the original.

State football semifinal review

Civil War Saturday ended in a decisive win for the South as the Ozarks claimed 3 of 4 games.  The #1 teams in class 3 and 4 saw their seasons end as Chillicothe fell to Cassville 14-13, and Kearney was upended by Webb City 14-7.  Thayer gets their rematch with Orrick after trouncing Tipton 13-0.  And Fair Grove sees their season end at the hands of the true #1 in class 2.  Here’s all the news that is news.

CLASS 1

  • Thayer, 11-1 at Tipton, 13-0
    • This is a great matchup for Thayer.  They won’t put up 70 like they did against McAuley, but they should be able to top 14.  Which is the most anyone has hung on Tipton this year.  Tipton has not seen an offensive attack as multi-dimensional as Thayer’s this year.  With Jacob Eckman and Josh Huckabee leading the way, should be able to win the ball control battle.  On defense, the Bobcats need to sell out to stop the run and make Tipton pass to win.  They haven’t been very successful in doing that but their defense has been strong enough to get them through.
    • Continue reading State football semifinal review