DRAGONS SCORCH BLUE JAYS 41-0, WIN TITLE

CHARLESTON -- Last year, big plays killed Ste. Genevieve High's football team during its district showdown with Charleston to end the regular season.

Friday night, Ste. Genevieve put the clamps on Charleston's big-play potential and coasted to a 41-0 victory over the host Blue Jays.

Ste. Genevieve, ranked seventh in the state in Class 3A, improved to 9-1 overall and wrapped up the 3A, District 2 title with a 3-0 record.

The Dragons will play at New Madrid County Central Wednesday night in a first-round playoff game. Ste. Genevieve edged the Eagles 14-12 in the first game of the season.

Charleston, which won last year's district title with a thrilling 32-24 win at Ste. Genevieve to cap a perfect regular season, finished the year with a 5-5 record and a 2-1 district mark.

"I'm really pleased with the way we played tonight," said Ste. Genevieve coach Bob Stolzer. "We have a lot of experience back from last year and our kids have worked hard to improve.

"We have some good athletic ability. We're really balanced offensively and I was really pleased with our defensive effort tonight."

Ste. Genevieve's defense dominated the contest as the Dragons limited the Blue Jays to only 38 yards of total offense. Ten times, Ste. Genevieve hit Charleston for minus-yardage plays.

Charleston's standout tailback, Larico Coleman, was held to 44 yards on 11 carries and his longest run was only 26 yards. An all-stater last season, Coleman finished his brilliant prep football career with nearly 1,400 yards rushing this season.

"Our kids did a tremendous job of holding Coleman down," Stolzer said. "He's an outstanding running back and you have to key on a player like that."

Said Charleston coach Dan Kesselring, "Ste. Genevieve is tough. Their kids stepped up to the task and dominated the line of scrimmage.

"We knew going into the year that we would be facing a lot of adversity. We graduated 16 seniors and all of them played. To end up 5-5 with a chance to win the district championship showed a lot of heart by our guys."

As good as Ste. Genevieve's defense was Friday, the offense wasn't far behind. The Dragons piled up 307 yards, including 268 on the ground.

Tolby Meyer, Ste. Genevieve's hard-charging tailback, gained 175 yards on 29 carries and scored two touchdowns.

"Our offensive line did a great job. We've had some good offensive lines here, but this might be the best we've had," said Stolzer.

Charleston's defense hung tough in the first half as the Blue Jays trailed just 14-0 at halftime despite never being able to generate an offense.

Ste. Genevieve took advantage of Charleston turnovers to score both its first-half touchdowns as the Dragons needed to drive a total of just 47 yards for those two scores, a 1-yard run by Roy Bauman and a 5-yard run by Meyer.

"That's probably some of the best defense we've played all year," said Kesselring. "We just couldn't move the ball."

The Blue Jays appeared to have one first-half touchdown when quarterback Jason Ward went 70 yards on an option keeper. But the play was wiped out by a holding call. Charleston never really threatened the end zone the rest of the night.

Ste. Genevieve put the game away by scoring two touchdowns in each of the final two quarters. Meyer had an 11-yard run, Bauman went over from a yard out, Adam Sherry hit Tim Thomure with a 14-yard pass and reserve Dustin Wehner scored from 5 yards out in the closing minutes.