Scott City's season ends in C2D1 championship game

The absolute reality of high school football in Missouri is only one team will end their season in triumph. Everyone else will feel the pain of finality.

It's just a matter of when not if.

Every team this deep into the playoffs eventually runs into a buzzsaw, a brick wall that seems impenetrable. When the clock hits zero, the reality of the end of a senior's identity as a football player hits with a sudden thud, like the moment their heart stops beating.

In the case of Scott City, that buzzsaw was Valle Catholic, a Class 2 powerhouse that has won 10 games for three straight seasons and has won six state championships from 2010-19. The Warriors defense gives up only 10 points per game and was instrumental in their 43-7 victory over the Rams in the Class 2 District 1 championship game on Friday, Nov. 10, in Ste Genevieve, Mo.

"They don't have anything to be ashamed of," Scott City head coach Jim May said. "I promise you that. We were coming to fight for four quarters. I felt like we did that. We were hoping to be in the game in the fourth quarter with a chance to win it, but they got away in the third quarter.

"But man, our kids battled," he added. "I can't say enough about the effort they put out."

The Rams struck first with a 12-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Mark Panagos. The Warriors then scored 43 unanswered points.

Valle Catholic outscored the Rams 22-0 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. They added one more score in the fourth quarter for good measure. Senior running back Alex Viox ran for 312 yards, 167 of which came from his four touchdown runs.

"They did a better job getting out of the edge and controlling it," Scott City head coach Jim May said. "That's a really good football team over there."

Scott City's season ends at 9-3, their third straight nine-win season. Tears fill the face of every senior, and even the coach, who spent four years with a group of individuals he witnessed grow into young men.

"Four years, they've been battling and fighting," May said. "When everybody counted us out, that's what we've been talking about all year. Everybody wanted a piece of Scott City because we lost all the seniors (from 2022) and a lot of them got a lot more than what they bargained for when they got us."

The 2023 senior class made up a majority of both the offensive and defensive units. Many of them were playing regular varsity minutes for the time before this season. Ian Weber, Lawson Graff, and Blake Wiburn were plugged in as linebackers to lead a defense that gave up 18.6 points per game.

Andrew Hayden gave Panagos a constant passing target, while Gavin Veneable was there for the occasional big play. Combine that with a healthy Tyson Underwood roaming for over 1,000 yards and 20 touchdowns, and you get a Rams offense that averaged 42 points per game this season.

"This group exceeded all expectations," May said. "They should keep their heads high. We made it to Week 12. We weren't even in Week 12 last year with all those seniors. My God, I'm pretty proud of what they did."