Southeast Missourian Gridiron Guide: Week 4

Each week of the high school football season, Southeast Missourian sports editor Tony Capobianco will provide a quick matchup rundown for each of the seven area teams. The games are getting good entering the fourth week of the season.

__Jackson at Poplar Bluff__

After knocking off the Class 5 champions and scoring 63 points on Farmington, Jackson has certainly earned its ranking as Semoball’s top football team.

The Indians outgained the Knights 606-449 last week, notching their highest-scoring effort of the season. Adrian Fox is proving to be an offensive star after throwing for 367 yards for an average of 13.6 yards per completion.

“He’s doing a really nice job,” Jackson coach Ryan Nesbitt said. “He completely understands what we’re trying to get accomplished. He’s playing fast, and making fast decisions. He’s obviously got natural talent, and that helps. He’s got a good supporting cast. He’s got good backs around him, a good receiving corps, and guys that are getting better up front every day.”

The connection between Fox and senior receivers Kai Crowe and Blayne Harris has been the strength of the Indians’ passing attack.

“The sky’s the limit for us,” Harris said. “The receiving corps, I feel like we can compete with anyone in the state. We’re not backing down from nobody. Even the young guys, they’re on their way up. They’re following in our footsteps, and it’s gonna be fun to watch.”

Jackson looks to avenge their 21-20 loss to Poplar Bluff in the Class 5 playoffs last season, while the Mules look to build a streak.

“I’ve got some big strong kids up front, and we have that power package,” Mules coach Dave Sievers said. “It’s been successful for us. I’m old-fashioned enough that if we could do that 90% of the time, I’d be a happy guy. But the rest of my coaches like to throw the ball around.”

__Cape Central at Park Hills__

After spending three straight games at home, the Central Tigers will travel for the first time this season. This time into hostile territory in a clash against Park Hills Central.

The Tigers lost to the Rebels 41-20 last season, but both teams are different this year. The Rebels are 3-0 and are outscoring opponents 140-47.

The Tigers lost their second straight game of the season, a 42-35 overtime shootout against district rival Poplar Bluff. Despite being 1-2, the Tigers have made their losses entertaining and have earned the respect of their opponents.

“It’s funny to say the defense stepped up when we gave up 35 points,” Sievers said. “But Cape is a damn good football team, and coach (Kent) Gibbs is doing a good job with them. The kids just kept fighting.”

KeyShawn Boyd will continue to carry the load on offense for the Tigers, having scored a touchdown in three straight games. Sophomore Jathan Spain has progressed as the starting quarterback, but if the Tigers need another passer, Zai’Aire Thomas is there to lend an arm. The junior running back threw a touchdown pass to receiver Paul Tran last week.

“I knew their running backs were going to give us fits,” Sievers said. “They’re just too good.”

__Scott City vs. Portageville__

Friday’s showdown between Scott City (2-1) and Class 1 juggernaut Portageville may be the game of the week.

The No. 2 team in Class 1 defeated East Prairie 56-0 the previous week, led by Semoball Award-winning running back Jamarion Smith, who scored three rushing touchdowns and caught another score. He gained 134 yards on 10 carries, as Portageville rushed for a total of 328 yards, averaging 17.3 yards per carry.

“That was one of our young guys and the young guys are pretty good too,” Portageville coach Ian Penrod said of Sophomore running back Antonio Hickenbottom’s run. “The only unfortunate thing is we have some really good older guys so you don’t get to see them as much. He just gets the ball on the one-yard line and he is gone.”

Scott City has found its groove after opening the season with a road loss at Dexter and recently dominated Hayti 58-0 this past week. Tyson Underwood ran for 139 yards and four touchdowns on 15 carries, while Mark Panagos threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns, two to Jackson Gloth and one to Andrew Hayden. As evident in every game this season, if Underwood and Panagos are doing their thing, the Rams will win.

Scott City defeated Portageville six straight games since 2018 before the streak was snapped in the Class 1 playoffs. The Rams are now in Class 2 so the two teams will not meet in the playoffs again. However, a win for either team will shape the direction of its season.

__St. Vincent at Herculaneum__

St. Vincent will be looking to add to its seven-game winning streak against the Blackcats, which should seem possible given how their season is going. The Blackcats (1-2) have scored a total of 20 points on the season and are coming off a 35-0 loss to Jefferson.

The Indians’ offense struggled in the first two games of the season before erupting against Perryville in a 49-7 win. An offense that normally favors the passing attack was balanced against the Pirates with 260 yards on the ground and 200 through the air.

“I’ve seen what four quarters of executing looks like,” Schumer said, “and now that’s the standard.”

__Chaffee at Malden__

Sometimes when the conventional fails, the unsuspecting is required to succeed.

That was the case for Chaffee senior Levi

McKinnie, who scored his first touchdown of the season on a fake punt in a 24-14 loss against Kelly.

“We came up with it in practice and it’s always just to get the momentum going our way,” said McKinnie, who is not only the running back and defensive end but also the punter. “We thought it was a good opportunity to run that play and it worked out in our favor.”

The Red Devils were on the 50-yard line when they called to punt. If it was a punt, McKinnie would have likely sent it toward the end zone for a touchback. So the 30 yards between the 20 and 50-yard line were worth the risk, especially since it worked.

“My team blocked right, I got on the outside and ran it from there,” McKinnie said.

The Green Wave enter the contest 0-3 while being outscored 158-50. Malden holds a 6-2 advantage over Chaffee since 2010.

“It’s gonna be a good game,” McKinnie said. “It doesn’t matter that they haven’t won a game. We’re still gonna come out and we’re gonna play like the score is 0-0 the whole game and play our hardest.”

__Perryville vs. Bayless__

For the Perryville Pirates, one week is the worst of times while the next is the best of times. They have gone from losing on the road by more than 40 points to winning at home without giving up a score.

This Jekyll and Hyde pattern should wind up in Perryville’s favor this week as the Pirates host an 0-2 Bayless team that the Pirates beat 40-0 last season.

“They’re definitely different,” Perryville coach Brent Roth said. “They got some great players. They got some speed, they got some dudes on defense that played really hard. Last year in the first half, it took us a while to wake up. They’re playing with us in the first quarter and it took us a while to actually play our brand of football and take it to them. So that’s something we’ve been preaching to them this week, make sure we don’t underestimate them. We’ve only beaten one team. We have no reason to go around acting like we’re better than anybody until we go out and prove it.”