Southeast Missourian Gridiron Guide: Week 7

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. Week 7 is the start of the final stretch of the football season.

__Perryville (3-3) at New Madrid County Central (6-0)__

The home-field magic ran out for the Perryville Pirates at homecoming last weekend, as a torrent of turnovers in the second half led to a 28-26 loss against Jefferson. Now the Pirates travel to New Madrid to take on the undefeated Eagles. The last time the two teams met, NMCC won 65-18 in 2022.

"We're gonna have our hands full with New Madrid," Perryville head coach Brent Roth said. "Our guys know that."

New Madrid is coming off a 54-6 drubbing over Kennett last week. The Eagles have outscored their last three opponents 137-6. Much like last year, the Eagles' offense has averaged 47 points per game while the improved defense has allowed only 17 points.

"We should be able to go down and able to move the football. The hard part is stopping them from scoring."

New Madrid features senior receiver Jadis Jones, who was last year's Semoball Male Athlete of the Year. The Coastal Carolina commit leads the SEMO Conference with 15 touchdowns.

"There's no real scheme to beat it, you just got to tackle," Roth said. "NMCC's got good athletes that they put in space."

Freak turnovers aside, the Perryville offense was solid against undefeated Jefferson. Sophomore running back Barrett Wheeler gained 75 rushing yards on 12 carries while scoring a touchdown both in the air and on the ground. Rilaynd Graham, who was also named homecoming king, threw for 181 yards, with 111 going to Dominic Seiler.

"We executed our game plan well," Roth said. "I don't think the offense played badly in the second half. They just couldn't hang onto the ball."

__Jackson (6-1) vs. Confluence Prep Academy (2-4)__

Jackson’s dominance throughout the state continues. The Indians have defeated Cape Central and Sikeston by a combined score of 106-0 these past two weeks.

Jaylon Hampton has his fifth straight 100+ yard rushing game and has added his touchdown total to 13 on the season. Adrian Fox leads the SEMO Conference with 1,476 passing yards. 1,000 of those yards and 11 scores have gone to the senior receiving duo of Kai Crowe (663 yards, 7 TD) and Blayne Harris (368 yards, 3 TD). Their defense is just as impressive as their offense, if not more. The Indians locked down the SEMO North Conference, thanks to a scoreless streak reaching nearly 130 minutes dating back to Week 4 against Poplar Bluff.

“It starts up front,” Jackson coach Ryan Nesbitt said. “We thought it was an area of strength coming into the year, and it continues to be. It's been really coachable. We've got some good, young athletes, and they run to the ball well and are getting better every time out.”

The Indians host Confluence Prep Academy on Friday. The Titans are 2-4 and 0-3 on the road. The last time the two teams clashed, the Indians won 76-0 last year.

__Scott City (4-2) at Chaffee (3-3)__

Scott City travels to Chaffee to take on a Red Devils team that is playing their best ball in seven years, despite running into the buzzsaw that is Portageville last week.

Whatever the Red Devils score continues to be through the run. Shelton Simmons has scored all four of his touchdowns in the past two weeks. Junior running back Logan Horton also got his first score of the season against Portageville.

The Rams’ defense was successful in stopping the ground game during their 63-6 win over Kelly last week, holding star senior running back Reece Eftink to less than 70 yards.

The Rams are known for running the ball through the star senior duo of Mark Panagos (498 yards, 5 TD) and Tyson Underwood (722 yards, 14 TD) but Panagos’ passing prowess (1,129 yards, 10 TD, 2 INT) has also given the offense balance.

“The passing game has kept some defenses from loading the box against us,” said Rams head coach Jim May. “If you load the box, you gotta be able to throw it. We can throw it well enough to make that happen.”

__Cape Central (3-3) vs. Sikeston (0-6)__

The past two weeks of Cape Central football would make your head spin. The Tigers went from losing 50-0 to Jackson one week to beating Farmington 35-0 last week.

The Tigers have one of the best running back duos in the area in KeyShawn Boyd, who has 15 rushing touchdowns on the season, and Zai’Aire Thomas, who scored three touchdowns last Friday.

“We’re lucky that we have two special running backs,” Cape Central head coach Kent Gibbs said. “If you stop one of them, the other one’s going to have a decent night, but I don’t think (Farmington) stopped either one of them.”

The Tigers travel to take on Sikeston in a matchup that is set up as a trap game. The Bulldogs are 0-6 and half of those games resulted in zero points from the offense. The Tigers should roam freely in Sikeston but anything can happen on Friday Night.

__St. Vincent (3-3) vs. St. Pius X (4-2)__

After evening their record with a 58-12 win over Bayless, the St. Vincent Indians are set to host St. Puis X for homecoming on Friday.

Against Bayless last week, the Indians were as dominating as they were efficient. Quarterback Christian Schaaf only needed 11 passing attempts for two touchdowns, one each to Clayton Gremaud and John Schwartz. Cruz Reitzel ran for two touchdowns on three attempts. Simon Barber only had one rushing attempt, and it resulted in a touchdown.

It is a fairly even matchup between the Indians and the Lancers. The Indians are 6-7 against the Lancers since 2010 and won 21-6 last year.

__Kelly (5-1) at Hayti (0-5)__

After suffering their first loss of the season, the Kelly Hawks look to rebound on the road against Hayti on Friday. The Hawks won the last matchup 15-6 but it be a bigger margin this time around.

Hayti, a program that won a state championship in 2018 and a district title in 2021, is in danger of finishing the season without a win. The Indians are averaging only 14 points per game while giving up 53 points.

The Hawks are looking to improve from last season's win total and are one win away from doing so. Reece Eftink is trending toward a 1,000-yard rushing season with 747 yards and seven touchdowns. Quarterback Skyler Still scored six touchdowns on quarterback keepers and has thrown for 10 touchdowns against five interceptions. Ethan Graham, who was named homecoming king last week, has caught half of them. The offense overall has averaged 30.8 points per game, which is a vast improvement over the previous two seasons.