Wildcats take 'D' to a whole new level

After seeing Hazelwood East totally shut down Jackson in the Class 5A football semifinals, I wrote that the Spartans had one of the best defenses I'd seen on the high school level.

Well, then where does that leave Blue Springs?

The Wildcats' defensive' performance against the supposedly explosive Spartans' offense during Friday night's state championship game made what Hazelwood East did to Jackson look like junior high stuff.

Blue Springs limited Hazelwood East to the ridiculous total of two first-half yards. And the Wildcats piled up an equally ridiculous 16 sacks in the game as they rolled to a surprisingly easy 28-12 victory.

I had written that it looked like Hazelwood East was playing with 13 or 14 defenders against Jackson. If that's the case, then it looked like Blue Springs was playing with 16 or 17 defenders Friday night.

The Wildcats apparently came into the title contest with a big chip on their shoulder because most of the pre-game hype had evidently centered around the Spartans, even though both squads were 13-0 and both were nationally ranked in one poll.

Well, consider the chip sufficiently split into a thousand little pieces because that's how dominant and impressive Blue Springs was.

And also plenty impressive was New Madrid County Central. Although the Eagles fell short of the 3A state title, they gave defending champ and favored Platte County all it could handle Friday before dropping a thrilling 21-14 decision.

I know Southeast Missouri State University basketball coach Gary Garner wants no part of moral victories, but Garner had to be encouraged by the performance of his short-handed and outmanned squad Saturday night.

Even though the Indians fell to 0-2, they gave heavily favored Southwest Missouri State quite a battle before ultimately losing 73-63.

No doubt, this doesn't look like one of Garner's better SEMO teams. But what the Indians have shown so far at least gives some hope that, once they do get their entire roster intact, they just might have a chance to be quite a bit better than many people think.

What a wild weekend of college football. Who could have predicted Nebraska would get mauled by Colorado and Oklahoma would lose at home to lowly Oklahoma State?

It all sure throws the BCS into a mess.

Although a handful of teams have already opened, the area high school basketball season tips off in earnest this week, led by several traditional tournaments.

The long-running Oran and Woodland invitationals for boys will be held, as will the Farmington tourney that features boys and girls squads.

One non-tournament opener of note finds Cape Girardeau Central's boys hosting Perryville Tuesday night as the Tigers play their first game under coach Derek McCord.

While there figures, as usual, to be quite a few solid boys squads in Southeast Missouri -- led by two-time defending Class 3A state champion New Madrid County Central -- the girls side promises to be particularly loaded, led by Notre Dame, Jackson and Poplar Bluff, who all should rank as among the state's premier squads in their respective classes.

SEMO officials recently learned that Farron Haley, one of the Indians' all-time football receiving greats, died of cancer in January.

In 1989, Haley caught 72 passes for 1,116 yards. The yardage figure is a school single-season record while the reception total is second all-time. Haley was named a first-team Division II All-America by Football Digest and third team by The Associated Press.

Sikeston High School baseball standout Adam Garrett, an infielder, recently signed a letter of intent to play for the University of Missouri.

It was great to see the Perryville tax levy pass a few weeks ago, meaning the school district will be allowed to continue with extracurricular activities, including sports programs.

Sports, and other after-school activities, are such a big part of a young person's development -- they're also simply plain fun -- and it would have been a real shame to have them eliminated.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian