Three Straight Decembers: The 2026 Jefferson County Football Preview

Some counties get one good football story a year. Jefferson County has spent three straight Decembers playing for state championships — Hillsboro in 2023, Festus in 2024, St. Pius X last season — and on Friday night the whole county kicks off at once: twelve programs, four very different neighborhoods, one shared standard.

This is Inside The Game STL's county-wide preview, built for the drive to the stadium: every team, what actually matters, and the nights worth circling. One housekeeping note before kickoff — MSHSAA releases its new class and district assignments Friday, Aug. 28, the same day the season opens, so any classifications mentioned below are last fall's until the state says otherwise.

The independents

St. Pius X Lancers

The reigning Class 2 state runner-up might be the best story in the county. Cody Shaver finished 2025 with 3,002 rushing yards — the first back in Jefferson County history to crack 3,000 — and he headlines a team that returns all five of last year's all-state selections plus junior quarterback Evan Eckrich. The 59-0 Show-Me Bowl loss to Blair Oaks is the offseason's stated fuel, and the program adds a milestone to chase it in: a new on-campus stadium, set to debut Sept. 11 against Priory. First, a statement trip — the Lancers open Saturday at Gibson Southern in Fort Branch, Ind.

Crystal City Hornets

The Hornets are celebrating 100 years of football in 2026, and they're doing it the small-school way: roughly two dozen players, seventeen of them freshmen or sophomores, a sophomore quarterback in Kolton Adams, and a line anchored by four-year starter Trent Eisenbeis. Craig Collins' team went 3-7 a year ago; keeping Adams upright through a full 11-man schedule is the whole assignment. The centennial season opens Friday at Winfield.

The Suburban Conference three

Seckman Jaguars

Nobody in the county has been more consistently good on Friday nights — five straight years atop their Suburban Conference pool, and a returning quarterback, Brody Kube, who broke the school single-season record with 18 touchdown passes. And nobody carries a heavier ghost: a 14-7 home district loss to Northwest, a team Seckman had beaten 49-14 in September. The rivals don't meet in the regular season, so the only possible rematch is a November one. It starts Friday at home against Oakville.

Fox Warriors

Brent Tinker, the dean of county coaches, begins his 16th season with a genuine experiment: 6-foot-3 senior Jude Pribish, a downhill runner closing in on 1,000 career rushing yards, moves from running back to quarterback. Graduation gutted the skill positions, so a physical senior front seven — with 6-foot-6 Eli Spicer up front — has to keep games close while the offense finds itself. The Warriors ended 2025 on an upswing, including a 48-14 playoff rout of Poplar Bluff; Mehlville visits Friday.

Northwest Lions

No county program enters the fall hotter. Scott Gerling has taken the Lions from 1-9 to 5-5 to 8-3 in three seasons, capped by that district-semifinal upset at Seckman and the program's first district-final trip in years. Quarterback Cohenn Stark — 215 pounds, the engine of an offense that averaged 47.5 points a game through eight weeks, a player his coach has called a "generational talent" — might be the best player in the county. Record-setting receiver Omarion Frazier is off to Missouri Western, and the 70-7 district-final loss at Jackson is the reality check. The climb resumes Friday at Francis Howell Central.

The JCAA's large schools

Around the county, these four are still the JCAA's big schools; on Friday nights they compete under the Mississippi Area Football Conference banner alongside North County. Festus has won the league's large-school division outright two years running.

Festus Tigers

The standard. Festus has gone 21-6 over two seasons with a state-final trip in 2024 and a semifinal run in 2025, and senior quarterback Parker Perry — 2,300-plus passing yards and 35 touchdowns as a junior — returns behind four-year starter Carter Grass, with Lindenwood commit Antonio Pinkston leading the defense. The only unchecked box is the state's top tier: Lutheran North ended 2024 in the final, Kearney ended 2025 in the semis. Circle Oct. 9, when 2025 Class 4 finalist Hannibal visits Festus. The opener is Friday at home against Rockwood Summit.

Hillsboro Hawks

Three years removed from the program's 2023 state final, the Hawks have gone 5-7 and 5-6 since and must replace dual-threat quarterback Braxton Chazelle. Junior Christian Vollner, productive as a sophomore both rushing and receiving, is the most visible returning piece for Bill Sucharski. The measuring stick comes Sept. 25, when Festus — which beat the Hawks twice last fall, 40-14 in the regular season and 41-0 in the district playoffs — visits Hillsboro. Kennett comes to town Friday first.

De Soto Dragons

Russ Schmidt has steadied the Dragons at back-to-back 5-5 seasons, and the offense now belongs fully to junior quarterback Cannon Kisner, a first-year starter last fall whose legs gave North County fits. Both workhorse backs graduated, so Kisner's growth is the season. The tangible goal is plain: De Soto hasn't posted a winning season since 2010, and last September's one-point loss to North County — before the Raiders took the district rematch, too — showed both how close and how far that is. St. Vincent visits the renovated JC Culwell Stadium on Friday.

Windsor Owls

Year three under Lee Freeman opens with a genuine novelty: Friday's trip to Jefferson is the first football meeting ever between the neighboring programs. Windsor has posted identical 4-6 records two years running and went winless against the league's large schools in 2025, so the rebuild's next step is stealing one of those games — with two-time defending champion Festus visiting Imperial as soon as Sept. 11.

The JCAA's small schools

The county's small schools have played their football in the Quad County Conference since the old I-55 Conference dissolved in 2024. St. Vincent won the league at 4-1 last fall — and its only conference loss came in Herculaneum.

Herculaneum Blackcats

Herculaneum went 6-5 and lost only four players — unfortunately, they were the entire offensive skill core: a three-year starting quarterback, a 1,000-yard back and both top receivers. The counterweight is one of the county's most veteran offensive lines, led by all-conference tackle Taylor Greenlee, and a proven hand in senior Chase Luebbert, who stepped in at quarterback late last October and won a district playoff game on a week's notice — the job is now reportedly his. The Blackcats beat league champion St. Vincent last fall and lost three games by a possession or in overtime — the gap to the top is thin. Affton visits Friday.

Jefferson Blue Jays

The 2025 season broke in half — a 4-1 start, then five straight losses — and coach Matt Atley's fix is stability: junior Sam Kerley, who absorbed the quarterback job down the stretch, takes it full-time, and senior workhorse Aiden Kentch has publicly set a 2,000-yard rushing goal. Friday's home opener against Windsor is a program first — the two neighbors have never met on a football field.

Grandview Eagles

The breakthrough is on record — 7-4 and the program's first district-final appearance in roughly 35 years, four points short of the title — and now comes the hard part: 13 seniors graduated, including do-everything quarterback Brendan Martin and his 23 touchdowns. The flexbone now runs through first-team all-conference back Brock Poole (890 yards, 12 touchdowns) with junior Christian Volner taking the snaps. The opener is a rematch with an edge: at Louisiana, the team Grandview outlasted 55-48 in last year's district semifinal.

Week 1: the whole county at once

• Friday, Aug. 28 — Oakville at Seckman · Mehlville at Fox · Northwest at Francis Howell Central
• Friday, Aug. 28 — Rockwood Summit at Festus · Kennett at Hillsboro · St. Vincent at De Soto
• Friday, Aug. 28 — Windsor at Jefferson (first-ever meeting) · Affton at Herculaneum · Grandview at Louisiana · Crystal City at Winfield
• Saturday, Aug. 29 — St. Pius X at Gibson Southern (Fort Branch, Ind.)

Five nights we've circled

• Sept. 4 — Fox at Northwest: the Suburban Conference's first all-county Friday.
• Sept. 11 — the loaded night: St. Pius X christens its new stadium against Priory, Festus opens league play at Windsor, and Jefferson visits Herculaneum in the Quad County opener.
• Sept. 25 — rivalry doubleheader: Fox at Seckman, Festus at Hillsboro.
• Oct. 9 — Hannibal at Festus: last year's Class 4 finalist comes to Jefferson County.
• Oct. 23 — Grandview at Crystal City: the centennial season's home finale.

Fall isn't only football here — the 2026 Jefferson County softball preview covers the JCAA race and is live now. County coverage runs all season in partnership with Live Stream STL. Athlete development, as always, by M4P — Movement 4 Power.

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