The Standard Answered: Week 3 in Jefferson County Football

The standard blinked in Week 1. The heat left marks in Week 2. Week 3 belonged to the answer: Festus, 0-2 and without the quarterback who wrote its record book, walked into Windsor and led 41-0 at halftime. That was the loudest statement of the night, not the only one. St. Pius X opened a stadium with 88 points. The team this space had just placed at the center of the best-team-in-the-county conversation lost at home to a school it hadn't played in 23 years. And the cruelest running story of the young season added a chapter — per the Live Stream STL crew, a third county quarterback with a broken collarbone, three weeks in. The standard answered. Everything around it kept moving.

Forty-one to nothing at the half, with the backup

Festus 47, Windsor 6, and the number that matters most is the one at halftime: 41-0. The Tigers arrived 0-2, minus Parker Perry, at a Windsor team that had scored 98 points in two weeks, and scored three times in the first quarter, three more in the second, and 16 seconds into the third on a kickoff return. Windsor's only points came with 3:29 left. Junior Quinnten O'Brien, Perry's listed backup, was perfect in the narrow sense — 5 of 5 for 94 yards, five carries for 53, a two-point conversion — and didn't need to be more, because Kamden Yates was: 11 carries, 81 yards, three rushing touchdowns and an 88-yard kickoff return for a fourth. Through three games the senior has nine touchdowns and 58 points, a top-10 figure in the entire St. Louis area.

The other half is the part Festus should frame. Windsor's backfield came in averaging more than 14 yards a carry — Jett Black ran for 306 in the opener, not the 220 this space credited him with, and Jack Kuda for 285 a week later. On Friday the two combined for 94 yards on 16 carries, Windsor finished with 114 rushing yards and 164 total, and Festus recovered two fumbles, returned one for a score and committed no turnovers. Ethan Cobb's 12 tackles were the Owls' one bright spot. The panic case from a week ago was gone by the end of the first quarter. So was the patience case, because this wasn't patient football. It was a standard reminding a league who set it — three straight years now of beating Windsor by 35 or more. De Soto visits Friday.

Four months of construction, and 88 points to open it

St. Pius X 88, Priory 0, and the box score never gets less absurd: 663 total yards for the Lancers, 534 of them on 19 rushing attempts — 28 yards a carry — against 19 yards of total offense and minus-23 rushing for Priory. Cody Shaver carried seven times for 269 yards and four touchdowns, added two two-point conversions, and left with 28 points and 38 yards a carry. Brody Ervin needed four carries for 132.

It was the first game on the school's new on-campus field — roughly $650,000, about 1,400 seats, Bermuda grass, LED lights, built in four months with donations, operating income and volunteer labor, per the Leader — and it landed on the 25th anniversary of 9/11. The Post-Dispatch's records go back to 1999 and show no St. Pius X team scoring more than 74 in a game before Friday. Shaver has 684 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns through three weeks; he leads the entire St. Louis area in scoring with 82 points and trails only Highland's Carter Harris in rushing yards, on fewer than half the carries. The Class 3 media poll moved the Lancers up to No. 7. Park Hills Central, which handled Jefferson in Week 2 and then got run over 56-7 by Valle Catholic, comes to the new field Friday.

Northwest got the game it didn't want, at home

University City 18, Northwest 12, in Cedar Hill — and yes, the Week 2 slate in this space listed Northwest as the road team. It wasn't. Our error, and a small one next to the night Northwest had. Northwest led 5-0 after a quarter on a safety and a 39-yard Cayden Richard field goal; then Teddy Stephens, who missed his first six throws, found Dominique Bolden from 64 yards, from 25 and from 47 for all three University City touchdowns, and Bolden added the interception that ended it. University City's defense took the ball away six times in a game with nine turnovers.

Cohenn Stark carried 31 times for 155 yards and scored on the 4-yard run that made it a one-score game to start the fourth. He also threw 32 passes, completed nine and had three intercepted. Sixty-three touches for one player says where Northwest's offense sits three weeks in: on his back. A week after this series said the best-team-in-the-county conversation runs through Cedar Hill, the conversation is open again. University City is 3-0 for the first time since 2015 and No. 7 in the Post-Dispatch small-school rankings. It was the first meeting between the schools in 23 years. Cedar Hill can wait another 23.

Seckman keeps winning. Seckman keeps losing quarterbacks.

Seckman 21, Lindbergh 14, in the first football game the two schools have ever played, and the Jaguars are 3-0. Jaxson Jablonski scored from 5 yards out and finished with 125 on 20 carries; Nick Weidler caught six passes for 100 yards and both of Cohner Baer's touchdown throws, from 37 and, late in the third, from 34. The defense forced three turnovers, and a fifth straight road win dating to last season was in hand.

And the report this county has now filed three Fridays running: per the Live Stream STL crew, Seckman lost a second quarterback to a broken collarbone — Baer, the junior who took over when Brody Kube broke his in Week 1 and had thrown five touchdowns without an interception since. The box score won't show it; Baer was the only Jaguar to attempt a pass and threw the touchdown that made it 21-7 with 52 seconds left in the third. Add Parker Perry at Festus and that's three county quarterbacks, three collarbones, three weeks. Seckman goes to Pattonville — 3-0, No. 5 in the Post-Dispatch large-school rankings — on Friday, and who takes the snap is suddenly the biggest question in Imperial.

Jefferson's air force, and a league win to go with it

Jefferson 30, Herculaneum 14 in their Quad County opener, and the pattern held: Sam Kerley 10 of 16 for 206 yards and two touchdowns, both to Ollie Klump, who turned six catches into 155 yards. Herculaneum outrushed the Blue Jays 179-108 and threw for 27 yards — that's the game in one line. Jefferson has beaten the Blackcats four straight years in a series Herculaneum last won in 2022. Kerley's 542 passing yards are second among county quarterbacks, behind a sophomore in Crystal City who, by the Post-Dispatch's game logs, was already ahead when this space said otherwise a week ago. More on him below. The Blackcats, who held Affton to 12 total yards on opening night, have lost two straight, with St. Vincent next.

Hillsboro: 572 yards, still not a headline

Hillsboro 62, Holt 33, and the quiet 3-0 stays quiet because the box score keeps spreading the credit: 333 rushing yards on 34 carries, 239 passing on 14 attempts, 572 total. Preston Ross carried nine times for 161 yards and three touchdowns and caught a fourth. Aiden Fleming was 7 of 9 for 164 and three scores, and is 20 of 28 for 354 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions on the season. Landon Gonzales recovered a fumble and caught a 32-yard touchdown. Holt's Landon Duke threw for 293 and Reo Pettus caught 10 passes for 173 yards and four touchdowns, and it didn't matter, because the Hawks led 27-6 after a quarter. Three games, 138 points for, 39 against, a spot on the Class 4 media-poll bubble, and a conference opener Friday against a North County team that just found its offense.

De Soto had it tied. The Raiders had history.

North County 35, De Soto 22 was 14-14 at halftime, and then it became the game it has been for ten meetings running: the Raiders scored 21 of the last 29 points and beat De Soto for the 10th straight time. Braydee McClure, back from injury, threw for 145 yards and three touchdowns; Jesse Johnson ran for 105 and two and added two and a half sacks from linebacker. It was Wyatt Compton's first win as a varsity head coach, a week after his team had scored 16 points in two games. De Soto got a 67-yard touchdown from Cannon Kisner to Peyson Casey and a 54-yard run from Blake Kemper, and lost a muffed kickoff and a game it needed. The first winning season since 2010 doesn't die in Week 3 — but the road to it now runs through Festus, seven days after Festus scored 47.

Quad County: a 113-year first, and two more routs

St. Vincent 42, Perryville 0, and the cross-town rivalry has a new ledger: per Semoball, the win gave St. Vincent the all-time series lead for the first time in the matchup's 113-year history, 10-9-1. Semoball credited Andrew Schumer with five touchdown passes, Case Huber returned an interception more than 60 yards for a score, and the defending league champions have posted back-to-back shutouts — 90 points scored, seven allowed, three games. The Class 2 media poll bumped them to No. 9.

Cuba threw one pass all night — it was intercepted — and never needed another: 42-6 over Grandview on 398 rushing yards from 32 carries, 161 of them from Nicholas Gipson and 137 from Ethan Noltkamper. A year ago Grandview won this game 56-21. The Eagles are 0-3, dressing about two dozen players, without Brock Poole since he was hurt in the opener, and have been outscored 100-12.

Bayless 41, Crystal City 8. Jaylin Woods threw four touchdowns, three of them to sophomore Chris Webb, and ran for two more; a program that won one game all of last season has two before the middle of September. Crystal City's Kolton Adams went 14 of 28 for 145 yards and a touchdown, and his 599 passing yards are the most of any quarterback in the county — the sophomore is the Hornets' entire offense in an 0-3 start to the centennial season, with the ground game at minus-17 yards. Confluence Prep, also 0-3, visits Friday: two teams looking for a first win, and the Hornets' centennial season could use one.

Fox found a tenth back

A week after Northwest erased Fox's run game, the Warriors answered the only way Brent Tinker's teams know: Fox 49, Hazelwood West 20, with 10 different ball-carriers combining for 369 yards on 37 carries — nearly 10 a pop — and seven rushing touchdowns from five players, against 23 yards passing. It was 49-0 after three quarters. Jude Pribish scored from 1, 3 and 19 yards; Carson Younger's two carries went for 72, one a 54-yard touchdown. Seven backs in Week 1, ten in Week 3. The test comes Friday at Ladue, 3-0 and No. 7 in the Post-Dispatch large-school rankings.

The team that beat Festus is fine, too

Rockwood Summit — the team that beat Festus in Week 1, then lost by 35 to Valle Catholic — went to Hazelwood Central and won 63-0. McCoy Brown was 14 of 20 for 264 yards and six touchdowns, three to Liam Matthews and two to Kobi Barton, and the defense returned two interceptions for scores. It was 42-0 at halftime. Eureka, which beat Summit twice last fall, visits Friday.

Thursday, minus the drama

After two games decided by two-point conversions, Eureka went to Parkway North on Thursday and won 40-14 without needing one. Zac Kem was 17 of 20 for 227 yards and two touchdowns and ran for two more; through three games the converted cornerback is completing more than 80 percent of his passes with five touchdowns, no interceptions and the area's sixth-best passer rating. Eureka is No. 8 in the Post-Dispatch large-school rankings and opens Suburban play Friday at Summit.

Oakville handled McCluer 42-16 behind Jackson Oettle's 21 carries for 175 yards, his second straight 150-yard game, and 13 tackles from Lucas Skinner. Two straight wins since the opening loss at Seckman; the reward is a Saturday afternoon at McCluer North, 3-0 and allowing four points a game.

The three we circled, graded

• Festus at Windsor — We called it the league opener nobody would have described that way in July: the 0-2 standard, without its quarterback, at a 2-0 team averaging 49. Final: Festus 47-6. Grade: right game, wrong favorite. The standard doesn't need Parker Perry to be the standard — not against Windsor, anyway.
• Priory at St. Pius X — We said these nights don't come along twice. Final: 88-0, 663 yards, 269 for Shaver on seven carries. Grade: undersold it.
• De Soto at North County — We called it the revenge game of the young season if the 54-point De Soto showed up. It didn't. The Raiders' streak did: 35-22, 10 in a row. Grade: the hedge was the story.

Week 3, the whole board

• Festus 47, Windsor 6 · St. Pius X 88, Priory 0 · University City 18, Northwest 12
• Seckman 21, Lindbergh 14 · Jefferson 30, Herculaneum 14 · Hillsboro 62, Holt 33
• North County 35, De Soto 22 · St. Vincent 42, Perryville 0 · Cuba 42, Grandview 6
• Bayless 41, Crystal City 8 · Fox 49, Hazelwood West 20 · Rockwood Summit 63, Hazelwood Central 0
• Thursday — Eureka 40, Parkway North 14 · Oakville 42, McCluer 16

Week 4: three we've circled

• Friday — Seckman at Pattonville: two 3-0 teams, Pattonville No. 5 in the Post-Dispatch large-school rankings and the team that beat the Jaguars 40-28 last October — and Seckman may be on its third quarterback of the season.
• Friday — Herculaneum at St. Vincent: the Blackcats beat the eventual league champion 28-13 a year ago. St. Vincent has allowed seven points in three games and just took the lead in a 113-year rivalry. Something gives.
• Friday — De Soto at Festus: a county rivalry with Festus seven days removed from 47 points and De Soto seven days removed from a 10th straight loss to North County. Festus won it 33-0 last year.

The rest of the Friday slate: North County at Hillsboro in the Hawks' conference opener, Cuba at Jefferson in Quad County play, Perryville at Bayless, Park Hills Central at St. Pius X, Windsor at Saxony Lutheran, Northwest at Mehlville, Eureka at Rockwood Summit, Fox at Ladue, Confluence Prep at Crystal City, and Veritas Christian at Grandview. Holt plays Thursday at St. Charles; Oakville plays Saturday afternoon at McCluer North.

County coverage runs all season in partnership with Live Stream STL, which broadcasts these games live. Catch up on the Week 1 and Week 2 recaps and the season preview that framed it all. Athlete development, as always, by M4P — Movement 4 Power.

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