Zero Hour: Week 5 in Jefferson County Football

For a month, two teams floated above the rest of this coverage: Hillsboro, 4-0 and plus-131, and St. Vincent, 4-0 and allowing three and a half points a game. On Friday night they scored nothing — combined. Festus walked into Hillsboro and won the game that likely decides the Mississippi Area Red Conference, 20-0, its third straight league game allowing eight points or fewer. Down in Ste. Genevieve, Valle Catholic hung 48 unanswered on the defense that hadn't given up more than seven. And the night's other business refused to end on time: Seckman won its rivalry game with Fox in overtime behind 41 carries from a running back playing quarterback, and Crystal City lost a double-overtime game by the width of an extra point. Zero hour came for everybody at once.

Week 5 by the numbers

• 41 — carries for Jaxon Jablonski in Seckman's overtime win over Fox.
• 0 — combined points for Hillsboro and St. Vincent, both unbeaten at kickoff on Friday.
• 307 — rushing yards on 26 carries for St. Pius X's Cody Shaver at Caruthersville: the area's best single-game rushing night this season, by one yard over Jett Black's Week 1 306.
• 352 — yards of total offense for De Soto's Cannon Kisner, on 18 plays, with six touchdowns.
• 5 — turnovers by each team in Crystal City's double-overtime loss at Veritas Christian.
• 21 — yards separating Kolton Adams (893) and Sam Kerley (872) in the county passing race.

The standard took the title game

Twenty to nothing, at Hillsboro's homecoming. Festus won it the way it has won everything since Parker Perry went down: defense first, patience second. Aiden Schirmer's 5-yard run capped the opening drive; Hillsboro answered with its best march of the night and lost a fumble at the Festus 15; Dylan Clinton turned two catches into 92 yards and a touchdown that, with a two-point conversion, made it 14-0 at halftime; and when Hillsboro finally drove again in the third quarter, it fumbled at the goal line, per the Live Stream STL broadcast. A fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Braydon Wilkes closed it — and coach AJ Ofodile told the Live Stream STL crew afterward he has been pleased with how Quinnten O'Brien has taken hold of the starting job. Hillsboro finished with 184 total yards — 75 of them rushing — and its first scoreless home night since 2021, playing without two regulars: neither Preston Ross — helped off in the Week 4 win, per the Daily Journal — nor Cody Reese appears in the box score after each had played every week. Aiden Fleming went 11 of 18 for 109 yards and still hasn't thrown an interception this season; Kyryn Miller made 12 tackles; and the Leader named Festus defensive end Antonio Pinkston its athlete of the week, calling him "a wrecking ball in the Hillsboro backfield." The ledger since Festus started league play: three games, 103 points for, 14 against. The streak in a series Hillsboro used to own is now four, the last two by shutout. Beat North County at home on Friday and the conference title belongs to Festus outright, a month after the Tigers were 0-2. The ballots noticed: Festus picked up its first votes of the season in Monday's Class 4 media poll.

Who takes the snap? He does. Forty-one times.

Two weeks ago this space called who takes the snap the biggest question in Imperial. The answer took it 41 times. With Brody Kube and Cohner Baer still out, Seckman handed the quarterback job to its running back, and Jaxon Jablonski gave back 229 yards and three touchdowns on 41 carries — plus a perfect 5 of 5 passing, all to Nick Weidler — in a 26-20 overtime win over Fox. This rivalry now runs on converted running backs — Fox moved Jude Pribish behind center by design this season, Seckman moved Jablonski there by emergency. Between them the teams ran for 591 yards and threw for 73. Jablonski opened the scoring from the 1; Fox's Jacob Edwards answered with an 80-yard touchdown four seconds of game clock later, on his way to 201 yards on 16 carries. Fox led 14-12 at halftime. Jablonski's 4-yard score and his own two-point run made it 20-14, Pribish tied it from 12 yards out with 2:14 to play, but the go-ahead kick failed — Nick Baer told KJFF he went conservative from there and took his chances in the extra period — and in overtime Jablonski ended the argument from the 1, his third short-yardage touchdown. Ryan Joggerst made 23 tackles, Fox outgained Seckman 344-320, and none of it moved the series: six straight to Seckman, the one-man offense scoring 20 of the 26 points. Jablonski's season, two games into a position he didn't ask for: 699 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. Seckman is 4-1, and Pattonville, its only blemish, climbed to No. 2 in the Post-Dispatch large-school rankings on Monday.

The aura lasted exactly a month

St. Vincent spent September as the area's most frightening defense: 14 points allowed in four games, back-to-back shutouts, a No. 7 ranking in Class 2. Then it went to No. 2 Valle Catholic and lost 48-0. Valle needed 27 seconds to lead — a 52-yard kickoff return, then a 31-yard touchdown to Evan Viox on the second snap — and it was 21-0 with five minutes still to play in the first quarter, per the Daily Journal. Sam Kuehn threw five touchdown passes and ran for two more, and the Warriors outgained St. Vincent 419-78 with five sacks. One road loss to the state's No. 2 ends no season, and the voters agreed: St. Vincent slipped a single spot, to No. 8 in Class 2. The Indians are 4-1, still unbeaten in league play, with Bayless up Friday. But the film now exists, and the league has three weeks to study it.

Jefferson makes it three straight, and the race tightens

Jefferson 54, Bayless 12 — a season high in points and a sixth win in six all-time meetings with the Bronchos. Sam Kerley had the cleanest night of his season: 13 of 16 for 209 yards and three touchdowns, a 178 rating in the Post-Dispatch's database. Aiden Kentch ran 14 times for 139, and Logan Young intercepted two passes and returned them 66 yards. Which sharpens the county passing race: Kolton Adams still leads it, but Kerley cut the gap from 54 yards to 21 in one night and owns every rate stat — nine touchdowns to eight, three interceptions to six, 8.4 yards an attempt to 6.0. Perryville visits Friday.

Eighteen plays, six touchdowns

Cannon Kisner ran 11 times for 173 yards and three scores, went 6 of 7 for 179 and three more — a 281 rating — and added a two-point conversion in a 40-12 win over Windsor that was 28-6 by halftime. Peyson Casey turned his only catch into a 77-yard touchdown. It was De Soto's third straight win in the series: Windsor ran 62 times for 238 yards but never completed a pass (0 of 3), and Jett Black, the 306-yard man from opening night, was held to 13 yards on seven carries. Sixty-two carries bought Windsor 3.8 yards apiece; Kisner's 18 plays averaged 19.6. Windsor has lost three straight. De Soto, 2-3, suddenly looks like a team nobody wants to see in its district.

Herculaneum found its identity in the dirt

Thirty-five to eight at Cuba, and Herculaneum barely bothered throwing: one pass, one completion, against 286 rushing yards on 44 carries from six different backs, nobody with more than Chase Luebbert's 79. Taylor Hill-Greenlee made 11 tackles. The three-game skid ended the way the 42-0 opener promised it would: on the ground, in waves. Both teams are 2-3.

Thursday belonged to Perryville: all 63 of its points against Grandview came in the first half, on 17 offensive plays — the third-highest total in program history, per the Southeast Missourian. Adrian Mendoza ran twice for 79 yards and made nine tackles. Grandview is 0-5, outscored 203-40.

Northwest's math problem for defenses

A week ago Northwest handed Cohenn Stark the ball three times and got three touchdowns. This week it handed it to him 11 times and got 204 yards and two more scores in a 36-6 win over McCluer North. That's 14 carries, 304 yards and five touchdowns across two weeks — 21.7 yards every time he runs — while Will Murphy handles the volume: 17 carries, 100 yards, two touchdowns. The Lions ran for 367 as a team, have won two straight by a combined 71-12, and at 4-1 sit on the Post-Dispatch large-school bubble — quietly re-entering the best-team-in-the-county conversation they fell out of three weeks ago.

Shaver lapped the field

St. Pius X won 57-12 at Caruthersville with a box score from another sport: 423 rushing yards, 2-of-16 passing, seven sacks. Cody Shaver's 307 came with three touchdowns — his third game this season over 250 — and his season line now reads 1,161 yards on 78 carries, 14.9 a carry, with 17 rushing touchdowns and 116 points. Nobody in the St. Louis area has more rushing yards or more points: the rushing lead is 164 yards, on 50 fewer carries than the No. 2 man. Brody Ervin added 87 yards on five carries; Hunter Hylton had two of the seven sacks. The Lancers are 4-1 and have outscored opponents 281-57.

The margin was a kick

Crystal City took Veritas Christian to double overtime and lost 27-26 — 20-20 after four quarters, still 20-20 after five, and settled in the sixth by an extra point. The ledger that decided it: Crystal City went for two after all four of its touchdowns and converted once; Veritas kicked, and made three of four. In the second overtime the Hornets struck first on Gage McPherson's 4-yard run and the conversion run failed again; Veritas answered with a Logan Meyer touchdown pass, and the point-after ended it. Luke Niemeyer had opened Veritas' scoring in the second quarter with a 78-yard interception return. Kolton Adams threw for 176 yards and a touchdown against three interceptions, and Alex Parham played everywhere — seven catches, four carries, two interceptions on defense. A week after the centennial season's first win, Crystal City is 1-4 with the one that got away. Friday's guest: Salisbury, No. 2 in the Class 1 media poll.

Eureka took down No. 3

Eureka 35, Kirkwood 24, and the fourth quarter is the part to keep. Kirkwood — No. 3 in the Post-Dispatch large-school rankings, unbeaten, and suddenly running downhill behind Benji Rice — had scored 13 straight points to lead 24-21 with nine minutes left. Then Ben Mohesky jumped a route and went 47 yards the other way, and Zac Kem iced it with a 34-yard run. Kem was 92 percent of the offense, literally: 174 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries, 141 passing yards and a fourth score, 315 of Eureka's 344 total yards — and still not one interception in 109 attempts this season. Per the Live Stream STL crew it was also Jake Sumner's 100th career win — and the Post-Dispatch's season ledgers agree, holding him at exactly 99 entering the night. The Post-Dispatch swapped the two teams by Monday: Eureka up to No. 6, Kirkwood down to No. 7.

Around the Suburban: Oakville flattened Parkway South 55-7 with five Jackson Oettle touchdowns — his fourth straight 150-yard game — and seven recovered fumbles, one returned 71 yards for a score by Kaden Updike. Ladue rolled Parkway North 50-14 to reach 5-0. Rockwood Summit lost 16-14 at Lindbergh on a fourth-quarter safety — "Late safety breaks tie," as the Post-Dispatch's headline had to explain. And North County rolled Lutheran St. Charles 48-12 ahead of its Friday trip to Festus.

The three we circled, graded

• Festus at Hillsboro — We circled the game the Daily Journal said likely decides the title. Final: Festus 20-0, and Festus can clinch it outright on Friday. Grade: right stakes, and the standard settled them.
• St. Vincent at Valle Catholic — We gave the ranks, the 14 points allowed, and last year's 42-7. Final: 48-0. Grade: last year, plus six.
• Fox at Seckman — We said the Jaguars bring a quarterback question and Fox brings a run game. Both true: Fox ran for 298, and Seckman's answer to the question carried the Jaguars to an overtime win. Grade: the question was the story.

Week 5, the whole board

• Festus 20, Hillsboro 0 · Seckman 26, Fox 20 (OT) · De Soto 40, Windsor 12
• Jefferson 54, Bayless 12 · Herculaneum 35, Cuba 8 · Valle Catholic 48, St. Vincent 0
• Perryville 63, Grandview 6 (Thursday) · Veritas Christian 27, Crystal City 26 (2 OT)
• Northwest 36, McCluer North 6 · St. Pius X 57, Caruthersville 12 · North County 48, Lutheran St. Charles 12
• Eureka 35, Kirkwood 24 · Lindbergh 16, Rockwood Summit 14 · Oakville 55, Parkway South 7

Where the races stand

• Mississippi Area Red: Festus 3-0 with one conference game to play; Hillsboro and North County sit at 1-1.
• Quad County: Jefferson 3-0, St. Vincent 2-0, and the schedule keeps them apart until Oct. 23 at Jefferson. Perryville sits at 2-1.
• The passing race: still Adams, by 21 yards — and by nothing else.

Week 6: three we've circled

• Friday — North County at Festus: win and the Mississippi Area Red title is Festus's, outright. Festus has won six straight in the series, including last year's 46-21 regular-season meeting and 42-24 district rematch.
• Friday — Perryville at Jefferson: Jefferson is 3-0 in Quad County play with a 111-26 scoring edge, and Perryville has scored 98 points across its two league wins. The wrinkle: this young series is tied 2-2, and Perryville has won the last two meetings. Win and Jefferson stays perfect in the league; win and Perryville is right back in the race.
• Friday — Hillsboro at Windsor: Hillsboro scored 183 points in its first four games and zero in its fifth; Windsor has lost three straight while allowing 139. Somebody's month turns around. Hillsboro won it 41-12 a year ago.

The rest of the Friday slate: De Soto at Fredericktown, Grandview at Herculaneum, Bayless at St. Vincent, Pleasant Hope at Cuba, Salisbury at Crystal City, St. Pius X at Lutheran St. Charles, Hazelwood Central at Seckman, Parkway West — 5-0, riding three straight shutouts — at Fox, Northwest at Parkway South, Marquette at Eureka, Lafayette at Rockwood Summit, Lindbergh at Kirkwood and Webster Groves at Oakville. Veritas Christian is idle. Saturday matinees: Mehlville at McCluer North and No. 2 Pattonville at Ritenour.

For the record: Festus's numbers reach the Post-Dispatch's database on a delay — the Week 4 box is in now, and it dates Kamden Yates' 255-yard, 22-carry game to Week 4 against De Soto with three touchdowns, one more than the count we printed. The archive is corrected. The Yates line on this week's sheet was that same Week 4 night recycled, so his evening against Hillsboro goes unrecorded until a source surfaces. Two smaller archive fixes from this week's re-checks: Week 1's opening paragraph now matches its own corrected fourth-quarter math (51 points, not 53), and Cody Shaver's opening night reads 148 yards, not 143.

County coverage runs all season in partnership with Live Stream STL, which broadcasts these games live. Catch up on the Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4 recaps and the season preview that framed it all. Athlete development, as always, by M4P — Movement 4 Power.

Inside The Game STL · A Devoted Athletics brand.