One Friday Left: Week 8 in Jefferson County Football

One Friday is left in the regular season, and Week 8 decided what it will be played for. Seckman hosted the Suburban Red's leader and shut it out, 26-0, with 365 rushing yards. Farmington beat Hillsboro 55-9 — a 6-1 team losing by 46. Festus ran for 329 at Poplar Bluff, Kamden Yates for 224 of them, and won a sixth straight game and its first over Poplar Bluff in the Post-Dispatch's records. Jefferson lost 23-7 to Ste. Genevieve a week before the Quad County title game. St. Pius X won 30-27 at Vianney. Jaxon Jablonski, Jackson Oettle and Kamden Yates all crossed 1,000 rushing yards on the same night. And seven games on the board ended in a shutout. Districts open in 10 days; the seeds are decided in four.

Week 8 by the numbers

• 365 — rushing yards for Seckman against Ritenour, on 46 carries: Jaxon Jablonski 122, Trey Connor 121, Nick Weidler 89 on three.
• 43 — rushing yards for Hillsboro at Farmington, on 26 carries. The Hawks finished with 120 yards of offense.
• 1,000 — crossed on Friday by three backs: Jablonski (1,026), Oakville's Jackson Oettle (1,005) and Kamden Yates (1,210). Cody Shaver's 1,481 waits on a St. Pius X box score.
• 16.3 — yards per carry for Herculaneum quarterback Conor Hedrick at Perryville: 10 carries, 163 yards.
• 7 — shutouts on the board: Seckman, Northwest, Oakville, Cuba, Fredericktown, Malden and Hazelwood East.

Seckman: 26-0, and a three-way tie Friday may not break

Ritenour came to Imperial 3-0 in the Suburban Red, having beaten Pattonville and Parkway North in consecutive weeks. Seckman scored in every quarter — 7, 7, 6, 6 — and kept the Huskies off the board. The Jaguars ran it 46 times: Jaxon Jablonski 21 carries and two touchdowns, Trey Connor 18, Nick Weidler three. Brody Kube threw eight passes, completing three for 40 yards, and ran twice for 22. Jablonski scored from the 5 in the first quarter and the 8 in the second for a 14-0 halftime lead, Weidler's 65-yard run made it 20-0 in the third, and Gabe Artz finished it from the 1. The defense had five sacks, two by Matt Muessig and one each by Chase Borawski, Chase Gaugh and Brody Mosello; Ritenour's side of the box score was not posted. Seckman is 7-1 — and, for the first time this season, drew a vote in the Missouri Media poll — and the Red is now a knot: Pattonville, Seckman and Ritenour are all 3-1, Pattonville beat Seckman, Seckman beat Ritenour, Ritenour beat Pattonville, and each has one pool game left on Friday; three wins would leave a three-way 4-1 tie with a circular head-to-head. Seckman has allowed six points in its last three games.

Farmington 55, Hillsboro 9

A week after Farmington beat St. Pius X by three touchdowns, it beat Hillsboro by 46, and Hillsboro completed four passes for 77 yards to go with the running game in the numbers above. Aiden Fleming, who had thrown 86 passes this season without an interception, threw his first on his seventh attempt of the night; Preston Ross, the safety who finished the game at quarterback, threw Hillsboro's only touchdown pass, intercepted one of Farmington's and returned it 30 yards, and Auston Ross — his brother, per the Live Stream STL crew — recovered a fumble. Per the Daily Journal, it was 35-2 at halftime: Hillsboro punted five times before halftime, Farmington turned a fumble into a 24-yard touchdown pass on the next snap, Walker Laut ran for four touchdowns and 174 yards, Bryce Busenbark returned Fleming's interception 63 yards for a score, and the Hawks' two first-half points came on a Farmington holding penalty in its own end zone. Fleming left the game on the interception play with an injury, the Daily Journal reported, and did not return. Farmington forced five turnovers and returned two for touchdowns. Hillsboro is 6-2, and the 46-point margin is its largest in a loss since Jackson beat it 56-0 in October 2019. Farmington is 7-1. The district points went the other way from what Hillsboro needed — more on that below.

Festus: 224 for Yates, six straight, and a first

Festus 41, Poplar Bluff 6, and the Tigers have now beaten Poplar Bluff, which they had never done in the Post-Dispatch's records — 0-3 since 1999. Per the Daily American Republic, which noted it was Poplar Bluff's homecoming, Festus recovered an opening onside kick and never looked back. Kamden Yates carried 29 times for 224 yards and four touchdowns, his third 200-yard game of the season and second in three weeks; Quinnten O'Brien went 9 of 15 for 106 and a touchdown and ran eight times for 79; Braydon Wilkes caught four passes for 85 and recovered two fumbles; Max Foglesong and Liam O'Brien intercepted passes. Festus ran for 329 as a team. Festus has also now posted the Hannibal box score last week's recap could not show: 279 yards, Yates 19 carries for 71 and a touchdown plus an interception, O'Brien 9 of 15 for 119. The Tigers are 6-2 and have won six straight since the 0-2 start, allowing 63 points in the six. Yates's season line is 182 carries and 20 touchdowns in all; his 130 points are fifth in the area.

Ste. Genevieve 23, Jefferson 7: a bad week to have a bad week

Jefferson had scored 43 the week before. Against Ste. Genevieve it managed 85 rushing yards on 24 carries, 46 passing yards on 14 attempts, and seven points, tying its fewest of the season. Aiden Kentch carried 20 times for 71; Sam Kerley completed six passes. Per the Daily Journal, Ste. Genevieve recovered fumbles at the Jefferson 22 on the game's first snap and again soon after, scored on two 1-yard direct snaps by Wyatt Grein inside seven minutes, answered Brandon Crader's 1-yard dive with a 12-play, 80-yard drive, and pinned Jefferson inside its own 3-yard line three times; the final two points were a safety. Ste. Genevieve, which the Daily Journal said played without its starting running back, has now beaten Jefferson five straight years, all since 2022. Jefferson is 5-3, and none of it counts in the league: the Blue Jays are still 5-0 in Quad County play, St. Vincent is still 5-0, and the outright title is still on the table.

St. Pius X 30, Vianney 27

St. Pius X won on the road, by three, and as of Tuesday morning had not posted a stat line — so Cody Shaver's night is unknown, and the Vianney side has to tell it. Robert Eatherton ran 28 times for 135, Harlan Futrell Jr. threw for 243 yards and three touchdowns on 13-of-18 passing, and KaLi Thomas caught seven passes for 152; Vianney finished with 464 yards, and its 27 points were the most anyone has put on St. Pius X except Farmington and Gibson Southern. The Lancers are 6-2, and the poll voters moved them up anyway.

Herculaneum: 377 on the ground, four straight

Herculaneum 27, Perryville 21, on Saturday afternoon — Perryville's homecoming, per KJFF — and Conor Hedrick, the quarterback, led the rushing, 78 of his yards on one touchdown run per KJFF; Aaron Mardirosian ran 15 times for 104, Luke Smith 11 for 69, and Herculaneum finished with 377 rushing yards against 11 passing, its four touchdowns scored by four different runners, the last inside the final two minutes per KJFF. Taylor Hill-Greenlee had 11 tackles and a sack. It is four straight wins for Herculaneum, who are 5-3 and 4-2 in the league; Perryville is 3-5.

De Soto: Kisner threw three, Huck sacked three

De Soto 31, Potosi 13, a week after Potosi had run for 503 against Perryville. Cannon Kisner ran 14 times for 109 and a touchdown and completed 5 of 7 for 91 yards and three more, one a 56-yarder to Nolan Selsor; De Soto ran for 227. The defense sacked the Potosi quarterback six times — Levi Huck three — and held the Trojans to 13. De Soto is 4-4 and has won three of four. Potosi is 3-5.

Windsor: 222 rushing yards and no points

Fredericktown 20, Windsor 0, at Windsor, and the Owls ran for 222 yards — Ethan Cobb 24 times for 131, Jack Kuda 16 for 84 — and threw for 7. Cobb also made nine tackles. Per the Daily Journal, Windsor was stopped on fourth down three times, twice inside the Fredericktown 30, and Cole Starkey accounted for all three Fredericktown touchdowns. Windsor has lost six straight, has been shut out twice in three weeks, and is 2-6. Fredericktown, which had lost four straight, is 3-5. North County, the other Mississippi Area Red team on the board, beat St. Clair 38-27 with three fourth-quarter touchdowns, per the Daily Journal, and is 4-4.

Northwest and Oakville: 35-0, 55-0, and Friday

Northwest 35, Webster Groves 0, and Cohenn Stark did it on nine plays: four carries for 66 and a touchdown, 4 of 5 for 117 and a touchdown. Jax Newcomer caught two passes for 74 and returned an interception 43 yards for a touchdown; Braydon Jones intercepted his fifth pass of the season. Northwest is 7-1, has pitched back-to-back shutouts, and has allowed 63 points in eight games. Oakville 55, Mehlville 0: Jackson Oettle ran 11 times for 140 and four touchdowns and over 1,000 for the season, and Eli Teal had three sacks. Oakville is 7-1. Both are 4-0 in the Suburban Orange.

Eureka: Kem threw four, and the Yellow is a win away

Eureka 35, Lafayette 8, a year after Lafayette won this game 35-6. Zac Kem ran 10 times for 120 and threw four touchdown passes on 11 of 18 for 151 — two of them to Sal Gianino — and Noah McCollum had three sacks and a fumble recovery. "It's rivalry game, regardless of records, you know you're going to get their best," Kem told the Post-Dispatch afterward. Eureka is 6-2 and 4-0 in the Suburban Yellow, which it has clinched at least a share of, with Lindbergh and Kirkwood a game back.

Fox: Pribish, 102 on eight

Fox 27, Riverview Gardens 6, and it was 27-0 before Riverview Gardens scored in the fourth. Jude Pribish carried eight times for 102 yards and two touchdowns and completed two passes for 37; Ryan Joggerst ran 19 times for 94 and the other two. Fox is 4-4.

Quad County: St. Vincent 5-0, Cuba's zero, Crystal City's 46 yards

St. Vincent 49, Grandview 18, and the Indians are 5-0 in the league with 217 points scored and 31 allowed. No stats were posted. St. Vincent is 7-1. Grandview's 18 points were its second-most of the season; the Eagles are 0-8. Cuba 21, Bayless 0: Bayless recovered five fumbles for the second straight week and finished with 111 yards. Cuba is 4-4, Bayless 2-6. And Crystal City lost 28-0 at Malden with 46 yards of offense — 36 carries for 2 rushing yards; the Hornets are 1-7.

Around the Suburban

Kirkwood 20, Rockwood Summit 14, with Kindall Young running 19 times for 122 for Summit; Summit is 4-4, Kirkwood 6-1. Pattonville spotted Parkway North 14 points and scored the next 35 — Trevor Beckermann ran 13 times for 128 and threw for 214 — to go to 7-1.

The three we circled, graded

• Hillsboro at Farmington — We said the district points from a win would matter. Final: Farmington 55-9. Grade: the points mattered; they went to Farmington.
• Ritenour at Seckman — We said Ritenour controlled the Suburban Red at 3-0. Final: Seckman 26-0. Grade: it is a three-way tie now, and three wins Friday would keep it one.
• Festus at Poplar Bluff — We said Festus had never beaten Poplar Bluff in the records, and that Poplar Bluff beat Hillsboro at home last October. Final: Festus 41-6. Grade: the first part is fixed; the second didn't come up.

Week 8, the whole board

• Seckman 26, Ritenour 0 · Farmington 55, Hillsboro 9 · Festus 41, Poplar Bluff 6
• Ste. Genevieve 23, Jefferson 7 · St. Pius X 30, Vianney 27 · De Soto 31, Potosi 13
• Fredericktown 20, Windsor 0 · North County 38, St. Clair 27 · St. Vincent 49, Grandview 18
• Cuba 21, Bayless 0 · Malden 28, Crystal City 0 · Northwest 35, Webster Groves 0
• Oakville 55, Mehlville 0 · Eureka 35, Lafayette 8 · Fox 27, Riverview Gardens 6
• Kirkwood 20, Rockwood Summit 14 · Pattonville 35, Parkway North 14 · Ladue 63, Parkway Central 6 · Lindbergh 28, Marquette 25
• Saturday — Herculaneum 27, Perryville 21 · Hazelwood East 36, Hazelwood Central 0

Helmet stickers

• Kamden Yates, Festus — 29 carries, 224 yards, four touchdowns, a sixth straight win and a first over Poplar Bluff.
• Jaxon Jablonski, Seckman — 21 carries, 122 yards, two touchdowns, 1,000 for the season, against the pool leader.
• Conor Hedrick, Herculaneum — 163 yards from the quarterback spot, 78 of them on one run, in a six-point win.

Where the races stand

• Mississippi Area Red Conference, final: Festus 4-0, Hillsboro 3-1, North County 2-2, De Soto 1-3, Windsor 0-4.
• Quad County: St. Vincent 5-0, Jefferson 5-0, and Friday at Jefferson is for the outright title. Herculaneum 4-2.
• Suburban Red: Pattonville, Seckman and Ritenour 3-1 — each beat one of the others. Orange: Northwest and Oakville 4-0, Friday at Oakville. Yellow: Eureka 4-0, Lindbergh and Kirkwood 3-1; Lindbergh is the one at Eureka Friday.
• MSHSAA district points, one week out: Class 4 District 1 flipped — Festus is the top seed at 44.75, Sikeston 44.04, Hillsboro 42.21, after Hillsboro led it a week ago; the top two seeds get first-round byes, and Festus plays Saturday, after Sikeston and Hillsboro have played Friday, so it will know what it needs. If the seeds hold, the Oct. 30 openers are Hillsboro-Windsor and North County-De Soto — both conference rematches. Class 6 District 1: Jackson, then Northwest 44.92, Oakville 42.48, Seckman 42.05 — in a five-team district the top three sit out Oct. 30, so Friday's Northwest-Oakville game is also for the 2-seed, and Seckman is 0.43 behind Oakville for the last bye. St. Pius X leads Class 3 District 2 by four points over St. Clair, with Herculaneum third. Jefferson and St. Vincent already hold byes as 2- and 1-seeds, per KJFF. Fox won and still dropped to third in Class 5 District 1. Crystal City is the 4-seed and Grandview the 5-seed in Class 1 District 2 — they play Friday, and if the seeds hold they play again Oct. 30.
• Missouri Media poll, Oct. 19: Festus holds at No. 8 in Class 4; St. Pius X moves up to No. 6 in Class 3; Farmington holds at No. 7 in Class 5, where Ladue is No. 6 and Eureka No. 10; Kirkwood is No. 10 in Class 6; St. Vincent moves up to No. 7 in Class 2, where Valle Catholic is tied for No. 2.
• The passing race: Kerley 1,144, Adams 994.

Week 9: three we've circled

• Friday — St. Vincent at Jefferson: both 5-0 in Quad County play, both already holding district byes per KJFF, one game for the outright conference title. St. Vincent, 7-1 and No. 7 in Class 2, has won the last three meetings — 28-21, 51-35 and 41-8 — and is the defending champion; Jefferson leads the series 8-6 since 2012 and arrives off a seven-point night. The winner finishes 6-0.
• Friday — Northwest at Oakville: 7-1 against 7-1, both 4-0 in the Suburban Orange, the pool title and the Class 6 District 1 No. 2 seed on the table. Northwest has allowed 63 points all season, Oakville 79. Oakville leads the series 19-10 and has won the last two — 28-7 in the 2024 district rematch and 10-7 last year — since Northwest won 31-27 at Oakville in the 2024 regular season.
• Friday — Valle Catholic at St. Pius X: Valle is 8-0, tied for No. 2 in Class 2, has won 21 straight in this series since 2003 — St. Pius X is 2-22 in the Post-Dispatch's records — and won 14-7 last October, the Lancers' last regular-season loss before a run to the Class 2 final. Cody Shaver ran for 207 in that game. It is Valle's first visit to the Lancers' new stadium.

The rest of the last regular-season week, Friday at 7 p.m. unless noted: Poplar Bluff at Hillsboro; Poplar Bluff has won the last two meetings, 36-28 at Hillsboro in 2024 and 30-21 at home last October; Confluence at Windsor; Herculaneum at De Soto, which De Soto has won two straight years; Perryville at Cuba, with Perryville two-hundredths of a point behind Fredericktown for a district 4-seed; Grandview at Crystal City; Duchesne at Bayless (6 p.m.); North County at Ste. Genevieve; Seckman at Parkway North (6:30 p.m.), where Seckman is 0-5 in the Post-Dispatch's records; Pattonville at Hazelwood East (6 p.m.); Hazelwood Central at Ritenour; Fox at Parkway Central, which Fox has never beaten in five meetings on record, the last in 2003; Lindbergh at Eureka, their first meeting since Lindbergh's 2020 playoff win; Rockwood Summit at Marquette (6:30 p.m.); Kirkwood at Lafayette, which has beaten Kirkwood two years running. Thursday: Parkway West at Ladue. Saturday at 1 p.m.: Festus at Kirksville, the first meeting between the schools in the Post-Dispatch's records. Districts open Oct. 30.

For the record: Seckman's Trey Connor appeared here last week, and in the Week 2 recap, as Trey Conner — that is how the Post-Dispatch's Hazelwood East box score spelled it, but his player page and Friday's box say Connor, and we've gone with those. Last week's slate said St. Pius X at Vianney was listed at 7 p.m. by the Post-Dispatch and 6 p.m. by MaxPreps; it kicked at 7 p.m. Last week's Farmington story put St. Pius X at Fr. Dalton Memorial Stadium; the school's own schedule calls it Father Dalton Stadium, and so will we. Four counts differ this week and we went with the database: KJFF's story had Conor Hedrick at 11 carries for 156, the Herculaneum box says 10 for 163; the KJFF weekend scoreboard has St. Vincent 59, Grandview 18, and the Post-Dispatch and both schools' MaxPreps pages say 49-18; the Daily American Republic had Kamden Yates at 204 yards, the Festus box says 224; KJFF had Cannon Kisner with two touchdown passes and a run, the De Soto box says three passes and a run.

County coverage runs all season in partnership with Live Stream STL, which broadcasts these games live. Catch up on the Week 5, Week 6 and Week 7 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.